Parshas Ki Sisa
Errant Deification
By Rabbi Moshe Peretz Gilden
"It happened as [Moshe] drew near the camp - he saw the calf and the
dances
- that Moshe's anger flared up. He threw down the tablets from his hands
and shattered them at the foot of the mountain." (Shemos/Exodus 12:19-20)
Meshech Chochma (1) explains the core of Judaism is belief in G-d and His
Torah. With Torah as a Divine expression of the Creator's will, observance
of the Torah is the observance of His will. All other holinesses, including
the sanctity of the land of Israel, are all extensions of the sanctity of
the Torah. Devotion to and observance of Torah do not depend on any place
and time, nor is it relative to the person. Moshe, the greatest of all
prophets, who merited speaking to G-d as one human speaks to another,
observed the same Torah and lived by the same guidelines as the least
learned, most simple Jew.
However, the human mind is challenged to integrate this knowledge in a
practical sense. Finite man cannot comprehend the Infinite Creator he
serves. Throughout human history many have utilized physical beings as
vehicles through which they channel their service to the Eternal G-d. But
eventually these tangible objects and heavenly bodies are mistakenly
identified as the object of the service - indeed, that G-d wants them to be
served in His stead.
When Moshe did not return by the time he had been expected, the masses
created a replacement and attributed IT with having taken them out of
Egypt. Moshe saw the Jewish people worshipping the Golden Calf, and
understood that in their panicked effort to find a replacement for "the
one who took them out of Egypt," they had fallen into this trap of
deifying the messenger. Most distressing to Moshe: by extension, the
nation had deified him. He needed to communicate that the Torah was not
dependent upon a fellow human being, that had he never come into this
world the essence of Torah would remain unchanged.
Moshe understood that had he entered the camp with the two tablets intact,
the Jews would have maintained their corrupt concept in divine service,
simply substituting them for the Golden Calf. By throwing them down and
destroying them he taught the nation that the tablets had no inherent
holiness. They were holy only as a vehicle to connect the Children of
Israel to G-d and His Torah. But with their act of idolatry at Mount Sinai
tantamount to an adulterous act under the marriage canopy, the Jews bled
the tablets of all the holiness with which they had been imbued.
Although our generation has no appreciation of genuine idolatry, the trap
of errant deification ensnares us equally. Are chessed (kindness) and
tzedaka (charity) the definitions of our Judaism, or are they vehicles,
subject to the definition and parameters specified by Torah, to connect to
G-d by emulating His perfect selflessness? Does the Land of Israel define
our Jewish consciousness, or is it one of many tools available to elevate
it? While we strive to invest ourselves in the fulfillment of a mitzvah
(Divine command), we must not imbue it with its own inherent holiness, or
else we risk draining it of all holiness. Rather, we must maintain our
awareness it is only a means to a greater end - the greatest of all
pleasures - a relationship with the Divine.
Have a Good Shabbos!
(1) biblical commentary of Rabbi Meir Simcha haKohen of Dvinsk; 1843-1926;
in this unique blend of halacha (law), thought and commentary, Rabbi Meir
Simcha demonstrates the unity between the written Torah and oral Torah and
presents striking interpretations of Biblical verses and Talmudic
passages.
Text Copyright © 2006 by Rabbi Moshe Peretz Gilden
and Torah.org.
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