Ki Tisa / כִּי תִשָּׂא : SHMOT (EXODUS) Exodus 30:11-34:35 (link to the text on Sepharia)
Everyone knows the story, and I knew it, too, or so I thought. Moshe Rabbeinu goes up to Mount Sinai, the people below miscalculate and think he failed to return on time, and make a golden calf. G-d decides to destroy us, and Moshe Rabbeinu talks G-d out of it. Thus, G-d is reputed to be vengeful and quick to anger. But is that really what happened?
Whilst reading through Parashat Ki Tisa, I noticed that G-d prefaces his purported intent to destroy us with “וְעַתָּה הַנִּיחָה לִּי” (and now, leave me be). Exodus 32:10. Why would G-d say that? Did G-d have to give a warning to Moshe? After all, sometimes G-d causes destruction with no warning, and in fact, a plague soon breaks out (but does not destroy everyone), we are told, as punishment for the Golden Calf incident. Exodus 32:25. Is G-d incapable of multitasking? If G-d really wanted to destroy us, he simply would have done so.
Rashi states that, at the time of G-d’s statement, Moshe Rabbeinu still had not prayed, and by declaring G-d’s intention, G-d was giving Moshe an opportunity to say something. According to Rashi, G-d was telling Moshe that it is all up to him.
I believe G-d had no intention of destroying us. Rather, I believe G-d was testing Moshe. Would he protect us? Would he stand up to the greatest power of all, to the All-Powerful, and ask, not for justice, but for mercy, and a path toward repentance? G-d even added temptation to the test, offering Moshe that when we are destroyed, he himself and his descendants would carry on the covenant. But Moshe gathered his courage, and made the best arguments he could that we should be allowed to continue with our lives with the journey, and as members of the covenant. And shortly thereafter, the Torah shows the 13 attributes of G-d, which we recite every year, on Yom Kippur, the day of atonement. Exodus 34:5-7.
As nothing in the Torah is said for no reason, what are we to learn from this? I submit that from this, we are to learn two things: Even people who sin deserve mercy and a chance to repent, and, even more important, that we must all have the courage to stand up for what is right, no matter how powerful our adversary, and no matter how tempting the alternative. I believe G-d WANTS us to argue, though respectfully, even with G-d, when the cause is important, and when our motivations are pure. I believe that we are called the “Children of Israel” not only because we are descended from Jacob. One meaning of “Israel” is “wrestles with G-d.” That is our role in this world. And we will do it stubbornly. We are, after all, a “stiff-necked people.” And I am proud of it.
Talya Bernstein Galaganov
Leave a Reply