The Weekly Sedra – Ki Sisa – The Sin Behind the Sin

An utterly distraught religious woman came running to a Chassidic Rebbe one day, weeping uncontrollably.

“Rebbe,” she cried, “It’s my son. He went Meshuga. I think he needs a psychiatrist!” He’s really acting strange.”

“What’s the matter?” Asked the Rebbe.

“The matter?” cried the distressed woman. “He’s behaving like a lowlife! He dances with gentile women; he even began dining on swine! I’m telling you he’s crazy.”

The Rebbe looked at the poor woman as he tried to put her problems into perspective.

“My dear lady, if your son were dancing with pigs and dining on women, I would say that he is indeed insane. But the way you describe him he is not crazy at all. I’d say that he has become a very indulgent and lascivious young man. No my dear, that’s what we call ‘sinful,’ not ‘crazy.’ There’s nothing at all crazy about that.”

“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.” (Exodus 12:19-20)

The afternoon of the day that the Torah was given, Moshe ascended Mount Sinai for a forty day period. He spent the time in complete spiritual immersion; studying the newly received code with G-d Himself. On the 39th day the Jewish Nation, waiting impatiently at the foot of the mountain, mistakenly anticipated Moshe’s arrival.

According to Israel’s miscalculation, Moshe had tarried in returning from Sinai’s mountaintop. Having failed to appear, they came to the conclusion that he was no longer alive. Convinced that Moshe would never return – that they were left in the dessert leaderless and abandoned – the Children of Israel, edged on by the Egyptian converts who joined the Jews at the exodus, panicked and completely lost footing.

The Israelites proceeded to pressure Aharon who was left holding the bag, demanding that he produce “a G-d that will go before us.” Aharon, in an attempt to stall for time and prevent the Jews from faltering, asked them to donate prized possessions – the gold and silver that were taken from the Egyptians, which were now worn by the women and children – expecting that they would be reluctant and slow to comply.

But the men did not waste any time; they did not even bother with their spouses. In the most enthusiastic response to an appeal to date, they gave their own gold. This gold meant a lot to them; it represented their first taste of freedom in 210 years. But they gave generously and passionately.

Aharon took the gold and heaved it into a large fire and, with the unsolicited help of a few sorcerers, a Golden Calf emerged. (Doesn’t disaster always just emerge?) Aharon set out to build an altar before it and declared “a celebration for G-d tomorrow!” hoping to buy more time. Perhaps by then Moshe will have returned.

But the people arose early the next morning, brought sacrifices, and began celebrating. They danced around their newly created deity and shouted, “These are your gods which brought you up from the land of Egypt!” (Exodus 32:8)

And so came about the most precipitous fall from grace in the history of mankind. From the zenith of spiritual revelation and ecstasy, slipped a nation into the pit of godlessness and sin – from the ultimate Divine embrace to the gravest of Divine insult and severance. This indeed represented the mother and prototype of all sin.

But sin is human, and, grave as the sin might be, it is often explicable.

It may well be argued that after experiencing the highest level of Divine revelation and ecstasy, during the giving of the Torah, the nation, having been forced back into a drastically more mundane reality – made to wait 40 days before setting eyes on their new leader and prophet – was far too overwhelming.

One can imagine that every moment waiting for Moshe was like eternity. Their desire to draw close to G-d was extremely powerful and Moshe had become the facilitator of this passion. Another moment was just too long.

Then there was the mixed multitude. Great people as they were – their hearts moved to follow the Jewish Nation into the wilderness to an unknown destination and fate – they were particularly vulnerable to the challenge and hence fared the worst.

These converts lived in relative comfort in Egypt, always under the hegemony and protection of a so called god. When put through the trying experience, old habits began to set back in and they wavered in their commitment. The Children of Israel fell-prey to their influence and provocations.

So why was this sin considered to be so insidious? And what is it about sin in general that is so despised in the eyes of G-d?

While sin may often times start-out as an error of judgment or simple weakness of character, at some point it becomes far more sinister. The innocent misjudgment quickly loses its innocence and inadvertence. It inevitably becomes an obvious wrong. At this point, when one proceeds to hang on to the sin, it is no longer excusable; it is an act of conscious rebellion and willful indulgence.

The verse in this week’s Parsha – Ki Sisa – states: “On the next day they arose early, offered up burnt offerings…. And the people sat down to eat and to drink, and they arose to ‘make merry’.” Rashi states: ”They arose early to make merry: This word contains a connotation of sexual immorality as well as bloodshed.” (A brave and righteous man named Chur, who attempted to rebuke the people, was slain at that time).

This conduct is clearly a far cry from the innocent yearning for G-d and spirituality where this path all began. As is typical with all sin, what started as an attempt for improvement – a desire for higher spiritual revelation and ecstasy, has spiraled into blatant idol worship, bloodshed, and sexual depravity. At this juncture it was more than obvious that what might have begun as a good idea was anything but that. It was clearly mischief and rebelliousness at its worst.

It’s not what initiated the sin of the Golden Calf that constituted the true wrongdoing and transgression; it was rather the fact that they proceeded to clutch to this bad idea even when its evil and destructiveness was clear as day.

How familiar a pattern, how little mankind has learned from their own history. Although succumbing to physical desires cannot be condoned when they violate Torah law, one who admits he has sinned at least has the opportunity to correct his behavior and properly atone. This is not possible when one defensively rationalizes and justifies his erroneous ways.

Much as with the Golden Calf, Communism, secular Zionism and various forms of modern Judaism may have all been conceived in purity and virtue, but have soon proven to be bad ideas. It is not there original inspiration that has made them so destructive, it is rather the fact that we have continued to cling to them well after there true harmful nature has been exposed.

If only we had learned the simple lessons from the prototype of transgression – the sin of golden calf – how different the course of history may have been.

The author welcomes your input and feedback: rabbi@chabadjacksonville.org