Weekly D'var

Ki Tisa
Ethan Bo
March 15, 2025

Shabbat Shalom, 

Today's Parsha, Ki Tisa, covers many topics - among them one of Israel's more grievous offenses. At the base of mount Sinai, the people have caved to anxiety and despair asking Aaron to make them an idol to worship. Aaron obliges and asks the people to surrender their gold, making of it a golden calf and declaring it the deity which brought them from Egypt. Aaron then declares the following day to be a festival for this deity, and the people debase themselves further through this inappropriate revelry. 

On the mountain, H-shem, having just inscribed the two tablets of the covenant, forwarns Moses of this treachery, remarking that Israel has been quick to turn from His way, and that they are a stiff-necked people who He will therefore destroy. Moses pleads on behalf of his people, replying that Israel's destruction in the desert would only cause the Egyptians a feeling of victory for their false deities. H-shem renounces his plans for Israel's destruction, and sends Moses down to face the outrage. 

Knowing full well what awaits him at the base of the mountain, Moses still becomes enraged and shatters the tablets. After destroying the calf-idol, Moses burns it and grinds it into a powder, forcing the Israelites to drink it with water. Aaron explains to Moses what has happened in his absence, and Moses, noting Aaron's complicity, rallies the Levites to slaughter some three-thousand Israelite idolaters. Moses then returns to Sinai to seek expiation for his people, and again receive the tablets of the covenant. 

There's a lot to unpack here, and what I've mentioned is only a fragment of the saga contained in this Parsha alone. The reason I have picked this particular episode to discuss is that I believe it illustrates a human tendency which is no less relevant now than it was at the base of Sinai. The danger of idolatry is not only that it is wrong and a betrayal of the G-d who brought us from the house of bondage, but also that it represents a distraction from truth and goodness. The Ramban explains this through his exploration of the phrase "for the people have dealt corruptly," relaying that in addition to their flagrant disregard for the law in creating an idol, their second dereliction is in their mutilation of the principle of faith to favor their obsessions. Truly, the people had lost sight of what was important, and their fixation on their immediate fascinations clouded their vision and threw them into disarray. 

I mentioned that this episode displays a human tendency that is certainly relevant today. Obviously, it is not very often that we see people casting off good sense and creating a statue to bring sacrifices, so that part has slightly less bearing on today's world. The case of the Israelites' obsession clouding their vision and driving them to evil, however, is certainly relevant. An obsession, plainly put, is an infatuation that has left the scope of reason and become unhealthy: a singular focus which reduces the obsessed into one-dimensional characters, incapable of thinking of anything else, and causes them to lose sight of the big picture. 

In our increasingly interconnected and complicated world, the human tendency to latch on to one thing and focus on it can be an anchoring mechanism. Pick any topic you like, be it money, fame, power, or certainly politics, and in moderation a person might consider their fascination of choice to be something worth pursuing. The danger arises when we cross the line from preferring our topic of choice to being unwilling or unable to talk about anything else. When we focus so much on whatever preoccupies us that it eclipses the rest of life and we lose sight of the idea that there is anything else, our stiff-neckedness becomes clear. Friends part, families fight, and communities dissolve into ever-smaller camps as they are unable to tolerate those who might disagree with their point of view. 

Many of us can likely think of a person who seems like can only talk about money, power, or politics. Rarely does a person feel like it is they who are the obsessed, as the journey to obsession never seems unreasonable while one is on it. But this is the danger that befell the people at the base of Sinai, when the anxiety over Moses' return gave way to idolatry, their concerns became unhealthy obsession culminating in committing evil. Seeing Moses shatter the tablets of the covenant was enough to shake the people and force them to consider their descent from righteousness, but convincing someone with a singular focus to take a step back and put things into context certainly requires a great deal of patience. 

In our modern day, we are constantly bombarded with all sorts of information, trouble, outrage, and despair, all of which can activate the tendency to be stiff-necked and retreat into like-minded camps. But this is the path to obsession, where the position of your fellow is so unfathomable that it would be easier to simply stop talking to them than to keep fighting. Ladies and gentlemen of this good congregation, I ask that we redouble ourselves to the task of overcoming this base urge, and instead keep in mind that there is so much more to life than whatever the day's disagreement might encompass. As Moses ameliorated the righteous anger of H-shem, asking that He recall Abraham Isaac, and Israel, and the broader scope of His plan, so too should we remind ourselves that we need to look beyond any immediate conflict and consider that we are all on this journey of life together. 

Whenever we feel that we just can't take it anymore, and that our disagreement with our fellow seems unbridgeable, we should endeavor to remember what is really important: faith, family, and community. If we lose sight of those because we become too caught up in the crises of the era, we risk repeating our mistakes from this Parsha. Break down the idols of obsession in ourselves and in others through kindness, patience, and understanding, and we can move forward together in unity as we did at the base of Sinai.