Modern Idol Worship

 Ki Tissa

Ex. 30:11-34:35

 

Précis: The parasha begins with a census of the people, accomplished by the collection of a half shekel. We then return to a description of Tabernacle items, including the basin, anointing oil, and incense. The holy work of building the Tabernacle is to be interrupted by Shabbat. Then we return to the narrative. Moses is given the two tablets and he descends from Mount Sinai. There he sees the people worshipping the Golden Calf. He smashes the tablets and the evil doers are punished. Moses returns up the mountain, and we next have the articulation of the 13 Attributes of God. Moses carves a new set of tablets, and returns to the People, his face radiant.

 

Ex. 32:1 “When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, the people gathered against Aaron and said to him, ‘Come, make us a god who shall go before us from the land of Egypt - we do not know what has happened to him.’”

 

How is it possible that a People who witnessed the miracles of the plagues, the Exodus through the Reed Sea, and the Revelation at Sinai, could so quickly revert to idol worship? Perhaps it is because they retained a slave mentality, or because they felt that Moses was the only available intermediary with God. After all, our ancestors worshipped a panoply of Gods, and the idea of a single God was startlingly novel.

            On the other hand, we should not dismiss the Israelites’ reaction so quickly. We, after all, share with them a belief that there are reasons for things, that the world is not just random. Surely someone or something provides control behind the curtain. We seek our own “intermediaries” to help us explain the world to us.

            While natural, this can be dangerous, not only to ourselves as individuals, but to our society at large. When we are bombarded by “influencers” through social media, when we support those who seek to re-establish the “good old days” (which in reality never were quite that “good"), or when we allow our darkest emotions to color our conception of reality, are we so different from these Golden Calf worshippers?

            In the coming months, may we Americans be granted the insight to avoid a new cultic form of idol worship.

The threat of theocracy

 Tetzaveh

Ex. 27:20-30:10

Précis: The parasha continues with a description of ritual items in the Tabernacle, including oil for the lamp, priestly clothing, the ephod, breastplate, robes, plate, and miter. Aaron and his sons, Nadab, Abihu, Eliezer and Ithamar are designated as Priests and are consecrated with sacrifices and ceremony. The parasha concludes with a description of the daily sacrifices and incense to be offered at the Tabernacle.

 

 

Ex. 28:1 “You shall bring forward your brother Aaron, with his sons, from among the Israelites, to serve Me as priests: Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, the sons of Aaron.”

            As has been noted before, this parasha is the only one in the final four books of Moses to omit mention of Moses himself. There are a variety of reasons from the commentators (it was done out of modesty by Moses, we do not want to make Moses a cultic hero, or simply that Moses was indeed humble).

            I’d like to offer a slightly different rationale. Moses is omitted because by focusing on Aaron and the priests, we are underlining the fact that the leadership of the Jewish People is to be divided, between the religious leadership (the Priests) and what we might call the governmental leadership (represented by Moses). In fact, through most of Jewish history, these roles were indeed separate (actually being united only under the Hasmoneans of Chanukah fame).

            The division of leadership as it relates to Israel today is clear to me: the haredi leaders are impinging on the political/governmental sphere by their rejection of religious pluralism; actions by the current government supporting the haredi community violate this division of authority from the other direction.

             In the United States, a recent decision by the Supreme Court of Alabama ruled that frozen embryos were children.  “Even before birth, all human beings have the image of God, and their lives cannot be destroyed without effacing His glory,” Chief Justice Tom Parker wrote in a concurring opinion. The threat of theocracy is alive in both the United States and Israel. 

           By omitting mention of Moses in this parasha, the text is telling us that no one, even the greatest Prophet of all, can be all things. When we think about Moses’ humility and our reluctance to turn him into a cultic hero, we should understand that MAGA supporters of the former President as well as Netanyahu’s far-right coalition in Israel endanger this most critical differentiation.