The False God of Subjectivity

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Published Feb 28, 2024

Rabbi Chaim Richman

This week's Torah portion of parashat Ki Tisa, which coincides with the additional Torah reading from Num. 19 for 'the Sabbath of the Red Heifer,' features the perplexing, devastating episode of the Golden Calf. How are we to understand such a cataclysmic backsliding, so shortly after the Sinai revelation, when the entire nation had reached such a high level of spiritual perception? How could they have fallen for the lure of idolatry, while still camped at the foot of Mount Sinai? But the deepest truth is that the mistaken 'worship' of the golden calf wasn't really about idolatry, but about a much more subtle, and very human, flaw. There is much more here than meets the eye: a life lesson for all generations in the spiritual damage caused by expectation and preconceived ideas...do we make G-d on our terms, or does He create us, on His terms?

Parashat Ki Tisa (Ex. 30 : 11 - 34 : 35) is read on Shabbat, Parashat Parah ('The Sabbath of the Red Heifer')
Adar 22, 5781/March 6, 2021
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