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In what is probably
the most anti-climactic event in Jewish history, the nation that was about
to receive the Torah from Moshe turns away from the will of Hashem. After
40 days they begin to worry that Moshe will never return and they panic.
They create a new leader for themselves — The Golden Calf..
The Torah describes
the scene in Exodus 32:6: “The people offered (the calf) peace offerings
and they sat down to eat and drink and they got up to revel.”
Hashem immediately
commands Moshe to descend Mount Sinai in order to admonish his corrupt
nation. As Moshe comes down the mountain he hears tumultuous shouts
emanating from the people who were celebrating their new found deity. His
student, Yehoshua, also hears the sounds and declares (Exodus 32:17) “the
sound of battle is in the camp.” Moshe listens and amends the theory. He
tells Yehoshua, “It is not the sound of victory, nor the sound of defeat: I
hear the sound of distress.” When Moshe sees the Golden Calf he breaks the
Tablets and restores order, sanity, and the belief in Hashem.
What is strange about
the episode is the contrast of the sounds made and the sounds heard. If the
Jewish People reveled and celebrated then why did Yehoshua hear sounds of
war and how did Moshe hear sounds of distress? They should both have heard
the sound of celebration and festivity.
Rav Chaim of Sanz had
a custom: he would test the local children on a monthly basis. The children
would recite orally from the Mishnah or Talmud and Rav Chaim would reward
them generously with sweets and money. Once a group of secular Jews decided
to dupe Rav Chaim. They taught a Talmudic selection to a gentile child and
reviewed it with him until he knew it perfectly. They dressed him like a
Chasidic child and had him stand in line with all the other children to be
tested.
The rabbi listened to
the young boy intently. The other children were puzzled: they did not
remember this boy from their cheder, yet they were amazed at the remarkable
fluency he displayed in reciting his piece. Rav Chaim was not impressed at
all. He turned to the young man and said, “please tell your father that
there are better ways to earn a few coins!” With that he dismissed the
child.
The secularists were
shocked. “How did the Rabbi know?” Their curiosity forced them to approached
Rav Chaim. Rav Chaim smiled as he answered them. “There are two ways to say
the Gemorah. One is filled with spirituality. The child’s body is swaying
and filled with the emotion of Torah. The other is just repetitive rote.
This young man lacked the fire and the true joy that the Jewish children
have when learning Torah. I knew he was not one of ours.”
The Jews got up to
revel around the golden calf. Moshe and Yehoshua however knew the
difference between true joy — simcha — and confusion. The Jews revel were
in essence distressed but it was masked with drinks and noise makers. True
joy is coupled with a certainty and a sense of direction; something lacking
for those Jews celebrating the idol. The Jews may have gotten up to
celebrate, but it was no celebration. It may have looked like a party to
the untrained eye, but Moshe knew the true sound of joy. It did not exist
with the Golden Calf. True joy is the harmony of spirituality and
contentment. Superficial sounds of euphoria and celebration are heard by those
with true insight as sounds of battle and distress.
Dedicated in memory of Leah Lieberman
by Jonathan and Sarah Weber
Good Shabbos!
Copyright © 1998 by Rabbi M. Kamenetzky and Project Genesis,
Inc.
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The author is the
Dean of the Yeshiva of South Shore.
Drasha is the e-mail
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Books by Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky:
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