Ki Tissa - Confusing Message and Messenger

B"H

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Sources:

1) Midrash Tanchuma Ki Tissa, Chapter 19 - Part 1 (The sorcerors/Michah)

וירא העם כי בושש משה, בא שש שעות. נתכנסו ארבעים אלף שעלו עם ישראל ושני חרטומי מצרים עמהם, ושמותם יונו"ס ויומברו"ס, שהיו עושין לפני פרעה כל אותם כשפים, כמו שכתוב, ויעשו גם הם חרטומי מצרים בלהטיהם (שמות ז יא). ונקהלו כלם על אהרן, שנאמר, ויקהל העם על אהרן ויאמר וגו', שמשה שוב אינו יורד כבר

[...]

השליך לאש ובאו החרטומים ועשו בחרטומיהם. ויש אומרים, שמיכה היה שנתמכמך בבנין, מה שהציל משה מן הלבנים. נטל הלוח שכתב עליו משה, עלה שור, כשהעלה ארונו של יוסף. השליכו לתוך הכור בין הנזמים, ויצא העגל גועה כשהוא מקרטע. התחילו אומרים, אלה אלהיך ישראל

2) Midrash Tanchuma Ki Tissa, Chapter 19 - Part 2 (The women)

. אמר להם אהרן, פרקו נזמי הזהב אשר באזני נשיכם. אמר אהרן להם דבר קשה, שהנשים מתעכבות בו, שהם ראו כל הנסים והגבורות שעשה הקדוש ברוך הוא במצרים ובים ובסיני. הלכו אצל הנשים. עמדו עליהם. ואמרו, חס ושלום שנכפור בהקדוש ברוך הוא שעשה לנו כל הנסים וגבורות האלו ונעשה עבודה זרה. כיון שלא שמעו להם, מה כתיב, ויתפרקו כל העם את נזמי הזהב. אשר באזני נשיהם לא נאמר, אלא אשר באזניהם

3) Midrash Tanchuma Ki Tissa, Chapter 19 - Part 3 ('Forgetting G-d') 

פתחו מלאכי השרת ואמרו, שכחו אל מושיעם עושה גדולות במצרים (שם קו כא). מה עשה אהרן. אמר ידחה הדבר עד למחר, שנאמר, ויקרא אהרן ויאמר חג לה' מחר. ורוח הקודש צוחת, מהרו שכחו מעשיו (שם שם יב). אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא, בעולם הזה, על ידי יצר הרע חטאתם. לעתיד, אני עוקרו מכם, שנאמר, והסירותי את לב האבן מבשרכם (יחזקאל לו כו

4) Shemot 32:1-3

א וַיַּרְא הָעָם כִּי-בֹשֵׁשׁ מֹשֶׁה לָרֶדֶת מִן-הָהָר וַיִּקָּהֵל הָעָם עַל-אַהֲרֹן וַיֹּאמְרוּ אֵלָיו קוּם עֲשֵׂה-לָנוּ אֱלֹהִים אֲשֶׁר יֵלְכוּ לְפָנֵינוּ כִּי-זֶה מֹשֶׁה הָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר הֶעֱלָנוּ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם לֹא יָדַעְנוּ מֶה-הָיָה לוֹ.  ב וַיֹּאמֶר אֲלֵהֶם אַהֲרֹן פָּרְקוּ נִזְמֵי הַזָּהָב אֲשֶׁר בְּאָזְנֵי נְשֵׁיכֶם בְּנֵיכֶם וּבְנֹתֵיכֶם וְהָבִיאוּ אֵלָי.  ג וַיִּתְפָּרְקוּ כָּל-הָעָם אֶת-נִזְמֵי הַזָּהָב אֲשֶׁר בְּאָזְנֵיהֶם וַיָּבִיאוּ אֶל-אַהֲרֹן.

5) Shemot 32:7-8

  ז וַיְדַבֵּר יְהוָה אֶל-מֹשֶׁה  לֶךְ-רֵד כִּי שִׁחֵת עַמְּךָ אֲשֶׁר הֶעֱלֵיתָ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם.  ח סָרוּ מַהֵר מִן-הַדֶּרֶךְ אֲשֶׁר צִוִּיתִם עָשׂוּ לָהֶם עֵגֶל מַסֵּכָה וַיִּשְׁתַּחֲווּ-לוֹ וַיִּזְבְּחוּ-לוֹ וַיֹּאמְרוּ אֵלֶּה אֱלֹהֶיךָ יִשְׂרָאֵל אֲשֶׁר הֶעֱלוּךָ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם. 

There is a fundamental question underlying the episode of the Chet Ha-Egel (Sin of the Golden Calf) in parshat Ki Tissa - how could the Jews, having only just experienced G-d's presence at matan Torah in a way that nobody before or since has done, turn so quickly to avodah zarah? As you can imagine, out of the almost 40 (!) chapters of midrashim in this week's Midrash Tanchuma many explore this very question. Here, I have selected one particular set of midrashim in Chapter 19 which may already be familiar to a Jewish-educated audience -  the women refusing to give up their gold for the egel (idol in the form of a calf); Chur protesting against the people and being killed for it (after which Aharon concedes to their demands); and the involvement of sorcerors and sorcery in the formation of the egel itself.

However, while the individual midrashim in Chapter 19 (which I've broken down for ease of reference) may therefore seem familiar, by looking at them together we can also gain a new insight into what actually happened at this critical and tragic moment in Jewish history. Plus, there is a very long footnote for which I apologise! 

Here goes...

The midrash opens at Source 1) with an intriguing statement that amongst those who left Mitzrayim with the Jews were two Egyptian sorcerors who used to practice magic in Pharoah's court, and who had demonstrated their skills (and eventually, lack of them) when Moshe had first appeared before Pharoah to demand the Jews' freedom. While the midrash shifts its focus first to Chur (whose story I am not exploring here) and the women as dissenting voices, it then returns to these sorcerors to provide one explanation of how the egel was formed from the golden earrings thrown into the fire by Aharon.*

However, the midrash also goes on to provide an alternative explanation - Michah, whom Moshe had saved as a baby from being walled up into a building by the Egyptians, is somehow in possession of a tablet inscribed with the words 'olah shor' (rise up, ox) which Moshe had used when retrieving Yosef's coffin from the Nile. It is therefore as a result of Michah throwing this tablet into the fire that the egel is formed.**

Both explanations connect Mitzrayim and magical practices to the formation of the egel - however, what they also have in common is a link with Moshe as someone who is seen to carry out 'supernatural' acts. While the midrash only alludes to this in its choice of proof-text (Shemot 7:11), the two sorcerors would have been direct witnessess to the first three plagues of blood, frogs and lice inasmuch as they tried to reproduce all three before Pharoah. Indeed, when they were unsuccessful in reproducing the lice it was the sorcerors who declared 'etzba Elokim hi' (this is the finger of G-d) - which makes it highly ironic that they have a role in the Chet HaEgel at the very moment that G-d has given Moshe the luchot inscribed 'b'etzba Elokim' (with the finger of G-d). Much the same could be said of Michah, who is presumably aware of Moshe's original use of the inscribed tablet when he throws it into the fire - and who, in another irony, owes his very life to Moshe. 

Let's hold onto this thought while we turn to Source 2). This midrash draws on Shemot 32:2-3 to explain that one of Aharon's tactics in 'playing for time' was to tell the men to ask their wives for their gold earrings in order to make the egel, predicting that the women would not agree to this.***Just as Aharon had thought the women refused to comply, saying:

 'Chas v'shalom shenichpor b'HaKadosh Baruch Hu she'asah lanu kol hanisim u'gvurot ha'eilu v'na'aseh avodah zara' (G-d forbid that that we should deny the Holy One Blessed be He who did all of these miracles and mighty deeds for us, and that we should do idolatry!)

Unfortunately this does not prevent the egel as the men donate their own golden earrings rather than those of their wives. However, the message is clear - the women stand firm in refusing to take part in avodah zarah because they maintain their awareness of G-d and all that G-d has done for them in Mitzrayim, at the splitting of the Yam Suf (Reed Sea) and finally at Har Sinai itself. In which case, why on earth don't the men also recognise this having gone through the same experiences as the women?

Well, it seems that the men had not maintained this awareness of G-d in the same way as the women, hence their turning to avodah zarah. This can be seen in the concluding midrashim (underlined in Source 3 above) where the midrash twice quotes from Tehillim to point out that, in saying that the egel had brought them out of Mitzrayim, those participating in the Chet haEgel had 'forgotten' G-d and everything that G-d had done for them until now.

Perhaps now we can see the role of the sorcerors/Michah in this incident. While both the sorcerors and Michah may have been aware of G-d, their first knowledge of G-d would have been mediated through Moshe as G-d's messenger and 'miracle-worker' in Mitzrayim. Notwithstanding the direct revelation subsequently experienced by the entire people at matan Torah, they may therefore have assumed not only that Moshe was a necessary intermediary between G-d and the people, but that in Moshe's absence the only suitable substitute as an intermediary would be something linked with Moshe's role as a 'miracle-worker'. Given the sorcerors/Michah's particular experiences of Moshe, it would not have been a huge leap for them to assume that this apect of Moshe's role was down to his using the sort of sorcery commonly practiced in Mitzrayim at the time - hence their use of magic to raise the egel from the fire. 

This view of Moshe as a unique, quasi-magician intermediary with G-d may have been shared by those people clamouring for the creation of an egel as a substitute to 'lead' them in Moshe's absence. This was not an unknown danger - after all, one reason behind Moshe's burial in an unknown location was to avoid his grave becoming a shrine and potential location of avodah zarah, while Rambam famously traces avodah zarah to people's original attempts to engage with G-d through intermediary objects/nature before eventually ascribing divine powers to these intermediaries themselves.

This set of midrashim therefore appears to contrast the above attitude towards Moshe - as exemplified by the sorcerors/Michah - with the womens' clarity of vision and refusal to engage in avodah zarah. Despite the sorcerors appearing to recognise G-d in Mitzrayim through their exclamation of 'etzba Elokim hi!', by the time of the Chet HaEgel they have either forgotten that Moshe was only a 'messenger' for G-d's showing His power in Mitzrayim or shown that they had always been confused over Moshe's role in the plagues. By contrast, in their exclamation of 'chas v'shalom!' it is the women who avoid confusing the 'message' of G-d's redemption of the Jews from Mitzrayim and revelation of the Torah with Moshe as the 'messenger' who, as their leader, was only carrying out G-d's will. 

Shavua tov!

RPT

* For those interested, the midrash is probably basing this idea of the egel being formed by some kind of magic upon Aharon's explanation to Moshe of what happened, in which he makes it sound as if the egel emerged from the flames of its own accord - see Shemot 32:24

**If you're wondering about this, the stories of Michah/babies being used as bricks and Moshe raising Yosef's coffin from the Nile only appear in midrashic literature, much like Avraham smashing Terach's idols.

***As a female reader, one might expect me to be unreservedly happy about this midrash and its portrayal of women standing firm in their faith when the men were backsliding - indeed, this is one of the texts traditionally brought to prove womens' greater spiritual status in what is best described as Orthodox Judaism's version of 'radical feminism'.#  However, against this the midrash does raise other troubling questions centering around the implication throughout both the midrash and the Torah itself is that 'am' only encompasses male Jews - otherwise not only does this midrash not make sense, but in the text of Shemot Aharon would not be asking the 'am' to take the jewellry of their 'wife, sons and daughters' if these groups were included in 'am'. Yet, both texts go on to say that 'kol ha'am' took off their earrings for the Egel, just as earlier in the Torah 'kol ha'am' had twice indicated its acceptance of the Torah (parshat Yitro). I don't think this is coincidental - however, if we do read 'kol ha'am' on both occasions as encompassing just the men, then what does this say about women's inclusion in acceptance of the Torah??

I don't have an answer to this, but thought I'd throw this out there in case anyone has any ideas or way of resolving this....

# with thanks to Rabbanit Gilla Rosen of Yakar/Nishmat for articulating the parallels between chareidi and radical feminist views of gender difference at a recent conference in Oxford ;-)