Parshat Ki Tisa- Being Part of the Kehillah

BY: DANIELLE LIT

Judaism highly values community.  Two of its cherished traditions, reading from the Torah and saying Mourner’s Kaddish, both require there to be a minimum of ten Jews present. Yet Judaism also highly values the individual, and teaches both Ahavat Yisrael, and the value of every Jew.  In this week's parsha, Parshat Ki Tisa, both of these roles, that of the individual and of the Kehillah (community), face very serious tension. This week’s parsha writes of the creation and worshiping of the Golden calf, and Judaism isn’t such a fan of idolatry.

When Hashem speaks to Moses about the sin of the Golden Calf he tells Moses, "Go down, for your people, whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, have become corrupt” (Shemot 32:7, emphasis mine). The fact that Hashem switches ownership and responsibility of the people to Moses demonstrates the severity of the people’s act. Midrash Rabbah picks up on the wording here and writes that Moses then asks G-d how the Jewish people could possibly be ‘Moses’ people’. Moses had just finished receiving ‘version one’ of the Ten Commandments which begins: “I am the Lord, your God, Who took you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” (Exodus 20:2, emphasis again mine).  

The people’s calculated date of Moses’s return was not the actual date. While Moses was absent, the response of the Israelites was one of panic and a loss of faith. The result was mass hysteria. People ceased to think for themselves and let fear overtake them; in this moment of doubt the community turned to ‘group think’. Yet being in a Kehillah, one needs to maintain thoughtful intelligence.  There is a dual responsibility: thinking for yourself as well as thinking as a community.  Doing just the second is not enough and each person also needs to take responsibility  to stop and think-- to exercise one’s individuality--and consider rationally whether or not the group’s choice is a responsible one, for in our Kehillah, there is power in numbers. 

This takes courage. One is charged with the responsibility to think twice - once as a part of a group and once as an individual -  and sometimes one needs to stand up and challenge the decision making process.  A person might become an unwilling leader, charged with the vital necessity to momentarily step away from the community and challenge what the group wishes to do. Indeed, while Moses is receiving the Torah there is a person who had the opportunity to step up to this leadership position in his absence: Aaron.  But when the group tells Aaron of their fears and their desire to make the calf, “Come on! Make us gods that will go before us, because this man Moses, who brought us up from the land of Egypt we don't know what has become of him." (Exodus 32:1) What does Aaron do?  In this moment where Aaron had the opportunity to step up as an individual and attempt to break away from the Kehillah, he does not. Rather, he bends to majority rule and instructs the people to “remove the golden earrings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters and bring them [those earrings] to me.” (Exodus 32:2) In so doing, Aaron carries out the will of the community and instructs them as to how to proceed to construct the Golden Calf.

This story is an example in Jewish History of when community thinking makes a big mess of faith, and it takes a leader, Moses, to return them to the right path.  G-d warns Moses about the people’s stubbornness and of their actions and tells Moses that G-D’s “anger will be kindled against them so that I will annihilate them, and I will make you into a great nation." (Exodus 32:10).  In that moment, however, Moses steps up and takes charge as a leader.  Moses, the individual, acts for his community and begs Hashem for compassion for the Kehillah, saying, "Why, O Lord, should your anger be kindled against Your people whom You have brought up from the land of Egypt with great power and with a strong hand?”  (Exodus 32:11, emphasis mine). The repetitive use of “You” and “Your” here is Moses’s attempt to plead with Hashem to be merciful and compassionate and resume ownership of the Jewish people. He continues to attempt to sway G-D and includes the merits of the individuals “Abraham, Isaac, and Israel” (Exodus 32:13), and finally Hashem agrees to spare the Jewish people.

When Moses comes down from the mountain, he is appalled by the community he sees, and he throws the tablets containing the Ten Commandments, shattering them. He then asks Aaron, "What did this people do to you that you brought [such] a grave sin upon them?" (32:21) He is asking Aaron why Aaron did not step up to the position of leadership.  Aaron shunned his responsibility of, in this case, opposing the community and leading it, and therefore is especially responsible for their misdeeds. He had the opportunity to lead and to state his individual opinion, but he denied his responsibility to lead in Hashem’s direction.  Moses in turn steps up to the leadership role and after chastising both the people and Aaron, he individually returns to Hashem as a member of the community he has just chastised and seeks Hashem’s forgiveness for the community. Moses pleads for the people and also throws his lot in with the rest of the Israelites, telling Hashem that if the people’s actions cannot be forgiven then “erase me now from your book” (32:32).  For Moses too is a member of this Kehillah. Moses identifies himself as a member of the community; he is still part of the Jewish people even after their sinful behavior. G-d forgives the people and does not wipe them out for their grievous error. Further, Moses’ act of leadership saves the day, but his refusal to separate himself from the Kehillah also shows the inherent value of that community.As Hillel taught in Pirkei Avot, “Don't separate yourself from the community.” Moses does not.

Hashem supports Moses’ request for compassion and that he stands by his community.In fact, towards the end of the parsha, Hashem gives the Jewish people the mitzvot of Shabbat and tells them not to “cook a kid in its mother’s milk” (33:26). Kashrut and Shabbat are two mitzvot that strengthen the bond between individuals and Hashem, as well as within the Jewish Kehillah as a whole. As Peninah Feldman pointed out in last week’s blog: “Actions like showing up to kosher meals or going to davening or participating in Shabbat help keep me a part of the Jewish people as a community.”

Judaism prizes the community. At the end of this week's parsha and today, thousands of years later, we still prize community. Richness comes from our kehillah. It is where we can go to get our strength. However, Judaism prizes the individual as well.  One of the inherent challenges within Judaism is finding the balance of nurturing oneself within the community.Yes, I am a part of a community, but I also need to be willing to raise my own, individual voice. Judaism looks for a community to be formed by individuals who are then supported by that community. At the very beginning of this week’s parsha, in chapter 30, Hashem instructs everyone to “give to the Lord an atonement for his soul…half a shekel…everyone who goes through the counting… shall give an offering to G-D. The rich shall give no more and the poor shall give not less”. About this the Lubavitcher Rebbe wrote that “...all are equal in the very basis of their bond with G-D: the intrinsic commitment to him that resides at the core of their souls… As regards the foundation of the relationship between man and G-D, the ‘rich man’ cannot give more, and the ‘pauper cannot give less.”

We all have something valuable to give to the community whether it is a thought, an idea, a practice, a teaching or a belief. Being a part of the community is huge, but alone it is not enough. And so as Jews, we must ask ourselves not only what our community can give to us, but what we as individuals can give to the community.

 

(Texts quoted are from the Chabad.org Tanach)