Blog

This week’s Torah portion features the ultimate rejection of God by the Israelites. Moses ascends Mt. Sinai to receive the word of God, leaving Aaron in charge. Moses’ long absence makes the Israelites question if he will ever return, and despite having just experienced the Revelation of God at Mt. Sinai, and responding as a collective with the immortal words Na-aseh v’Nishma, we will do and we will obey, they quickly revert to the old ways of Egypt, forcing Aaron to melt down all of their gold and create a golden calf that they can worship.

The concept of a God that we cannot see is always a challenge, even though the obviousness that a statue cannot be a god seems apparent. Our limited abilities as humans frequently require us to experience life through our senses, as they are the inputs that frame the choices we make. For some, to state that the complexity and organization of this planet testifies to the presence of a greater presence, and that presence is God, is sufficient. For some it is not. As humans, we will sometimes turn to other sources for encouragement, and sometimes even more.

Society has placed celebrities on pedestals, and we worship them. It does not matter if they are athletes, movie or television stars, or musicians, just to name three categories, as many people fawn all over them. For those of you old enough to remember the early days of The Beatles, the screaming and fainting of female fans defied belief. Now granted, there are many people in this world that have certain skills that we do not possess, nor could ever hope to achieve. Respecting those skills and achievements is one thing. Worshipping them as gods is another, and I think that verse 3 of Exodus chapter 20, God’s pronouncement of the Aseret HaDibrot, which we incorrectly translate as the Ten Commandments, says it best: You shall have no other gods besides Me.

For some, the gods do not take on a human form, but can be things that we overvalue: money; cars; homes; jewelry; clothing; time. Sometimes we can be slaves to these things, devoting too much effort in the hopes of acquiring and benefiting from them. Sometimes we strive to acquire things with superhuman efforts, perhaps even compromising our humanity along the way. Pirkei Avot 4:1 is very instructive in this matter: Ben Zoma taught: Who is rich? Those who are content with their portion.

Ben Sira was a Jewish Hellenistic scribe who lived 2,200 years ago. He wrote something very telling that is worth thinking about: Let us not seek to understand what is too difficult for us, nor search for what is hidden, nor be preoccupied with what is beyond, for we have been shown more than we can comprehend. As a drop of water in the sea, as a grain of sand on the shore are our few days in eternity. The good things in life last for a short time, but a good reputation endures forever.

May your reputation, my dear reader, live on for eternity.