Parshat Ki Tisa Exodus 30:11-35:12

The novelist Louis L’Amour wrote: “To disbelieve is easy; to scoff is simple; to have faith is harder.” This could describe the children of Israel in the week’s Torah portion Ki Tisa. They take the easy way out.

This week’s Parasha from the Book of Exodus, is the story of Israel’s most grievous sin: the making and worship of the Golden Calf in the desert. Even as they have been witness to the many miracles of redemption from slavery in Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea and escape from the Egyptian army, food and water in the desert, and the voice of God presenting the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai, the Children of Israel, urge Aaron to make a god for them when Moses seems not to return from Mt. Sinai in a timely fashion.

How could the Israelites’ lose their faith so soon after the many miracles that they were witness to themselves? How could Aaron, brother of Moses, destined to be High Priest, give in so quickly to the demands of the people? Why doesn’t Aaron try to talk them out of their foolishness? Could it be that he too feared for Moses’ life? Perhaps Moses did indeed perish on the mountain.

Instead Aaron acquiesced to the demands of the people and fashions a golden calf from their jewelry and declares a Festival to God. The people worship with sacrifices, food and celebration.

God informs Moses of the transgressions of the people and God commands Moses to return down the mountain to the encampment. God’s anger is such that God is ready to destroy the people for their faithlessness.

Moses, ever the great leader, intercedes, and pleads on behalf of the People of Israel. Reminding God of the covenant with our ancestors, Abraham Isaac and Israel, God reconsiders.

Moses returns to the encampment, smashes the first set of the Ten Commandments and punishes the people. He then further, pleads before God for forgiveness for their sin.

This story teaches us many things. It teaches us about the need to bolster our faith in difficult times. Rather than follow a course we know will lead us down a wrong path, we can redouble our efforts to stay the course of righteousness. When we are doubting our own connection to the Divine, when God feels absent, or God’s representative feels absent is this time to simply abandon our belief system? Or is this time to investigate more deeply? Yes, it might be easier to sin, and harder to resist but the rewards of faith outweigh by far the damage of faithlessness.

Imagine if Aaron had engaged the people, in a review of the ways God, provided for the people in recent months. Imagine if Aaron had calmed the people, not by making an idol, but had reviewed the Ten Commandments so recently revealed to all. Imagine if Aaron had engaged them in study. Imagine if Aaron had chosen a few of the leaders of the people and shared the burden of leadership and responsibility with them in calming the fears of the people. Perhaps the faith of the children of Israel might not have been as fleeting.

The next time you are feeling your own faith waning, learn from this story what not to do. Don’t take the easy way out. Learn that to bolster our faith even in difficult times, we must seek out those who can inspire us to study more, delve deeper into the spiritual and religious life through mentoring, friendship, and community. We don’t have to worship the idols of our day for meaning—but together we can seek that connection to the Divine through our communal engagement.

It is no coincidence that the parasha opens with the commandment to take a census of the people and to collect a half-shekel from each person. This half-shekel is a further lessons, that no Jew is complete, unless he or she joins with other. Alone we cannot fulfill our potential, together united in community we can fully be accounted for and connected to the Divine. Just like with faith, when our faith is disconnected, when we are feeling alone, our potential is threatened. It might be easier to distance oneself from community, to withdraw but when we reach out in community, our highest aspirations can be fulfilled. It’s harder but it’s worth it.