March 5th: Ki Tissa
THIS WEEK IN THE TORAH
Rabbi David E. Ostrich
Recently, I had a chance to share one of my teachings in the Center Daily Times. The piece focused on Psalm 92 and its particular recasting of the nature of human conflict. Though it seems that bad people are fighting against good people, the Psalmist suggests that the real battle is between bad people and God. “O Lord, how great are Your works! Your plans are so subtle!
The fool will never learn, the dullard never grasp this:
the wicked may flourish like grass, all who do evil may blossom,
yet they are doomed to destruction, while You, O Lord, are exalted for all time.”
There is, of course, hope that the good people (presumably us) will also do well—that God will “lift up my cause in pride” and I will be “bathed in freshening oil, seeing the defeat of my foes and hearing of their fall,” but the real and ultimate victory is God’s. Indeed, the force of the Psalmist’s counsel is that we should subsume our thoughts of grandeur and focus on God and God’s work.
This certainly seems to be the attitude of Moses—and one of his greatest traits. This week, we read about our dramatic moral and religious failure, the Golden Calf incident. God’s initial reaction is to kill all the Israelites except Moses and start over. “I see that this is a stiff-necked people. Now, let Me be, that My anger may blaze forth against them and that I may destroy them, and make of you a great nation.” (Exodus 32.9-10) Moses does not entertain this possibility and redirects God’s attention to the mission. “Let not the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that God delivered the Israelites, only to kill them off in the mountains and annihilate them from the face of the earth.’ Turn from Your blazing anger, and renounce the plan to punish Your people.” (Exodus 32.12) Moses does not focus on personal feelings; he is all about the mission (to bring God’s ways/Torah to the world.)
A chapter later, Moses shows a similar devotion to the holy mission. God has put Moses in the leadership position, but what Moses wants is guidance. “You say to me, ‘Lead this people forward’…and You say that “You have gained My favor. If I have truly gained Your favor, pray let me know Your ways…” (Exodus 33.12-13) He not interested in imposing his will on the people; rather he wants to lead them into a unity with the Divine.
This is why Moses is so prized by God—trusted by God. As God explains to Aaron and Miriam (Numbers 12.7), “My servant Moses is trusted throughout My household.” You may recognize this sentiment from a passage in the Saturday morning service. Just before Ve’shamru, we read: “Yis’mach Moshe / Moses rejoiced in his unique portion, for You called him a faithful servant. You placed a crown of glory on his head when he stood before You on Mount Sinai. He carried the two tablets of stone in his hand,, on which were inscribed the mitzvah of Shabbat. Thus it is written in Your Torah: V’shamru B’nai Yisrael et Hashabbat/the Children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath…”
Thus do we have a standard of leadership and stewardship. Let our joy be in our closeness to God and our devotion to our holy mission. It is a worthy goal—to which we are all called to aspire.