Weekly Parashah
Ki Tissa 5781
This week’s Parashah I was studying this with Rabbi Tova Leibovic Douglas this week and we found an interesting phrase in regard to the Golden Calf. Verses 32:30, 31 use the Hebrew word Hatat is used for sin. In my understanding, Hatat is the lesser category of sins, Aveiros is the greatest. Hatat is usually used to denote a ‘missing of the mark’ as it is a term used in archery as well. Hatat is also the word we use in the long confessional that we say on Yom Kippur, that we believe we can be forgiven for.
Moses uses this term with the people saying: “You have sinned a great sin”, idolatry was a capital offense, yet Moses is calling it a great ‘missing the mark’! It indicates to me that this particular action of the people was not the same as the idolatry of the people that they are called to account for in the time of the Prophets or even later on in their journey, ie, the story of the spies in Numbers. How come?
I think that because the people were still fresh out of slavery and the inner slave was still strong within them all, Moses was being compassionate. Remember, Moses was never a slave and could not truly know that experience and what it does to a human being. I also think that Moses recognized their fears and their anxieties were so great and they believed he had died on the Mountain. Sinai, while a spiritual experience was also a traumatic one. Moses wanted the people to let go of the shame they were feeling as well, I hope.
I also believe that this wasn’t considered Idolatry to Moses or God. I believe that they saw this action as a human frailty and human failing, a missing the mark. I am imagining that they saw this action as an attempt to connect to God, they did call the calf a representative of Elohai (God) “who brought you out of the land of Egypt”. Because of this way of seeing what happened, Moses also says he is willing to go to God to intercede for the people. He doesn’t let one mistake cause the destruction of the people. He doesn’t want one mistake to shame them for life.
How much we need to realize this teaching! We are not the worst thing we have done. We are all ‘Hataters’, people who miss the mark, and we all are worthy of forgiveness and redemption. Many people live the lie that “1 Oh Shit wipes our 1000 Atta Boys” and this is dangerous and destructive to our connection to God and each other. If the Golden Calf could be considered a ‘Hatat’, why do we continue to keep grudges and forget all the good people do? This year, this Parashah is teaching me/us that we have to let go of our shame, give people a way back from their errors and no longer let one incident determine the value of a human being. Just as we ask for forgiveness on Yom Kippur and God grants it, so too should we ask for forgiveness and grant forgiveness to another(s) when they ask. Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Mark