“From Golden Calf to Golden Opportunity,” Rabbi Elaine Zecher’s Shabbat Awakenings
March 21, 2025 | 21 Adar 5785
Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings, a weekly reflection, as we make our way toward Shabbat. You can listen to it as a podcast here.
Last week, the people feared Moses had died. They expected his arrival down the mountain and he did not show. How long should it take to receive the Torah? Their fear and faithlessness led them to construct what they knew. Or at least what they thought they knew. The newly freed Israelites insisted Aaron fashion a god to whom they could worship. He obliged and produced a molten calf. (Exodus 32: 1-4)
The Hebrew verb used in its specific grammatical structure reveals their intent in their attitude. The people gathered against Aaron. וַיִּקָּהֵ֨ל הָעָ֜ם עַֽל־אַהֲרֹ֗ן
The verb is Vayeekahal. It is a passive verb form filled with ill-will. Whenever it appears in this structure, nothing good comes out of it. The root means community, but what kind of community did they make? Later in the book of Numbers, the same form of the verb will appear in the rebellious antics of Korah who will challenge Moses’ leadership. Though the people had no power or agency, they created conflict. The use of this verb form connotes a menacing nuance, as the commentator Ibn Ezra notes.
This week, the same Hebrew verb appears, but it is a different form.
Vayakheil. Moses then convoked the whole Israelite community (Exodus 35:1)
It signifies convening and gathering. What a difference a shift in the vowels make. The root of the word still means community, but how they form it and for what purpose is what matters.
Last week, the people connived and concocted an unproductive method to promote their fear and doubt. They convinced themselves of the worst instead of connecting with the experience of redemption and revelation.
This week, Moses, as their guide, channeled their energy toward the building of the Mishkan, their traveling sanctuary. The midrash notes that the people who had come forward to lend their gold to form a molten calf instead come forward this time with their jewelry and gold as gifts of the heart to create a sacred convening place for their community.
They have, in the words of one modern commentator, turned the golden calf into a golden opportunity.
The prospect of creation, conducted in community and motivated by a willing heart transforms the Israelite people. They are no longer a disparate, disjointed band of various tribes. Communities can “gather against” as they did with Aaron. They can also convene, convoke, and create. It all has to do with the intent of their attitude. We witness the transformation as the ancient Israelites move from passive to active agents in the formation of their community, and as a result move forward with great strength.
It will take, as we know today, everything we have to survive and thrive as the Jewish people with an attitude of communal intent to journey through the wilderness of life together.
שבת שלום Shabbat Shalom!
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Rabbi Elaine Zecher