Dear Friends;

I hope that you will enjoy the following Parsha summary followed by a Dvar Torah;

” Parsha in a Nutshell ”

The people of Israel are told to each contribute exactly half a shekel of silver to the Sanctuary. Instructions are also given regarding the making of the Sanctuary’s water-basin, anointing oil and incense. The people are once again commanded to keep the Shabbat.

When Moses does not return when expected from Mount Sinai, the people make a Golden Calf and worship it. G-d proposes to destroy the sinful nation, but Moses intercedes on their behalf. Moses descends from the mountain carrying the Tablets of stones engraved with the Ten Commandments. Seeing the people dancing around their idol, he breaks the Tablets, destroys the Golden Calf and has the primary culprits put to death. He then returns to G-d to say: “If You do not forgive them, blot me out from the book that You have written.” G-d forgives, but says that the effect of their sin will be felt for many generations. .

Moses prepares a new set of tablets and once more ascends the mountain, where G-d reinscribes the ten commandments on these Second Tablets. On the mountain Moses is also granted a vision of G-d’s glory! So radiant is Moses’ face upon his return, that he must cover it with a veil, which he removes only to speak with G-d and to teach His laws to the people.

” Dvar Torah ”

Leaders can fail in many different ways. It may depend on the outside factors; the timing may not be right; the conditions may be unfavorable; and there may be no one on the other side to talk to. Or it may depend on the internal factors. A leader can simply lack the courage to lead. Sometimes leaders have to oppose the crowd. They have to say No when everyone else is crying Yes. That can be terrifying. Crowds have a will and momentum of their own. To say No may be to put your career, even your life, at risk. That is when courage is needed, and not showing it can constitute a moral failure of the worst kind.

In this week’s Parsha, unfortunately, leadership failure was the fate of Aaron HaKohen. This is how the Torah describes to us what happened: When the people saw that Moses was taking too long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, ‘Come, make us a god who will go before us. As for this man Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’ Aaron answered them, ‘Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.’ So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. He took it from their hands and bound it up in a cloth, and fashioned it into a molten calf. Then they said, ‘This is your G‑d, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.

G‑d became angry. Moses pleaded with Him to spare the people. He then descended the mountain, saw what had happened, smashed the tablets of stones he had brought down with him, burned the idol, ground it to powder, mixed it with water and made the Israelites drink it. Then he turned to Aaron his brother and said, “What have you done?”

“Do not be angry, my lord,” Aaron answered. “You know how inclined these people are to evil. They said to me, ‘Make us a god who will go before us. As for this man Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’ So I told them, ‘Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.’ Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!”

Aaron blamed the people. It was they who made the illegitimate request. He denied responsibility for making the calf. It just happened. “I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!” This is the same kind of denial of responsibility we recall from the story of Adam and Eve. The man says, “It was the woman.” The woman says, “It was the serpent.” It happened. It wasn’t me. I was the victim not the criminal! Not accepting responsibilities is a moral failure on it’s own!

The odd thing is that Aaron was not immediately punished. According to the Torah he was condemned for another sin altogether when, years later, he and Moses hit the rock instead of speaking to it. It was only later still, in the last month of Moses’ life, that Moses told the people a secret that he had kept from them until now: …. “And the L‑rd was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him, but at that time I prayed for Aaron too.” G‑d, according to Moses, was so angry with Aaron for the sin of the golden calf that He was about to kill him, and would have done so had it not been for Moses’ prayer.

It seems that tradition dealt kindly with Aaron. He is portrayed as a man of peace. He was given the position of the highest Priest. But Rabbi Jonathan Sacks has an interesting view about Aaron. He says, the fact that Aaron was not a leader in the same mold as Moses does not mean that he was a failure. It means that he was made for a different kind of role. Yes, Moses might have smashed the tablets and grinded the calf to dust, but that’s Moses character, not Aaron’s! Moses and Aaron were different types. Aaron failed when he was called on to be a Moses, but he became a great leader in his own right in a different capacity. There are times when you need someone with the courage to stand against the crowd, others when you need a peacemaker. Aaron and Moses complemented one another and both of them were successful in their own fields.

Yes my friends, Hashem has given everyone a different character and capabilities in this world. Not everyone can be a leader, not everyone can be a Rabbi, not everyone can be a doctor, and not everyone can be a businessman. Each person can be good in one thing and not in the other. If someone fails in one field, it does not make him a failure; it just suggests that he hasn’t found the right field that he is good in yet! We learn from the Torah that Aaron was a man of peace and not a commander in chief. He was great in bringing peace between two people, but he had no idea how to control the mob!

So remember my friends, to fall does not make you a failure, you might just not be in the right field! The famous phrase says: Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder……. yet failure is in the eyes of the participant! You are a failure only when YOU believe that you’ve failed. Don’t let it happen to you!

Shabbat Shalom & Regards;

Martin