MARCH 12 • 2020 | 43

Spirit
torah portion

I

n the hierarchy of mistakes 
we commit as human 
beings, our tradition is quite 
clear that idolatry is the most 
egregious. The fundamental 
objective of Torah is to help us 
to understand the nature of the 
relationship between 
God and humanity. 
And even though idola-
try is the direct opposite 
of faith in God, this 
week’
s Torah portion 
demonstrates how 
precarious the line is 
between the two.
The narrative takes 
place immediately fol-
lowing a long section 
over the past few weeks, 
when God described 
a wide range of laws 
to Moses on Mt. Sinai. 
Finally, we are told, 
“Upon finishing speaking with 
him on Mt. Sinai, [God] gave 
Moses the two tablets of the 
Pact, stone tablets inscribed 
with the finger of God.
” (Exodus 
31:18) 
What a glorious moment that 
must have been! The promise 
of our Exodus from Egypt, after 
all, was not freedom … but the 
opportunity to use our liberty 
in order to build a new society 
in the image of God. It would 
not be an overstatement to sug-
gest that this moment was the 
culmination of human history 
up to that point in time — the 
beginning of our national iden-
tity and partnership with God 
in the project of creating a new 
and better world.
And then, before a word can 
be uttered, before a hand can 
be lifted in celebration — the 
very next verse informs us that 
we may not be ready for such 
self-determination: “When the 
people saw that Moses was so 
long in coming down from the 

mountain, the people gathered 
against Aaron and said to him, 
‘
Come, make us a god who 
shall go before us, for that fel-
low Moses — the envoy who 
brought us from the land of 
Egypt — we do not know what 
has happened to him.
’
”
The golden calf was born 
of fear, but it was also a 
product of ignorance. The 
people didn’
t know what 
happened to their leader, 
and so they demanded 
someone — something 
— else. We can certainly 
relate to that. What might 
we be capable of when we 
feel lost and afraid? Who 
might we turn to when we 
become disillusioned? How 
will we treat our precious 
freedom?
As much as we have pro-
gressed, we are not so different 
from our ancestors long ago. 
Much more than a chronicle of 
ancient events, the Exodus is a 
template for the human jour-
ney that fills each of our lives. 
The Israelites spend much of 
the Torah vacillating between 
walking God’
s path and turning 
from it. We, too, are challenged 
all the time — and as much as 
we might like to believe we are 
generally on the righteous path, 
the subtle message embedded in 
this week’
s Torah portion is that 
it does not take a lot to move 
us from a good place to a bad 
place. 
It is up to us to bring full 
intention to our shared goal 
of living good lives, building 
strong relationships and creat-
ing a successful society. When 
we do so, I am confident we will 
all reach the top of the moun-
tain together. 

Rabbi Mark Miller is senior rabbi at 

Temple Beth El in Bloomfield Township.

Parshat Ki 

Tisa: Exodus 

30:11-34:35; 

Numbers 

19:1-23; 

Ezekiel

36:16-38.

(Shabbat 

Parah)

Rabbi Mark 
Miller

Walking God’s Path

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