44 | MARCH 9 • 2023
T
his week’s Torah por-
tion serves as a pivotal
point for Moshe and
the Bnei Yisrael’s relationship
with God — but in two
very opposite and distinct
ways. By the end of our
parshah, the Bnei Yisrael
have betrayed God while
Moshe has had the most
intimate encounter with
God of anyone before or
since.
As a result of the
nation’s betrayal, God
withdraws from direct
association with them.
The nation mourns, griev-
ing the spiritual vacancy.
The darkness cast upon the
people is juxtaposed to the
brightness exuded by Moshe.
Moshe’s face radiates light —
literally. The glow is somehow
a result of his encounter with
God.
The Torah is somewhat
vague about how Moshe
acquired this extraordi-
nary quality. Rabbinic
literature and commen-
taries pose several expla-
nations for the source of
Moshe’s newly acquired
countenance. One
explanation in particu-
lar offers a fascinating
insight into the relation-
ship between God and
Moshe and an instruc-
tive lesson on the role of
parents’ responsibility to
their children.
Earlier in our parshah,
Moshe negotiates for, perhaps,
the boldest request of his life.
A request born out of the
deepest desire to connect to
the Divine. Moshe asks to see
God and to behold Him in all
his glory. God emphatically
denies Moshe’s request; it is
simply impossible for a human
being to see God’s face and live.
But, God relents slightly — it is
possible to catch a glimpse —
to take in a small and indirect
glance, but only of God’s back.
“
And so,
” God instructs Moshe,
“I will rest you safely on a crev-
ice of the mountain and shield
you with my hand until it is
safe to see me from the back.
”
It was this encounter with God,
according to the midrash and
cited by Rashi, God using His
hand to shield Moshe from an
encounter he could not bear,
which left Moshe exuding light.
God demonstrated love and
devotion to his faithful servant
Moshe by setting clear bound-
aries, not granting permissive
indulgence, even for a request
that was heartfelt and deeply
noble. Parents are often called
upon to balance what they
know to be in the best interest
of their children with the chil-
dren’s desire to pursue what is
appealing and sometimes, at
least on the surface, worthwhile
and reasonable.
Moshe’s encounter with God
reminds us that love for our
children sometimes requires us
to provide them with guidance,
and even restrictions, that we
know to be in their best interest.
It is through loving guidance,
shielding the next generation
from the dangers they may be
unaware of or the temptations
they are drawn to, as difficult as
it may be, which will ultimately
help them exude the light of the
Divine.
Rabbi Azaryeh Cohen is head of
school at Frankel Jewish Academy in
West Bloomfield.
people’s activity on the ground:
“When Joshua heard the sound of the
people in its boisterousness, he said to
Moses, ‘There is a cry of war in the camp.
’
But he [Moses] answered, ‘It is not the
sound of the tune of triumph, Or the sound
of the tune of defeat; It is the sound of song
that I hear!’” (Exodus 32:17-18)
According to literary scholar Robert
Alter, Joshua’s perspective is shaped by his
training: “Joshua is a military man and so
jumps to the conclusion that the uproar
means battle” (The Five Books of Moses: A
Translation with Commentary, p. 496). In
didactic, poetic language, Moses teaches
his disciple not to jump to conclusions.
The power of this lesson is embedded in a
Hebrew wordplay: the Hebrew words trans-
lated as “tune” and “song” have the same
Hebrew consonants: ayin-nun-vav-tav, but
they are vocalized differently: tune is anot
and song is annot, The doubling effect of
the letter nun implies intensification of the
root meaning from tune to song. There is
much debate about this in the traditional
and modern commentaries. But if we accept
the interpretation that annot means song,
then two midrashic interpretations see this
mid-mountain interchange as a chance for
Moses to influence Joshua’s leadership per-
spective for the long haul:
“[And to this] Moshe said to him,
‘Yehoshua, they are depending on you
and trusting you to acquire the land and
[yet] you do not know how to distin-
guish between one sound and another
...
’” (Midrash Tanchuma on Parashat
Va-et’chanan 2:2)
Nachmanides offers a different point of
view: “The Rabbis have likewise said in an
aggadah (Kohelet Rabbah 9:11) that Moses
told Joshua, ‘Is it possible that one who is
destined to be the leader of Israel cannot
distinguish between different kinds of
sounds?’ Now Moses in his great humility
did not tell Joshua the cause of the noise,
as he did not want to speak of the disgrace
of Israel, and so instead he told him that it
was noise of merriment.
” (Ramban [Rabbi
Moses ben Nachman or Nachmanides] on
Exodus 32:18)
Finally, a psychological perspective is
offered by the contemporary Israeli sing-
er-songwriter Ehud Banai, in his song,
“Golden Calf.
” Its opening stanza gives
first-person voice to the Israelite people’s
deep sense of crisis. Banai’s stirring compo-
sition contributes another layer of empathy
to our understanding of this familiar story:
“Here we are in the heart of the
desert
Thirsty for living water
You’re on top of the mountain
Above the clouds
There is no sign
No signal
So many days
In a closed circuit we circle
Around the Golden Calf.
”
Rabbi Reuven Greenvald is the director of Israel
engagement for the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ)
where this essay was first published.
continued from page 43
Nurturing the Divine
Light in our Children
SPIRIT
TORAH PORTION
Rabbi
Azaryeh
Cohen
Parshat Ki
Tisa: Exodus
30:11-34:35;
Numbers 19:1-
22; Ezekiel
36:16-38.