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. 

