FEBRUARY 29 • 2024 | 43
J
N
You Are Not
Replaceable
I
f you take no other lesson
away from Parshat Ki Tisa,
remember that you are not
replaceable. Human beings are
irreplaceable. To suggest other-
wise is not only morally
reprehensible, but utterly
contrary to the Torah.
We see this chal-
lenged multiple ways:
first, where the people
fear Moshe is gone and
demand an elohim to
go before them (Exodus
32:1), and Aaron forges
the golden calf. The peo-
ple sought a replacement
for Moshe as though
a graven image could
serve as a stand-in for
a human being! Why would
the people not ask Aaron to
lead them in Moshe’s place?
Abarbanel teaches us that the
people feared that Aaron, too,
would die and leave them lead-
erless; so they sought a more
“permanent” replacement that
Aaron could make: An idol
could not die and leave them.
Yet it was clear that this,
too, was false as it was eas-
ily destroyed when Moshe
returned and demonstrated
that he could not be replaced
as a human being; he has agen-
cy to act, something impossi-
ble for an idol.
This idea of irreplaceabil-
ity is again challenged when
God informs Moshe that the
people are bowing down to
a graven image; God calls
them, “… your people, whom
you brought out of Egypt.”
He declares to Moshe, “Now
let Me be, that My anger may
blaze forth among them, that I
may consume them and make
you a great nation!”
God is acting to disown us,
due to our own actions; and
Moshe stands before God
and reminds God that we are
God’s people. While Moshe
could serve as a means
by which the Covenant
could be fulfilled, he
makes clear that he is
not a replacement for all
of Israel. The people are
not replaceable, even by
Moshe.
In the first case, Aaron
failed as a leader. In the
second case, Moshe suc-
ceeded. There are rab-
binic arguments for why
Aaron failed this test,
ranging from a delaying
tactic to him being in fear of
his life; but his giving in to the
people stands in stark contrast
to Moshe standing up to God.
Why did Moshe succeed where
Aaron failed? Moshe remem-
bered that his role included
speaking truth to power, even
unto the ultimate power, the
Maker of heaven and earth.
We are living in a time when
there are those who seek to
bargain for the lives of our
people as though it is possible
to set a value on each infinitely
precious human life. It is our
obligation to remember, to
speak up and to remind our-
selves and others that people
are not replaceable.
There is no time and no
place where we must not act
to save those whose lives are
risked by those who have
never learned or forgotten this
lesson.
Rabbi Jeremy Yoskowitz is the Z’man
Kodesh Coordinator and a Jewish
Studies Instructor at Frankel Jewish
Academy.
SPIRIT
TORAH PORTION
Rabbi
Jeremy
Yoskowitz
Parshat
Ki Tisa:
Exodus
30:11-34:35;
I Kings
18:1-39.
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