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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