i
Moses is with God, up on the mountain.
The people saw that
Moses was…long in coming down
They say: we do not know what has happened to him.
They say to Aaron:
make a god for us
Aaron melts their jewelry down, he makes the Golden Calf.
ii
On the mountain, God tells Moses:
I have called…Bezalel son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Yehudah;
and I have given also Aholiav son of Akhisamakh, of the tribe of Dan
and all the wise-hearted people
to construct the Mishkan, the Tent from which God will dwell among the people.
iii
God says: let the people build the Mishkan together, and I will dwell among them.
The people say to Aaron: you alone make a god for us.
*
There is religion of the people joined together, joined to God.
There is religion of the lone saint.
The Golden Calf is this second kind of religion.
And there, too, is its sinfulness.
Shabbat Shalom, Abe
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For thoughts on Parshat Ki Tisa from years prior, click here (and scroll down).
Verses quoted: Ex 32:1;
31:2,6; 25:8
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