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Drash
for Shabbat Ki Tisa Howdy congregants! This week’s Parshah, Ki Tisa, includes the narrative of the Golden Calf. While Moses has been on Mount Sinai for over 40 days with God, the children of Israel have been growing restless and since they feel he will not be returning they ask Aaron to make them a God, a replacement of Moses. Aaron collects gold jewelry from them, melts it down and molds it into a Golden Calf. The next day all the people celebrate with burnt offerings and, of course, eating and dancing. Meanwhile back on the mountain, and I don’t mean Mt. Lemmon, God informs Moses that his people are back to their old ways and he is very angry with them. Moses begs God not to destroy his people saying, "Let not Your anger, Eternal One, blaze forth against Your people, whom you delivered from the land of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand." This has meaning to me, because how often do we as parents become angry with our children, but then realize that our anger is not a means to solve the problem? As a pre-school teacher I became aware that staying calm, using a soft voice along with patience and understanding resulted in the most positive outcomes in my "Terrific Two’s" class. This spilled over in my conversations with parents that wanted to know how twelve 2 year olds could get along when they were having problems at home with just one child. I told them what worked in my classroom and through dialogue the transition from classroom to home was much easier. Back to our story, when Moses descends from the mountain and sees his people worshipping the Golden Calf, he becomes enraged and hurls the tablets from his hands, smashing them to pieces. Even though Moses just asked God to control his anger and give the Children of Israel a second chance, Moses could not control himself. He not only destroys the tablets containing the words of God, but he also punishes the sinners by slaying three thousand men, women, and children. Moses climbs back up to Mount Sinai and pleads for his people and another set of tablets. He begs God for forgiveness and a second chance for his people and himself. He realizes he acted too hastily and out of anger. I think that if someone as great as Moses had difficulty controlling his anger, it is understandable that this could happen to anyone. Carefully thought out solutions are always the better choice to problem solving for everyone involved. When we model tolerance toward others, we hope they will become more tolerant themselves. Because this is our Rodeo Shabbat, I am reminded of the old western song, "Home on the Range." Remember, "seldom is heard a discouraging word and the skies are not cloudy all day." Shabbat Shalom.
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