Barbara Roslyn Rubin – Nation Building and the Sin of the Golden Calf
The improbable has happened and I find myself writing an interpretation of a passage of Torah even as I confront my ignorance of Hebrew and a lack of formal study for Jewish texts. Popular books for newbies to Judaism and a Dvar Torah every Shabbos were the mainstay of my learning. Still, on the occasion of reading Rabbi Lord Sach’s latest legacy discussion of Parsha Korach, the parallels to the present time period are deserve elaboration. Please bear with the effrontery of my efforts today.
Objectively viewed, the forward progression of the Jewish people has been different from that of other groups. Few groups have the distinctive markers as we do ourselves in ‘time’, such as the Exodus, Sinai, becoming a Kingdom, serving in a real Temple, dispersions and so on. The passage about Korach has implications for viewing the divisions within modern mindsets from the level of abject enslavement through levels of freedom. Surprisingly, these are quite old considering the degree of evil that has remained among us, so long after Noah’s flood was to issue a ‘final warning’.
Slavery is well understood given its presence yesterday, today, and tomorrow (unfortunately). Slaves are much like donkeys plodding in a circle, perhaps beaten to continue their repetitive tasks long past endurance. The beast knows only work and sustenance in the confines of its existence. Companionship doesn’t develop during sleep and has little to do with gender beyond the breeding pen. Korach never feared becoming a slave because the Jewish people had just fled slavery in Egypt and possessed both wealth (from the Egyptians anxious to speed them on their way) and sustenance from heaven. However, the miracles allowing the escape all took place in the presence of Moshe Rabenu. His absence provoked fear among those who did not have complete faith in their tribal definition.
The next class is that of servants, as Rabbi Sachs described. Servants are comprised of those who take on labors of need, (despite preference), and the leaders who serve those in need of guidance. Generally, the first thought about servitude goes to the domestic servant who has shelter, food, and clothing. His/her fortunes wax and wane with those of his master. The master’s personal qualities determine the servant’s self-image and the master’s wealth determines how the servant measures his own portion amidst the bounty of the times. We ought then to believe that a leader of men shares the same mentality of his flock, at least at first. The personal qualities of those who are led determine the ultimate direction of the leader’s aims. Should the citizens of the United States choose to ignore the laws, the leaders would either adopt the citizens’ beliefs in order to maintain the illusion of position or take his/her leave of the embittered population. Only freedom of speech and the press allows for a dialogue to take place when the gap widens too greatly between viewpoints of the led and their servant leaders.
The leader of men is also assigned a share in the bounty of the citizens. Should the leadership be valued, the salary would be significant. Otherwise, remuneration is far below the worth of the ‘services rendered’. Obviously an evil leader would be deposed, legally or through force by an honest constituency. With Korach, only the absence of Moshe Rabenu permitted him to prey upon the fears of abandonment suffered by the Israelites while Moshe was engaged in the creation of the next phase of human development, the laws of the Torah. Deprived of the sight of their leader, Korach offered a visible alternative to a missing force under his own direction. Yet Moshe did not replace Pharoah; he resumed the journey of B’nei Yisrael towards nationhood.
Did not the American colonists offer kingship to Washington after defeating the English King George? Perhaps we might conclude that the male Israelites (the women did not participate) built a golden calf because they were dangerously close to idolatrous thinking in the person of Moshe himself. In childhood, the idea of an absent object returning into view is not present, at least until the age of ten months. The slave mentality pushed through because of the prolonged absence of a proven leader. Perhaps the length of time, (40 days), needed to convey the Torah to our Teacher, Moshe, served to highlight this disastrous remnant of enslavement.
Where were the women all this time? We might think they had reached the servant class, wherein they served to stabilize the budding nation through this terrible breach of faith. Women were both followers of their warrior husbands and leaders of the tents wherein the future Israelites would be born. Therefore, they waited behind the lines, as it were, for Moshe to return from the mountain. Interestingly, they also his some of the wealth given the tribes by Egyptians from their husbands who would have taken all to Korach’s cause. When Moshe returned from the mountain and the terrible retribution for the sin of the Golden Calf had been meted out to Korach and his followers, we saw the next phase of an emergent people paralyzed by fear of their own introduction to adulthood. The Children of Israel set out on a journey with the intention of becoming ‘blameless’. The absence of sin might appear to be the perfect ‘10’of behavior desirable in both athletes and those living under tyrannical leaders like those of communist countries. Yet, we know the need to be invisible while performing optimally, only meets the needs of the moment. The future remains in question because behavior conforms, however effectively, to dictated norms.
We have now reviewed the stages of development of a nation from slavish adherence to orders and the provision of service according to the needs of the people themselves by the most experienced members of the group. “Blamelessness” follows, with the model of the optimal activity required to maintain group identity but not yet allowing momentum to build towards growth. The expectations are still set from outside the group of witnesses to the exodus and the events of Sinai. When do we know a group is ready to adopt all the characteristics of a nation and continue independent of a single focal point known as leadership? The value required is that of ‘conscious intention’ on the part of most group members to identify past and future actions that will meet the mission of the people. In this case, the holiness of the group members and the sanctification of the land where the tribe will dwell is the goal. Nationhood would require the majority of people to create methods of meeting these goals, along with the actions required to materially sustain the people when caretaking was finished, i.e. provision of water and manna by HaShem.
Conscious life sustains present members of a group and furthers the development of methods for preserving life while maintaining the narrative that defines the origins and future aims of the people. This is the difference between settling new lands – as with the Oklahoma Land Rush – and electing representatives to formulate future goals for the group overly consumed with survival needs (i.e. ‘making a living). Republics are prone to becoming top-heavy with leadership that requires a large contingent of members to remain slaves, servants, and blameless maintenance workers, teaching only the needs of the moment. The industrial revolution is an excellent example of how low-wage labor, ownership of resources, and enlargement of consumer classes became the mainstay of totalitarian countries.
The Jewish tradition, from Hebrew to Tzaddik, requires conscious life to be a part of all members at least part of the time. We are adamant in our insistence upon literacy and life skills for independence. We build synagogues for ritual observances that maintain memory and foster holiness, the methods by which we sanctify family and property. Lastly, we set standards of behavior for personal dignity and interpersonal integrity, which all mark Israel as a first among nations.
