[Avodah] Egel Zahav

[Liron Kopinsky]

On Thu, Jul 12, 2012 at 1:01 AM, <cantorwolberg at cox.net> wrote:

> > I pose this very interesting question for which the answer I've seen is
> far from satisfactory and therefore I won't even give it.
> > The question is that since the people thought Moshe Rabbeinu was dead,
> they were in a panic and needed something to take
> > the place of Moshe. They said they needed a leader and hence insisted
> upon the golden calf. So why didn't they say to Aaron:
> > Your brother Moshe is dead. We want YOU to lead us. That would have been
> the most logical choice. Why then, didn't that
> > occur to them?


Something interesting that I noticed on this upcoming parsha that might be
relevant: When Ahron dies, Moshe, Ahron and Elazar all go up on the
mountain, and Moshe takes Ahron's bigdei kehuna and dresses Elazar in them.
This is the only real transfer that takes place between Ahron and Elazar.
Then, in this weeks Parsha, Hashem just starts speaking to Moshe and Elazar
in the same way that he used to speak to Moshe and Ahron.

This should be contrasted with the transfer of leadership between Moshe and
Yehoshua, where it was a big deal with lots of symbolic acts, brachot, and
promises from Hashem that He will be with Yehoshua as we was with Moshe.

It seems to me that there are two distinct paradigms of leadership that we
see here. The first, that of the Kehuna, is hereditary leadership. This
leadership represents continuity and a steady purpose. The other type of
leadership, that of Moshe, is a more dynamic, in-the-now type of
leadership. This leadership needs to inspire the people to act in the
present.

As a possible answer to your question, Ahron was already a leader, but he
was the wrong kind of leader. The Jewish people needed both, and could not
move Ahron from one role into the other.

Kol Tuv,

Liron Kopinsky
liron.kopinsky at gmail.com
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