[Avodah] RSRH on the Aegel Hazahav

[Professor L. Levine]

The following is some of RSRH's commentary on Shemos 32:1. Note what he says about the role of an intermediary between man and G-D.  YL


32 1. When the people saw that Moshe did not fulfill their expectation that he would come down from the
mountain, the people gathered against Aharon, and they said to him: Arise, make us gods who shall go before us; for this man Moshe, who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.


In their view, the eternal bond with God was not formed by the
Divine Torah given to them through Moshe. The eternal guarantee of
God's protection and of the intimacy with God attainable by each individual,
without an intermediary, was not the Divine rules for life -
i.e., the mishpatim- which would remain with them even when the temporary
transmitter had departed. Rather, they considered the personality
of Moshe, a man who was close to God, as the vital link in their connection
with God. Only as long as he was alive could they be certain
of God's protection.

They believed that Moshe's relationship with God had been initiated
not by God but by Moshe; hence, they reasoned, if Moshe was no longer
alive they could, and indeed must, take some action on their own in
order to force God's hand. They had not yet completely absorbed the
Jewish conception that man has direct access to God, without the need
for any intermediary, as long as he conducts himself in accordance with
God's Will. Or perhaps the fear that henceforth they would have to
wander through the wilderness without a leader to guide them caused
them to doubt this truth.


They believed that Moshe's relationship with God had been initiated
not by God but by Moshe; hence, they reasoned, if Moshe was no longer
alive they could, and indeed must, take some action on their own in
order to force God's hand. They had not yet completely absorbed the
Jewish conception that man has direct access to God, without the need
for any intermediary, as long as he conducts himself in accordance with
God's Will. Or perhaps the fear that henceforth they would have to
wander through the wilderness without a leader to guide them caused
them to doubt this truth.


YL
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.aishdas.org/pipermail/avodah-aishdas.org/attachments/20180305/5b68e738/attachment.html>