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<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2
face=Arial>From: Daas Books <A
href="mailto:info@daasbooks.com">info@daasbooks.com</A><BR><BR>I'm confused by
this thread.<BR><BR>The original question, and the replies to it, are based on
this premise:<BR><BR>> hence Bnai Yisroel insisted upon the golden
calf<BR><BR><BR>This premise seems to be that the Bnai Yisroel people _chose_ to
construct a<BR>cow to replace Moshe.<BR><BR>I had thought that the pashut pshat
of Ex 32:24 was that the cow was either<BR>completely _not_ the specific
intention of the people or at the most the<BR>intention of _one_ person (Micha
according to the Midrash), and that these<BR>people, upon seeing this miraculous
cow, were able to embrace it as a<BR>familiar symbol that they could
party -- er, rally -- around.<BR><BR>....The cow gave them something
physical that they<BR>could relate to. And moreover, the "they" we're talking
about is the Eruv<BR>Rav, not the Bnai Yisroel.<BR><BR>What the participants in
this thread seem to be saying is that they -- the<BR>Bnai Yisroel -- were
looking for a leader and made a conscious choice to<BR>create and follow an
aigel.<BR><BR>There you have it I've exposed my ignorance. Will someone
please set me<BR>straight.<BR><BR>- Alexander
Seinfeld<BR><BR><BR>>>>>></FONT></DIV></DIV></DIV>
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<DIV>My own policy is not to ask questions about one medrash based on a
different medrash or on contradictory divrei Chazal, but to keep them
separate. I will give you an example of what I mean from P' Pinchas.
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<DIV>According to one interpretation (I think Rashi says this), the "bris
sholom" that Hashem gave Pinchas was that He made him a kohen. When Aharon
and his sons were anointed as kohanim, no already-existing children of the sons
were included in that anointing (only subsequently born children were
automatically kohanim). So Pinchas, who was already born when his father
was anointed, was not a kohen -- until he killed the sinners in P' Pinchas,
whereupon he was separately anointed as a kohen as a reward (and
thereafter all his descendants were kohanim like the children of any
kohen).</DIV>
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<DIV>OK but there's an obscure medrash that when Pinchas stabbed Zimri and
Kosbi, a miracle happened and they did not die until after he left the tent --
because otherwise he, being a kohen, would not have even been allowed to kill
them! A kohen can't purposely make himself tamei meis. </DIV>
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<DIV>But that medrash depends on the assumption that Pinchas was /already/ a
kohen when he stabbed Zimri and Kosbi -- because, if he wasn't already a kohen,
what did he need this miracle for?!</DIV>
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<DIV>You can't combine those two medrashim -- that he was already a kohen when
he killed Zimri and Kosbi, or that he was only made a kohen afterwards as a
reward for doing this deed.</DIV>
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<DIV>Well you could find a way to combine them if you were really determined --
you could say something like, he prophetically knew that he was /going/ to be a
kohen so he conducted himself as a kohen and avoided acts that are
forbidden to kohanim.</DIV>
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<DIV>But as I started by saying, my policy is not to combine medrashim when they
contradict each other, but to take each on its own merits and use each one
separately to draw whatever lesson is to be drawn. The very existence of
contradictory medrashim BTW implies what to me seems obvious, that not
every medrash is meant to be taken literally.</DIV>
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<DIV>So, to be practical about it, one year the rabbi can give a drasha about
how the Jews wanted an eigel because that's the god they were familiar with from
their stay in Egypt, and he can wind it up by saying that in every generation,
Jews are drawn to various idols, be it JC, Marx, Freud, Gaia or whatnot.</DIV>
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<DIV>The next year the rabbi can give another drasha about how Aharon threw a
lump of gold into the fire, hoping the Jews would say, "No, don't take our
gold!" and delay things until Moshe returned -- but to his shock it came up as a
golden calf, due to black magic -- and the rabbi can talk about the
unintended consequences of well-intended deeds.</DIV>
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<DIV>He just can't mix up all the opinions into one tzimmes. </DIV>
<DIV><FONT lang=0 color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><BR><STRONG>--Toby Katz<BR>=============</STRONG><BR>Romney -- good
values, good family, good
hair<BR><BR><BR>-------------------------------------------------------------------
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