Ki Sisa- The Righteous by Association Sin

[Music] out of all the sins the Jewish people have committed in our very long and storied history and there have been many without question the most famous sin of them all is the the sin of the golden calf this was a tremendously public sin witnessed by millions a sin so severe it almost caused Hashem to exterminate our nation on the spot a sin so catastrophic we still cry about it till this day ever wonder how this sin could have possibly occurred these people literally just left Egypt among amidst a barrage of miraculous plagues only to see an entire sea split before their eyes and then witness that same J C drown out the mightiest Empire in the history of the planet and to top it all off they all got VIP seats to the greatest revelation of Hashem ever he spoke to them they heard his voice there were no intermediaries on top of harini there were no Kings or prophets or rabbis it was Hashem himself and three weeks later they're worshiping a golden calf how could that possibly be how could any half rational human being turn so quickly how short was their memory that they forgot hashem's Revelation and erected a calf as their new God is there even a rudimentary explanation to their reasoning another bizarre point is they chose a calf as their God of choice why could they couldn't find a more glorious animal I don't know like a lion or a kodo dragon or maybe a polar bear a golden calf why a baby cow of all animals it seems so weak and pathetic so Raman Rafal hirsh offers the following much needed explanation these people were very much aware of hashem's existence and very much believed in him after witnessing what they witnessed who wouldn't these people weren't building a golden calf to replace Hashem they were building a golden calf to replace Moshe they were tricked into believing that mosha died and they were devastated why for who would now do all their spiritual work for them who would now take charge of their spiritual life they were bereft of the person who did all the hard work for them while they sat back and watched these people had on an intellectual level accepted hashem's omnipotence they even accepted his Torah what they didn't do was ever have any plan to expend any serious effort into it that would be the job of Moshe and rabbis and spiritual leaders that would follow but not them oh no they are far too busy with their own lives for that Mosa's supposed death plunged them into an immediate crushing fear a fear that they may actually have to do something for their spiritual welfare they may not be able to depend on their Rabbi to do everything for them they may actually have to take time out of their physical days their busy schedules and do something wholly on their own that was scary that was not what they had in mind they believed in Hashem and his Torah so long as someone else was in charge of it they were hoping to live a pay the membership dues but don't bother me type of life but mosha died and now fell on them they would actually have to do something but since that wasn't the life they were looking to live they decided to erect a new Rabbi a new intermediary a new power that would take over where mosha left off it would do the work for them it would shoulder the burden for them they decided to build a new Moshe they got together and decided on what animal a calf why for no animal represents a weak subordinate worker than a calf even a cow can be strong and occasionally fight back and resist a calf was perfect weak subordinate Dependable we too often become immensely dependent on our teachers or rebell our parents our rabbis our rebas our spiritual leaders to shoulder our spiritual burden we may overly depend on them to inject Holiness into chabas or meaning into Tish we may overly depend on them to DAV in for our welfare we may overly depend on them to point out what's wrong in our lives the ago the sin of the golden calf tells us that our leaders are here to lead us not to replace us in our service of Hashem if we allow spiritual laziness to grow into over dependency on spiritual leaders we have not effectively listened to the message of Theo Perhaps it is no coincidence that directly outside the New York Stock Exchange the crown jewel of American materialism is a golden calf Perhaps it is hashem's little reminder to us that we can't put all our Focus on our materialistic Pursuits while justifying ourselves that at least a rabbi somewhere somehow will keep us holy perhaps we are to look at that golden calf of Wall Street and remember not to make that mistake again a man once walked into a doctor's office after the examination he turns to the doctor and he asks him now Doc tell me in plain English exactly what is wrong with me so the doctor looks at him and he says in plain English replies the doctor you are lazy now doctor inquired the patient give me the difficult medical terminology to tell my friends we often use our schs yesos and leaders as Shields to hide ourselves from ourselves we fall into the Trap of deeming ourselves worthy by association we tell ourselves that if I tell people that I am associated with a spiritually sophis iated person or group then I too must be spiritually sophisticated that Cesar pers is the sin of the golden calf we should have our souls of flame ready to do the will of Hashem we should dance our way to Yeshiva or to sh our shabas tables should be overflowing with Holiness and Harmony we should be able to do it all by ourselves of course we need leaders and Prophets and rabbis but mostly we need our eles we need our self motivation we need our deep dramatic interest in forging a personal connection with Hashem now let me tell you an amazing story on that Unforgettable day when the troops pulled up to aitz to liberate to liberate it from the Nazis what they found shocked them skeletons of men hanging onto Humanity by a hair smoke everywhere evil everywhere death everywhere they began announcing instructions for all the inmates to form a single file line and walk through the gate the wide eyed inmates shaking in disbelief began treading their way to the gate to Freedom the very last inmate to go through those Gates the very last soul to leave that horrid place was a special Jew deep from the middle of nowhere the man more dead than alive limped to the gate the very last prisoner of awit stopped at the gate looked at the big soldiers ready to whisk him off to Freedom he looked at all the other survivors already boarding buses and trucks to take them away he stopped he paused he looked up to heaven and cried out in a broken scream Hashem never in my entire life did I have as strong of a connection with you as I did here every every second I was here I felt you I loved you I spoke to you I cried to you I hoped for you I davened for you I wished for you I dreamed of you and you were there for me every step I took every morsel of food I ate I saw you I breathed you I lived you Hashem I am going out of this place never to return promise me that I will always have this relationship with you promise me that I will live the rest of my life with you by my side promise me that wherever the rest of my life takes me I won't forget you I won't put others first I won't ever lose you Hashem this horrible Place gave me you don't let my life take you away Hashem I love you I love you forever and with that the last survivor of aitz limped through the gates and drove off to Freedom [Music]