Ki Sisa - Battle of a Stubborn People

You're listening to the weekly para podcast with Ari Goldwag recorded with Hashem's never ending assistance in Israel 5786 2026. This week's parasis and this week's para is a hard para it tells us the story of the mysahel the sin of the golden calf and generally speaking I like to focus on positive things and not focus on negative things. So this para always presents with a challenge and a difficulty. I'd like to share with you a medish and the majish does indeed focus in on the sin and it teaches us a huge lesson a huge and deep lesson about sin about what happens when we make when we make a mistake when we when we do an aa when we transgress we go against hashem's will how does hashem see that does that mean that hashem hates us heaven forbid what happens as a result of this so I like to read to you theim say As they're doing this, Mhish Rabenu is on harina. He's on Mount S. He's having a discussion with Hashem. He's been on up there for 40 days and 40 nights. He's been studying with the best he could possibly have. He's studying with God himself. And Hashem says tom says to Moshe, "Go down. Go down. Your nation has done something terrible. They've caused destruction. This nation that you brought out of Egypt, [clears throat] they they quickly turned away from the way that I had commanded them. Hashem says they made a golden calf and they said about this ael, they said about the calf that this is the god that took you out of Egypt. Hashem says to Moshe, "Furthermore, I've seen this nation and they are a stiff necked nation." Okay, so Hashem says about us, we're going to explore two different points here in what Hashem says. Hashem is about to get upset. Hashem is about to take out his wrath upon the Jewish nation for so soon, 40 days after they got married as it were, enter into a relationship with Hashem, they're already making a huge mistake turning away from Hashem. And the there are two points here. Number one is which means Hashem says to Moshe, "Go down. Go down." And we'll see what that means to go down. [sighs] But besides for that, there's also the aspect of Refu is a stiff necked nation. We are a tough nation. We are a difficult people. We're tough. And um I have a little cold here today. So you'll excuse me. I may sneeze and I may need to blow my nose. Apologies. Bottom line, we need to look at what is the what is it Hashem is saying to go down and what does it mean that I'm that we're a stiff neck nation. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? It sounds like a bad thing. Sounds like Hashem is saying I'm frustrated with them. [sighs] But we'll see that there is also a very positive side to that. Let's start off with what the says about says, "Hashem says to Moshe, don't be upset that I said to you, go down." You know, Moshe is having an awesome experience. He's learning Tyra with Hashem himself as it were for 40 days and 40 nights. The most awesome, you know, he's getting instructions for Israel for all time. 3,300 years later, we're still studying and trying to follow what Hashem taught Moshe on Mount Si. And Hashem says, "I want you to go down and deal with the nation. They made this terrible mistake." Hashem says to him, "Don't be upset that I'm telling you to go down because you know, you're not the first one that has to go down and deal with some kind of some kind of kill, some kind of destruction, some negative behavior on behalf of human beings. I've done this before. It's two three times I had to go down which means to say Hashem has to leave his abode leave the place of unity and enter into a place of disconnect from him to see how people have [snorts] caused destruction tells us that Hashem went down with mdal with the Tower of Babel. Hashem looked at the the city and the tower that they were building. They were trying to fight with God as it were. Excuse me. Says also there, let's go down. So, [snorts] Hashem sometimes has to go down and deal with mistakes that are being made. Says, era. Let's go down and see. And I believe that that's talking about in the context of Saddam that the people were sinning. They were doing terrible things. [snorts] Hashem had to come down and really to judge them to bring about some kind of destruction. So he had to separate the people to 70 lands, 70 languages with Saddam. You had to destroy them completely. So, Hashem says to Mosh, "I need you to go down as well, and I need you to deal with the situation that's developing in in the the encampment of the Jewish people." And in this way, I want you in a certain sense to be similar. You're the you're the servant. You're my servant. I want you to be similar to me. I also deal with different situations of people disconnecting from me and I need you to do the same at this time. So Misha when he was told this so he fought back to those times didn't work out so well for the people there was a there was a terrible separation that occurred between the people [snorts] not really an opportunity for them to do chaom certainly we see they were destroyed completely so he said maybe the Jewish people are not going to be forgiven so Hashem obviously knows what's inside heart he's thinking this and Hashem says don't worry and he calls him to reassure him says you don't have to worry the Jewish people I don't want you to go down there and destroy them that's not that's not what I'm after in fact there's something that I know about them that you don't realize [sighs and gasps] I actually knew knew about this from the onset which literally is talking in the context Hashem says I have certainly seen I saw I saw it's a double language it's it's to emphasize the fact that Hashem is aware of the troubles of the Jewish people and he's sending Mosher Rabenu in order to redeem them but the the mag is going to You had one vision of the way that things are going to be. You saw the Jewish people are, as we're about to say in the maj. You saw that the Jewish people are are going to come to Mount Si. You're going to receive the Tyrus. You thought this is all going to be a bed of roses. You didn't realize that there's going to be that there's something else to see in this event. You see, which is what Hashem said. I want them to come and serve me on this mountain. And you saw that they're going to return to this mountain which was the location where Mosher originally met Hashem as it were at the burning bush. They're going to return here. They're going to receive the Tyra. But I see Hashem says to Moshe, I see that there's going to be something else that occurs that yes, they're going to receive the Torah. I'm going to go back into my private room. In other words, uh they're going to have a a vision of me. They're going to have an open revelation which as the magistr is going to mention and it's going to tell us that it's comparable to the revelation that Ezekiel the prophet prophet in the first chapter of the so he describes the entire amazing scene in the heavens above before hashem speaks to him talks about the different angels and the different levels of angels and unbelievable scenes that he saw and The Jewish people also saw all of that. And then when Hashem goes back into his abode, closes the curtain, so to speak, and the Jewish people can't see it anymore. [snorts] They're going to take something that they saw, the Jewish people saw when they had that revelation on the same level as the same level as Ezekiel, the prophet. They saw something there that they would try to use and bring down to them where they are in this world. Where did the Agel Hazav come from? Where did the idea of the golden calf come from? Why was it a calf? Why was it a baby a baby uh ox as we're going to see in the prophecy of so there's there's a type of angel that has four different faces depending on which way it's facing depending on which way it's going or as explained depending on which aspect is manifesting each one has a different aspect One face was the face of a human being. One face was the face of a lion. One face was the face of an ox. One face was the face of a neer, an eagle. So they took what they saw there. They saw the revelation. They saw these angels holding up the throne of Hashem. And one of them was an ox. And they angered Hashem with that which they saw. It says in [sighs and gasps] they exchanged the honor of Hashem for something that was secondary to Hashem for something that was just a a uh an angelic being in the upper heavens. They saw the ox and they created a golden calf. They they exchanged Hashem's honor as it were for the form of an ox. So, Hashem is saying to Mosher, Abenu, I knew that this was going to happen. I knew it. Don't think that when I took them out of Egypt that when I sent you to save them to redeem them, don't ever think that I wasn't aware that this is where we're headed. I'm going to give them the Tyra and and they're going to have a revelation and they're going to mess up and they're going to take that revelation and they're going to create an a golden calf as a result. I knew about that before. Same type of idea. The med says, what does it mean? Hashem says, I saw the the word ani means poverty or the pain of my nation. This is the the group of people who would cause pain to call Israel. They would cause destruction to Kal Israel as a result of the golden calf. Right. It's saying that I knew all along. I knew all along that this is what's going to happen. I foraw this. And yet the implication here is I'm not coming to I'm not interested in their destruction. It's not like Sidon. It's not like the Tower of Babel. It's not like Mikdalville. I I'm not just interested in their destruction. I'm I'm interested I know that they're going to receive the Tyra one day and then 40 days later they're going to create a golden calf. I was aware of that. That was that was in the cards. And still I want you to go down. I want you to deal with this problem, but clearly in a way that's not going to cause the ultimate destruction of the Jewish people. So now what was the way that Moshe was to deal with it? So there's two different parts here. We'll see if we we get into both of them. First, I'd like to share with you a medish a little bit later. And it says like this. It says like this. Um it's in paras. I have seen this nation. What does the mean when it says that this nation is a stiff necked nation? What is it trying to say? So the first is the first is that they are such a difficult people. They are anov. They have a they have a thick neck and that neck this is really what the other measure says. We'll see if we get back to this, but just we'll touch on it here. Sometimes a stiff necked person needs to be broken. Sometimes in order for a person to realize that there's a God, that there's Hashem in this world, we have to face off with our own stubbornness. We have to face off with our own stubbornness. And the stubbornness sometimes breaks us. We're so stubborn and we're stubborn and we're stubborn and we continue in our negative ways and ultimately we fall because of those negative ways. Sometimes that's how Hashem deals with us. It's not an angry God. It's not a God that [snorts] it's it's more like we we we reap the results of our own negative behavior. And ultimately, Hashem reveals himself in what looks like judgment, what looks like harshness, looks like the right, it talks about the eggla. It means the the the neck is chopped off. But as we saw in that, Hashem knew about this from the beginning. So, we're not talking about a punishing of destruction, right? So, let's see see what the maj says further. So, There are three who are considered extremely brazen. [snorts] The most brazen, the the dogs are the brazen ones amongst the animals. Amongst the birds, the most brazen of the birds is a is a chicken. She had a a scar on her eyebrow over here. And uh when she was a very little girl, probably 2 3 years old, there was a wild crazy chicken and it pecked at her and it gave her a wound above her eye. She had a scar for the rest of her life and the doctors were afraid that she wouldn't be able to see. Her eye was closed for a few weeks, but in the end she was able to see. That's the brazen of the animals. What bird has the to come over to a human being and peck at the human being? um is and amongst the nations. So who is the most brazen of all the nations? Who has the most who has the toughest neck? It's a Jewish people. So in the context of the So that's a rather negative thing. Jewish people defying Hashem's will right after receiving the we're defying Hashem's will. says, "You think that this is a negative thing, that this is this is a a statement about the Jewish people that we're terrible. This is actually a praise of the Jewish people. It's the very negative thing of ourselves that we're so stubborn in the face of what others tell us to do, right? If Hashem says don't do what is we'll show you. But in that same that same need of of which is so negative in the face of Hashem's will it's positive in this in the context of convert or die. The says you want to stay a Yehudi. You want to be a Jew. So you're going to end up crucified. And the Jew says I'd rather die than give up my faith. I remain steadfast and faithful. That's the stubbornness of the Jew says until this very day says the nations of the world call us the stubborn nation. Who else would have the to go in alongside the United States of America? But who else would have the to go in and destroy our enemies in their own turf? Who else would have that brazeness? Who else has lasted for thousands of years amongst the wolves? So many wolves, 70 wolves, one sheep. [snorts] And they know about us, the nations of the world, that we're a stubborn nation. We don't give in. We don't give up our faith. says, "You should know how tough we are." What does it say about the Jewish people when Hashem wants to give us the Tyra? Did Hashem set up a uh, you know, very calm scene for the giving of the Tyra? Is that how Hashem did it? It was the third day. It was morning. Hashem shows them thunder and lightning. It's a whole scene. What's the point of the scene? Cuz there it's to strike fear into their hearts. If you have a tough people and you want to impress them and you want them to realize that they better do what it says in the Tyra. So you have thunder and lightning and you have a fearsome scene and the Jewish people are are frightened by the scene. Hashem says, "I'm going to show them all these miracles and I hope that they that it works if they listen as a result. They're a difficult nation." I will go back to the other. So, so first thing I want to point out here is that what we see here is a few things. Number one, we see that Hashem expects us to make mistakes. Hashem chooses us despite the fact that we're a tough a stiff necked nation. He chooses us because we're a stiff neck nation because that's the only way that there's going to be a group of people who will hold on to the tenants of Yiddish for 3,300 years. There's no there's nobody else who could do that. There's no one else who would not bend and wouldn't bow to the nations of the world. Hashem sees that and Hashem chooses us because of that. It has a positive side and it has a negative side. But Hashem knew that beforehand. So, Hashem knows, and I've mentioned this before, but we're we're going to make mistakes. Let's be clear. Hashem expects us to make mistakes. We're human. Not only are we human, but we're tough people. We're stubborn people. But what is the way of dealing with this people? How do we deal with ourselves? You see that Hashem has to make wonders and signs that are frightening. Sometimes we need to be frightened into submission or into surrender, right? Sometimes it there's no other way. I'm going back to the before which said Hashem says to Moshu go down. The word raid means go down. But there's another explanation for the word raid. The word raid is also the chesh or the word rodan or rodan is a dictator. Someone who forces others to do their will. Was aan in Hebrew was a dictator. [snorts] the Jewish people in order to get back on track, they need to be dictated to sometimes, and we need to know this for ourselves. Sometimes we make mistakes. Sometimes it's enough to realize Hashem expects us to make mistakes. Hashem loves us. We're going to now pick it up and do it right. But sometimes we need we need the threat of destruction. We need a threat of destruction. We need to realize that if we don't get ourselves back on track real quick, we're headed for disaster. So says means go down, not just go down, but go and be a a dictator to them. You have to make sure that you get them back on track sometimes with force. Shem says we're a stiff necked people. What does a person say? That guy's tough. That guy's a tough guy. That means that you got to deal with him accordingly. Is saying they're a tough nation. You got to deal with them accordingly. They say a similar thing. comes down and he says he stands in the gate of the of the encampment and he says who is for Hashem right the come and he quotes God he says this is what Hashem the God of Israel says I want you to take up a sword and I want you to go and you're going to have to kill people you're going to have to kill the people who created this problem Where do you find that? Hashem told him, instructed him to [snorts] actually go and use lethal force in order to solve this issue. It's these words which means literally go down, but it can also mean go and use use force. It means that they need to be forced. So I I you know it's a tough thing for us to hear as westerners. We're not used to this idea. You know we don't have teachers who strike children. We don't have you know we don't have force being used in order to get people to do what they need to do. But I I just want to take out the idea the concept here that there's different ways of dealing with there's different approaches to dealing with mistakes. We're human. We make mistakes and sometimes the mistakes themselves drive us into the ground, drive us to destruction, end us up in a place that really you don't even have to call it measure for measure. The thing that we've done wrong itself is its own punishment. It it creates the ganam. It creates that difficult position that that is what the problem is. We created ourselves with our with our behavior. And so sometimes we are forced out of that behavior if we're smart. Sometimes we're forced out of that behavior before it destroys us. And Mabenu has to destroy the people who created this problem in order to save the rest of Kaliso really. But the other aspect, and I'm just bringing it back to what we said before, the other aspect is that we know that Hashem is aware of our nature. We know that Hashem is aware of the mistakes that we're going to make. We know that Hashem takes us out not just despite the mistakes, but he chooses us because of that mida, because of the mida of of being a stiff- necked people. Shem chooses us because of that harshness. The harshness that we have which causes us sometimes to defy Hashem's will is the same mida that we use to defy the will of those who take us away from Hashem's will. Okay. So there's two ways of dealing with the with the problems that we have with our midas with our negative character traits. One way is squash it, get rid of it. But another way is redirect it. How can I use the me of stubbornness in my avoid hashem in my service of God? How can I be stubborn? If I can be stubborn to do the wrong thing, how can I use the mid of stubbornness to do the right thing? To make sure I'm doing Hashem's will, to make sure that I am trying my best to fulfill that which I know to be Hashem's rat. These are the things that we can take away. And we all see inside of ourselves. We've all had situations. We've all gotten ourselves in trouble with whatever ways of defying Hashem's will or hurting the people around us. Sometimes it's a stubbornness in our relationships with our spouses, with our kids, with our friends. Sometimes it's a stubbornness in our relationship with Hashem. But we have the capacity to be stubborn, right? That's human. How can we use that and redirect it? Sometimes squash it. sometimes use it. I'm going to be stubborn. I'm going to make sure that every single week for 18 years and counting, I'm going to put out a partial podcast. Not an easy thing to do. Always have something to say, always have something interesting, something that inspires me. I'm going to be stubborn about it. I'm going to be stubborn. I'm going to learn every single day. I'm going to work on my relationship with Hashem every single day. I'm going to be listening to I'm going to be looking for I'm going to be setting times to learn stubbornness. I want to bless you, ask you to bless me. She should help us to indeed recognize where we're stubborn in the wrong ways and Hashem should help us to take our stubbornness and redirect it to make sure we're using it in the right ways. Thank you so much for listening. Have a wonderful Shabas. This podcast was made possible through the gracious donations of listeners like you. For more podcasts like this, please visit www.argoldwag.com or search on iTunes [music] Ari Goldwag.