Ki Sisa - Purim - Do You Actually Care That You’re Jewish?

[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   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 hirs 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]