{"id":13028,"date":"2010-03-03T19:14:32","date_gmt":"2010-03-03T19:14:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/production.ou.org\/life\/other\/brander_ki_tisa_the_sin_of_silence\/"},"modified":"2015-11-01T10:40:27","modified_gmt":"2015-11-01T15:40:27","slug":"brander_ki_tisa_the_sin_of_silence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/brander_ki_tisa_the_sin_of_silence\/","title":{"rendered":"Ki Tisa: The Sin of Silence"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"float: left; margin-right: 10px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/media.ou.org\/content\/banners\/shsh\/mouth215.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Much of the Golden Calf [eigel hazahav] saga confounds. Among the classic elements of inquiry are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>a. What precisely was their sin?<\/li>\n<li>b. What role did Aharon play?<\/li>\n<li>c. Why does Moshe break the tablets?<\/li>\n<li>d. Why does Moshe, the greater defender of the people, start by raising the ante with a proclamation of \u201cyou have sinned a great sin\u201d?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Alas, these questions must wait for another day; our focus pointed upon the vexing section of the eigel hazahav aftermath. First, the background: Moshe is atop the mountain. God informs Moshe of the terrible sin: [32:7-10]<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Go down, for your people have become corrupt&#8212; those whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt. .. Now leave Me alone and My wrath will blaze against them and destroy them. I will then make you into a great nation.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>In defense of Klal Yisrael, Moshe employs three arguments: [32:11-13]:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Hashem \u2013 these are the people you brought out of Egypt .. for this!!<\/li>\n<li>What will the Egyptians say ? [chilul Hashem]<\/li>\n<li>Remember the Patriarchs [zechus avos]<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><b>.. and is successful: [32:14]<\/b><\/p>\n<p><i>Ad-noy reconsidered the [intent of doing] evil that He had said He would do to His people.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Moshe descends, sees it happening, breaks the tablets, questions Aharon and implements justice: [26-28]<\/p>\n<p><i>Moshe stood at the entrance of the camp and said, &#8220;Whoever is for Ad-noy, [come] to me.&#8221; All the sons of Levi gathered around him. He said .. [the] G-d of Yisrael has said, &#8216;Let each man put his sword on his hip .. Let each man kill [even] his brother, each man his friend, each man his relative. The sons of Levi did as Moshe said. On that day those that fell from among the people, numbered approximately three thousand men.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Ostensibly, now the breach has been repaired and mission accomplished. And yet the next day Moshe turns to the people: [32:30]<\/p>\n<p><i>Moshe said to the nation: &#8220;You have committed a great sin. Now I will go up to Ad-noy, perhaps I will gain atonement for your sin.&#8221;<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Moshe negotiates heroically with Hashem, is willing to have his name blotted out from the book\u00a0<a href=\"#fn1\">1<\/a>, before he finally invokes the classic thirteen attributes of Divine Mercy. So much needs clarification here. Consider:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>According to the text, 3,000 people sinned [less than a \u00bc of a percent of the adults of klal Yisrael]. This hardly constitutes a national sin &#8211; And yet Moshe turns to the nation? Similarly, why does Hashem say to Moshe that nation sinned?<\/li>\n<li>All the sinners have been put to death, so whither teshuva?<\/li>\n<li>Why does Moshe need to pray again? Didn\u2019t Hashem answer him the first time around?<\/li>\n<li>Moshe uses the feminine term for great sin chata\u2019a gedolah three times here, a term that repeats itself only one other time in Tanach.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>To this we may add:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Why do we find repercussions of the sin till this very day?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>A classic Chofetz Chaim \u2013 Rav Schwab story resonates:<\/p>\n<p><i>Rav Schwab spent a Shabbos with the Chofetz Chaim, z&#8221;l, in Radin. Friday morning in the middle of a discussion concerning the function of Kohanim, the Chofetz Chaim turned to Rav Schwab and asked, &#8220;Are you a Kohen?&#8221; &#8220;No,&#8221; replied Rav Schwab. &#8220;Perhaps you have heard that I am a Kohen,&#8221; the Chofetz Chaim said. &#8220;Yes, I have heard,&#8221; Rav Schwab quietly responded. &#8220;Perhaps you are a Levi?&#8221; the Chofetz Chaim asked. &#8220;No, I am not,&#8221; was Rav Schwab&#8217;s reply. <\/i><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;What a shame! Moshiach is coming, and the Beit\u00a0HaMikdash will be rebuilt. You will not be able to perform the avodah, service, in the Sanctuary. Do you know why? Because 3,000 years ago, dein Zayda, [your grandfather], is nisht gelafen, [did not run forward], when Moshe Rabbeinu declared &#8220;Mi l&#8217;Hashem eilai!&#8221; &#8220;Whoever is with Hashem should come to me!&#8221; The next time you hear the call, &#8220;Mi l&#8217;Hashem eilai!&#8221; come running!<\/em><\/p>\n<p>In the Golden Calf episode, two sins have occurred. The first sin, that of formal idol worship is Moshe\u2019s immediate task of order. He gains initial forgiveness for the whole nation and administers justice. The Golden Calf instigators are gone.<\/p>\n<p>But two other groups remain. The <i>Levi&#8217;im<\/i> are heroes. They stood up and out to engage the unpleasant task of rooting out sinners. They are rewarded by serving in the Temple. But what of that third group &#8211; those that neither fought with the <i>Levi&#8217;im<\/i> nor committed the terrible sin?<\/p>\n<p>For the quiet spectator, a poignant piece of Talmud [relating Pharaoh&#8217;s Wannsee conference &#8211; dealing with the Jewish problem] informs: [Sanhedrin 106a]:<\/p>\n<p><i>And that is what R. Hiyya b. Abba said in R. Simai&#8217;s name: Three were involved in that scheme,6 viz., Balaam, Job, and Jethro. Balaam, who advised it, was slain; Job, who was silent, was punished through suffering; and Jethro, who fled \u2014 his descendants were privileged to sit in the Hall of Hewn Stones.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Silence in the face of evil is a sin, not an option. Western culture might laud the Good Samaritan, but it does not condemn the passive onlooker. By contrast, a Jew in name and in halacha [do not stand idly over thy brother\u2019s blood] \u2013 is compelled to stand up!<\/p>\n<p>This great sin of omission, that chat\u2019ah gedolah, a passive [feminine] sin required a new ma\u2019aseh kaparah [act of atonement] for the bulk of the Jewish people who did nothing. That sin of omission revealed a fundamental misunderstanding of Jewish ethics. To the extent that we are quiet in deed and expressionless in prayer in the face of other\u2019s pain, the sin of the Golden Calf lingers on<\/p>\n<p>One final note: Iyov is punished with yissurin suffering for being silent. Why? What could Iyov have accomplished &#8211; certainly Paroh\u2019s decree was a fait accompli. Based upon a poignant midrash, the Brisker Rav explained:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i>G-d brings upon Iyov terrible suffering. Iyov cries out to G-d and complains. Why do you cry \u2013 says God aren\u2019t you the who chose not to raise your voice to Paroh? Why do you cry now? &#8211; \u201cBecause it hurts.\u201d<a href=\"#fn2\">2<\/a> <\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Pain is reflexive. If I feel it, I express it. My silence in the face of the other\u2019s pain [be it man\u2019s or God\u2019s \u2013 keviyachol] reflects a chasm. Silence also is an expression, an ultimate statement of insensitivity<a href=\"#fn3\">3<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Let our sincere cries evoke the Divine voice of redemption, speedily in our days<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">FOOTNOTES<\/span>:<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"fn1\"><\/a>1. Cf. Rashi Ramban what the book is. To Rashi, it is the Torah, for Ramban it is the Book of Eternal Life. cf. Reflections Ki Tisa 5767.<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"fn2\"><\/a>2. Thus Iyov&#8217;s punishment stirred him to react in a manner that demonstrated the error of his failure to raise his voice in protest against Pharaoh&#8217;s plan.<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"fn3\"><\/a>3. Bringing to mind Pastor Martin Niemoller\u2019s haunting words: \u201c In Germany they first came for the Communists, and I didn&#8217;t speak up because I wasn&#8217;t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn&#8217;t speak up because I wasn&#8217;t a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn&#8217;t speak up because I wasn&#8217;t a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn&#8217;t speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me \u2014 and by that time no one was left to speak up.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Much of the Golden Calf [eigel hazahav] saga confounds. Among the classic elements of inquiry are: a. What precisely was their sin? b. What role did Aharon play? c. Why does Moshe break the tablets? d. Why does Moshe, the greater defender of the people, start by raising the ante with a proclamation of \u201cyou<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":223,"featured_media":43050,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-torah"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Ki Tisa: The Sin of Silence - OU Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If only 3000 people sinned why is it considered a national sin? All the sinners have been put to death, so whither teshuva? Why does Moshe pray again?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/brander_ki_tisa_the_sin_of_silence\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ki Tisa: The Sin of Silence - OU Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If only 3000 people sinned why is it considered a national sin? All the sinners have been put to death, so whither teshuva? Why does Moshe pray again?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/brander_ki_tisa_the_sin_of_silence\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OU Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-03-03T19:14:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-11-01T15:40:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Golden-calf.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"288\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"292\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rabbi Asher Brander\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rabbi Asher Brander\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/brander_ki_tisa_the_sin_of_silence\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/brander_ki_tisa_the_sin_of_silence\/\",\"name\":\"Ki Tisa: The Sin of Silence - OU Life\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/brander_ki_tisa_the_sin_of_silence\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/brander_ki_tisa_the_sin_of_silence\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Golden-calf.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-03-03T19:14:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-11-01T15:40:27+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/8d6294b60b57e0c4bcff77e5b5507cb2\"},\"description\":\"If only 3000 people sinned why is it considered a national sin? All the sinners have been put to death, so whither teshuva? Why does Moshe pray again?\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/brander_ki_tisa_the_sin_of_silence\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/brander_ki_tisa_the_sin_of_silence\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Golden-calf.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Golden-calf.jpg\",\"width\":288,\"height\":292,\"caption\":\"Golden Calf\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/\",\"name\":\"OU Life\",\"description\":\"Everyday Jewish Living\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/8d6294b60b57e0c4bcff77e5b5507cb2\",\"name\":\"Rabbi Asher Brander\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/torah\/files\/Rabbi-Asher-Brander_avatar.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/torah\/files\/Rabbi-Asher-Brander_avatar.jpeg\",\"caption\":\"Rabbi Asher Brander\"},\"description\":\"Rabbi Asher Brander is Rabbi of the Westwood Kehilla, Founder\/Dean of the LINK (Los Angeles INtercommunity) Kollel, and has been a long time High School Rebbe.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/author\/rabbi_asher_branderou-org\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ki Tisa: The Sin of Silence - OU Life","description":"If only 3000 people sinned why is it considered a national sin? All the sinners have been put to death, so whither teshuva? Why does Moshe pray again?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/brander_ki_tisa_the_sin_of_silence\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ki Tisa: The Sin of Silence - OU Life","og_description":"If only 3000 people sinned why is it considered a national sin? All the sinners have been put to death, so whither teshuva? Why does Moshe pray again?","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/brander_ki_tisa_the_sin_of_silence\/","og_site_name":"OU Life","article_published_time":"2010-03-03T19:14:32+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-11-01T15:40:27+00:00","og_image":[{"width":288,"height":292,"url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Golden-calf.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Rabbi Asher Brander","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Rabbi Asher Brander","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/brander_ki_tisa_the_sin_of_silence\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/brander_ki_tisa_the_sin_of_silence\/","name":"Ki Tisa: The Sin of Silence - OU Life","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/brander_ki_tisa_the_sin_of_silence\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/brander_ki_tisa_the_sin_of_silence\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Golden-calf.jpg","datePublished":"2010-03-03T19:14:32+00:00","dateModified":"2015-11-01T15:40:27+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/8d6294b60b57e0c4bcff77e5b5507cb2"},"description":"If only 3000 people sinned why is it considered a national sin? All the sinners have been put to death, so whither teshuva? Why does Moshe pray again?","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/brander_ki_tisa_the_sin_of_silence\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/brander_ki_tisa_the_sin_of_silence\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Golden-calf.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Golden-calf.jpg","width":288,"height":292,"caption":"Golden Calf"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/","name":"OU Life","description":"Everyday Jewish Living","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/8d6294b60b57e0c4bcff77e5b5507cb2","name":"Rabbi Asher Brander","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/torah\/files\/Rabbi-Asher-Brander_avatar.jpeg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/torah\/files\/Rabbi-Asher-Brander_avatar.jpeg","caption":"Rabbi Asher Brander"},"description":"Rabbi Asher Brander is Rabbi of the Westwood Kehilla, Founder\/Dean of the LINK (Los Angeles INtercommunity) Kollel, and has been a long time High School Rebbe.","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/author\/rabbi_asher_branderou-org\/"}]}},"acf":[],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/223"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13028"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13028\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51142,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13028\/revisions\/51142"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}