This week's parsha

Unless otherwise noted, "This week's Parsha" comprises articles taken from contributors to the Chabad.org website. We show the original author's name here, so that proper attribution is given. For the sake of brevity, footnotes cited in the original author's writings are omitted from this website. If you need to see the citations, please refer to the original articles on the Chabad.org website.

The Antidote

Published: 22 February 2011 | Written by Zalman Posner

After breaking the first set of Tablets of Ten Commandments because Israel worshipped the Golden Calf, Moses ascends Mount Sinai and spends forty days there again, praying for forgiveness for his people. On Yom Kippur day his petition for pardon was granted, and he returns to his people.

His first act on the next day was to "gather the entire congregation of Israel" and he told them the things that "G-d commanded us to do." His first lesson was the observance of the Shabbat, singling out the creation of fire among all labor that was to be avoided on the Holy Day.

The Golden Sponsor

Published: 16 February 2011 | Written by Rabbi Ben A.

"When the people saw that Moses was late in coming down from the mountain…" — Exodus 32:1.

This week's portion describes one of the most misunderstood events in the Bible – the sin of the Golden Calf. Taken at face value, it is difficult to comprehend how the same people who had witnessed the miracles of the Exodus and the Revelation at Sinai could be led to worship a molten image. However, a deeper understanding of the episode reveals that the people did not intend to replace G-d with the Golden Calf. What they were looking for was a substitute for Moses. As the verse states, the debacle began "when the people saw that Moses was late in coming down from the mountain…."

Moses, a human being of flesh and blood, represented the people's tangible connection to G-d. As Moses related (Deut. 5:5), "I was standing between G-d and you at the time [of the Revelation at Sinai]…." Although it was G-d who redeemed the people from Egypt and gave them the Commandments at Sinai, it was Moses who served as the visible medium through which G-d brought about these wonders. Without Moses to facilitate their relationship with G-d, the people were in a quandary and sought to replace him.

Look Beyond the Label

Published: 08 February 2011 | Written by Mordechai Wollenberg

The name of Moses does not appear in this week's Torah portion, even though he is alluded to. The reason for this is that Moses had requested of G-d, when the Children of Israel made the Golden Calf, that if He was not prepared to forgive the Children of Israel, then He should erase him "from Your book..." Although the Jewish people were forgiven, the words of a righteous individual (tzaddik) are powerful and Moses' decree was realized through his name being missed out from this one Parshah.

The commentator Baal Haturim points out that while Moses' actual name does not appear, Moses himself is very much present. The entire portion consists of G-d's words to Moses! Indeed, its first word is "and you [shall command...]" -- the you being Moses.