‘Go and ask your wives for their
jewellery,’ he suggested, knowing that such a request would undoubtedly
forestall their plans. Sure enough, the
women refused to partake in the terrible act of treachery against God and Moshe. But that didn’t stop the people. They ripped off their own jewellery and
gathered up their gold and silver.
Aharon collected their wealth and cast
it directly into the fire. Can you
imagine the shock on his face when the Golden Calf emerged? All he had wanted to do was to use every
opportunity possible to stop the people from sinning and to delay their
iniquitous endeavour. And yet, his
engagement and participation would lead to the impression by many that he was a
willing accomplice to their crime. Far
from it. Aharon’s only shortcoming was
his lack of courage to stand up to the evildoers who had bullied him into
submission.
Because it’s never easy to stand up
to a bully.
הַבּוֹצֵר לַגַּת,
שַׁמַּאי אוֹמֵר: הוּכְשַׁר, הִלֵּל אוֹמֵר: לֹא הוּכְשַׁר. אָמַר לוֹ הִלֵּל
לְשַׁמַּאי: מִפְּנֵי מַה בּוֹצְרִין בְּטָהֳרָה וְאֵין מוֹסְקִין בְּטָהֳרָה?
אָמַר לוֹ: אִם תַּקְנִיטֵנִי, גּוֹזְרַנִי טוּמְאָה אַף עַל הַמְּסִיקָה. נָעֲצוּ
חֶרֶב בְּבֵית הַמִּדְרָשׁ, אָמְרוּ: הַנִּכְנָס — יִכָּנֵס, וְהַיּוֹצֵא — אַל יֵצֵא.
וְאוֹתוֹ הַיּוֹם הָיָה הִלֵּל כָּפוּף וְיוֹשֵׁב לִפְנֵי שַׁמַּאי כְּאֶחָד מִן
הַתַּלְמִידִים. וְהָיָה קָשֶׁה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל כַּיּוֹם שֶׁנַּעֲשָׂה בּוֹ הָעֵגֶל.
וּגְזוּר שַׁמַּאי וְהִלֵּל וְלָא קַבִּלוּ מִינַּיְיהוּ, וַאֲתוֹ
תַּלְמִידַיְיהוּ גְּזוּר וְקַבִּלוּ מִינַּיְיהוּ
When one harvests grapes in order to take them to the press, Shammai says they
become susceptible to impurity, and Hillel says they do not become susceptible.
Hillel said to Shammai: If so, why do we harvest grapes in purity, but we do
not harvest olives in purity? Shammai
said to him: If you provoke me, I will decree impurity on the gathering of
olives as well. The dispute became so intense
that they stuck a sword in the study hall, and they said: One who seeks to
enter the study hall, let him enter, and one who seeks to leave may not leave,
so that all of the Sages will be assembled to determine the halacha. That
day Hillel was bowed and was sitting before Shammai like one of the students.
And that day was as difficult for Israel as the day the Golden Calf was made. And Shammai and Hillel issued the decree, and
the people did not accept it from them. And their students came and issued the
decree, and the people accepted it from them.
Hillel and Shammai have a legal disagreement. Hillel questions Shammai’s reasoning. But instead of explaining his position, he
overreacts and threatens to double down on his position. Hillel cowers to the back of the room and
meekly bows to Shammai’s position. They
try to issue a ruling accordingly. But
by that time, Shammai’s students are so zealous about their teacher’s words
that they won’t accept the original position he had articulated. Now they wanted blood. They would take nothing less than his
double-down position. And until they got
their way, nobody was going anywhere.
The Talmud Yerushalmi tells us that they stood there, swords and spears
drawn, to make sure that the students of Hillel could not enter the voting
‘pit’, and that their position would win the day. The Chasam Sofer explains the analogy to the
Golden Calf. Just like Aharon, who was
bullied into submission and engagement in the heinous act of the crazed masses,
poor Hillel and his students had no choice but to capitulate to the zealots who
were fixated on getting their way. Well,
what do you know, when a vote was taken, the students of Shammai were
victorious. Just like the eirev rav
– the wayward masses – who led the people to the sin of idolatry, they were
successful in their endeavours, which is hardly a success by anyone’s measure.
The truth is that Hillel never really agreed. Nor did Aharon. They were bullied into acceptance. And that’s why the Torah never really blames
Aharon for standing at the helm of the sin of the Golden Calf. Because he had no choice in the matter. They were standing there, swords and spears
in hand. Had he resisted, he’d have met
the same fate as Chur.
Just before Moshe builds the Tabernacle, he gathers the people together, “Vayakhel
Moshe.” Why specifically at that
moment did he gather them? Rabbi Moshe
of Pshedvorsk says that one must fast forward a millennium to understand
Moshe’s motivation. The Holy Temple was
destroyed on account of ‘sinas chinam’ – baseless hatred between people. The secret to the Tabernacle’s endurance,
explains Moshe to the Israelites, is to be gathered together in unity.
The last few years has seen increasingly unprecedented levels of ill-will,
viciousness, and anger, in our society.
Differences of opinion that were heretofore respected and debated have
now descended into ad hominem attacks and thoughtless jumping onto the
bandwagon of fellow echo chamber members.
Many have the attitude that if someone doesn’t agree with them, they’ll set
out to destroy not just their opinions but their right to an opinion and their
very reputation. That’s classic sinas
chinam.
If an idea is intellectually sound, you shouldn’t feel the need to bully
others into submission to accept your opinions.
And just because they’ve given up trying to defend their position
doesn’t make you right. It just means
you were out-screaming them. When you
are comfortable with your own position, there’s no need to delegitimize the
other person. Even if they don’t agree
with you, even if you believe they’re outright wrong, it’s okay, they’re
entitled to their opinions. And
differences of opinion should never degenerate into personal enmity.
We can never fathom God’s ways. To
suggest a reason for the incomprehensible is blasphemous. Nevertheless, these dark days must be a time
of deep introspection. We need to ask
ourselves how far we would go to be reunited with family members, community
members, and neighbours, even if they might have differing political attitudes and
worldviews to our own. When we’re
prepared to respect and tolerate and show love, we demonstrate to our Father in
Heaven that we’re ready to enter our Tabernacles, the places of communal unity,
our synagogues and places of learning.
Now, more than ever, we need lovingkindness in the world. It’s time we started to listen to one another
and respect one another. May you use
this ‘alone’ time for self-introspection regarding the people in your life you
might have hurt by your superciliousness, and may you actively seek to mend
those relationships, so that we will all be ready to live in peace, harmony, and
unity very soon, by the grace of God.
No comments:
Post a Comment