2 months ago

Egotism Or Moshiach: Rabbi Tuvia Bolton

This week’s Torah reading relates the most shameful and demoralizing story ever told; the Golden Calf episode.

Moses led the Jews from Egypt and did everything possible to get them to believe in the Almighty. He brought the ten plagues, split the sea, brought Manna from heaven, water from a rock, took them to Sinai, brought them the Torah and gave G-d ALL the credit.
Even more; at Mount Sinai the Jews both SAW and HEARD G-d saying “worship ONLY the G-d who took them from Egypt and NOT IDOLS”.
And despite all this the Torah tells us that it didn’t work! The Jews did exactly the opposite and worshiped a Golden Calf!
The Torah is supposed to be an uplifting book that teaches and inspires us to believe in G-d, but here we find exactly the opposite!
If after all these amazing personal experiences of G-d the Jews still did not obey…then what chance have we got?! Not very inspiring!
What is this story doing in the Torah? What is the Torah trying to teach us here??

To understand this, here is a story. (Stories of the Baal Shem Tov pg.11)

Some 300 years ago Judaism was at a low point. Divided into two ‘camps’; Talmudic scholars and simple people, it seemed like G-d’s promises to Abraham and the forefathers of Moshiach and redemption would never materialize.
It was precisely then that a Jew by the name of Yisroel Baal Shem (a.k.a. Baal Shem Tov or Besh’t for short) began teaching a new type of positive Judaism called ‘Chassidut’. He stressed ideas such as ‘the Jewish soul’, Joy in Judaism, giving G-d pleasure and the necessity of a ‘Moses’ in every generation.
All of these were so unacceptable to the Scholarly class that the majority of them openly hated the Besh’t and even considered excommunicating him.
Our story centers around such a Rabbi. His name is not given in the story but we will call him Rabbi Zundel. He was so certain that the Besh’t was a faker that he issued a decree totally forbidding anyone in his city to listen to or help him or his pupils in any way even to provide them a glass of water. There were those that tried to point out that the Besh’t was a great scholar, a G-d fearing man, had healed the sick and done other revealed miracles to alleviate Jewish suffering but the Rabbi was totally unimpressed.
He was satisfied with the Judaism he knew and refused to even discuss the matter.
Now this Rabbi Zundel was a very devoted Torah Scholar and was very demanding on both himself and his congregation. Before he would make any sort of Torah decision, he would often weigh it out examining Torah sources for hours before stating his opinion. So it was unthinkable that he would err in any way.
But it so happened one afternoon, shortly after he issued his decree against the Besh’t, that a serious problem arose regarding the ‘kashrut’ (permissibility) of a cow that had been slaughtered for a wedding feast of several hundred people that evening because of a blemish in one of the lungs. Rav Zundel was brought to inspect the animal, returned home to study the problem thoroughly and after considerable deliberation decided that the animal was kosher and the meat could be eaten.
The Rabbi returned home to his studies and other obligations but several hours later suddenly a frightening thought entered his mind; he remembered clearly that another book said that in such a case the meat would be forbidden!
A cold sweat covered his forehead as he pulled that book from his library, turned to the page and discovered that….it was as he feared! He made a mistake!!
Without even bothering to put on his overcoat like a madman possessed he dashed out of his house, into the freezing weather, to the wedding hall to tell everyone not to eat the meat! But when he arrived, he found that the wedding meal had just ended! He had caused everyone to inadvertently sin and eat forbidden food!
He was stunned! It was too late! Everyone, unaware of the reason behind his visit, stood for his honor and waited for him to say something in honor of the occasion but he meekly smiled, said a forced ‘Mazal Tov’, turned and left. It was too late. There was no point in ruining the wedding. He would have to figure out what to do. Perhaps to tell them in a few days but meanwhile his mistake began weighing on his mind. He had never made a mistake, never! And now this! And there was no way to correct it!
The next day he felt ill and the day afterwards also. He just wanted to be alone and collect his thoughts. He lost his appetite, stopped leaving his room, refused to see people and began talking to himself. Weeks later he still hadn’t been able to bring himself to tell anyone of his mistake, he just sat in his room or wandered about his house mumbling to himself or crying silently. It was obvious that he was slowly losing his mind.
The entire town witnessed the deterioration of their beloved Rabbi and decided to take action. A committee was appointed and they summoned doctors of higher and higher caliber but they all agreed that his problem could not be solved by any known treatments.
So the committee turned to ‘alternative’ medicine; they heard of a man several days journey away that was reputed to possess mystical abilities of healing and in desperation decided to take Rav Zundel to him.
They bundled their Rabbi in warm blankets, put him in the largest carriage in town and were off. Because travel at night was impossible, every evening they stopped at an inn and at one of their stops, when the innkeeper heard where they were going, he innocently suggested that not far away in the town of Mezibuz lived the holy Baal Shem Tov lived and they should visit him before seeing this dubious ‘mystic’.
They took one look at their Rabbi who stared emptily into the distance; eyes darting in inner turmoil, and decided they had nothing to lose. They told the wagon driver of their change in venue and to their amazement as they approached Mezibuz their precious Rabbi Zundel’s condition seemed to improve. His eyes cleared, his confusion was less noticeable and he even began to recognize those around him.

When they finally arrived in the town and asked for directions to the Baal Shem Tov he was pointed out as the one standing at the front door of his synagogue. The Besh’t motioned to them as though he was expecting them, invited them into his study where, without asking the reason for their visit, told Rabbi Zundel to have a seat, took a book from the shelf, opened it before him and told him to read. It said that, in fact, he had not erred; he had decided correctly when he permitted the meat!
Over and over Rabbi Zundel examined the paragraphs the Besh’t showed him until a warm smile formed on his lips and tears of joy flowed down his cheeks. He realized that his self-centered concept of Judaism, as well as that of those who slandered the Besh’t, was wrong. At once his hatred transformed to admiration and he became a Chassid of the Baal Shem Tov.

This answers our questions about why the Torah tells us of the Golden Calf.

Man is created in G-d’s image. This means that G-d implanted in man the feeling that man himself IS G-d and that we should resist that feeling. So the internal battle of man is do we worship the Creator or ourselves.
The Torah is telling us that idolatry stems from selfishness and not living in the Creator’s world but imagining that we are the boss.
Without being aware of the Almighty Creator the Jews feel alone and uncertain and so they turn to idolatry for security.
And all the miracles and revelations in the world can’t stop it.
The only way to combat such selfishness is to be connected to a Jew that has none; the ‘Moses’ found in each generation.
The Torah even tells us that the reason the Jews worshiped the Golden Calf was because they mistakenly believed that Moses was gone (32:1)!
Moses and only Moses can inspire the Jews to do what they were ‘chosen’ for; to leave their false egotism, be aware of the Creator and bring blessing to the world. But without Moses only egotism (material or spiritual) remains and rules. And every generation must have such a ‘Moses’.
And this was the reason that Rav Zundel in our story at first refused to accept the Besh’t; he wasn’t willing to even consider relinquishing his own closed-mindedness. But once he did, he became a different man.
So today; the arrival of Moshiach and world redemption depends on our learning and actualizing the teachings of the Chassidic masters [especially those of the Rebbes of Chabad and most especially those of the last Chabad Rebbe (see your local Chabad House for details)].
And this will be the accomplishment of Moshiach; to lead, unify, educate and enliven our entire generation, young and old, Jew and gentile (seven Noahide commandments) in the light of the Torah and the Creator with JOY above all limits. Just as the Lubavitcher Rebbe taught, did and is still doing.

And not much is missing, we are standing on thousands of years of Jewish hopes, suffering and prayers. Now it could be that just one more good deed, word or even thought can tilt the scales and bring……. Moshiach NOW!

Rabbi Tuvia Bolton
Yeshiva Ohr Tmimim
Kfar Chabad, Israel

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