KI SISSA 1996

In the Torah portion Kisissa we lean about how the Jewish people worship the golden calf.  This seems almost incomprehensible.  Just 40 days before they had heard G-d' s voice speaks to Moshe and then He spoke indirectly to them.  He had told them at least the first two of the Ten Commandments, and now they were worshipping idols?  The rabbis tell us that miracles are really of no use because when a miracle happens some people will believe it implicitly and other people will believe it for a short period of time but miracles will wear off.  What's more, other miracles may come, either real or imagined, and they will displace the first miracles.  The only thing that really can cause people to believe in G-d and believe in the Torah is the fact that they believe that the Torah, itself, is genuine, that they believe that it reflects human reality, that it reflects their condition.  Therefore, the Rambam says that the only thing that really caused the Jewish people to believe in Moshe and in the Torah and in G-d was the fact that G-d, Himself, spoke to Moshe in their presence at Mount Sina.  Now, of course, here we see that 40 days later they have left the Torah but it was only a momentary leaving of the Torah.  Why did they leave the Torah?  They left the Tora, the rabbis say, because they were frightened and they saw what appeared to be a miracle in the sky and it looked like, according to Rashi, the angels were carrying Moshe's coffin in a procession across the heavens and they were afraid.  Therefore, they succumbed to this other miracle.

After all, we read every day after the parting of the Red Sea and the drowning of the Egyptian armies, it says, "And the people believed in G-d and in Moshe, His servant."  That is true.  They did believe but they did not believe long enough and strong enough not to worship the golden calf.  It is true that if you believe that the Torah is authentic you may lapse once in a while but you will not lapse for long, but if you believe in the Torah only based on miracles other miracles can occur which will dispute the fact that the Tora is true.

Therefore, what happened at the time of the golden calf is those people who were so impressed with the miracle of the Red Sea and the other miracles that had been done in Egypt had not taken much cognizance of the fact that G-d had spoken to them and to Moshe.  Their faith quickly waned, but the others who recognized the fact that the authenticity of the Torah flows from the Torah, itself, that the words, themselves, have divine sanction, that somehow within us all we recognize the truth and we can recognize that the Torah is true because, as the rabbis have told us, before we are born G-d puts the truth in our minds and in our subconscious and even in our conscious but the moment we are born an angel strikes our lips and then we lose it from the conscious but it remains in our unconscious so we ca recognize the truth.  At the time that G-d spoke to Moshe on Mount Sina every Jewish Neshoma was affected and every Jewish Neshoma ca really appreciate the truth.  Sometimes we are momentarily blinded and sometimes we, as a people, are led astray but the Torah always come back because there is a remnant who still hears that voice from Sina, so it is not really miracles that determines that the Tora is true.  What determines the fact that the Torah is true is that the Torah reflects the word of G-d as it was told to Moshe, and when we read the Torah and study the Torah we all recognize that fact.  Hidden in our subconscious is this truth.  This truth has been handed down from generation to generation from the time of Moshe Rabbeinu and the millions of people who heard G-d speak.  Let us all continue to study Tora because it is only through the study of Torah that we can recognize that the Torah is true.  Becoming a believing Jew can only occur when we study Torah.  Miracles will not help us because miracles only lead to transitory belief, but they are quickly dissipated over the course of time and if other seeming miracles occur which seem to contradict the Torah belief falls out the window, but if we study Torah we can ourselves feel the force of the original giving of the Torah by G-d to Moshe at Mount Sinai.  We can feel its authenticity and, therefore, we will continue to be believe Jews.  Let us all continue to study Tora so the Mashiach will come quickly in our day.  Amen.