Hashem Loves Us: Believe It!

By Rabbi Moshe Krieger, Yeshivas Bircas HaTorah ׂ(www.bircas.org)

Parshas Ki Sisa recounts one of the infamous events in Jewish history: the sin of the Golden Calf. Idol worship is so disgraceful that the question begs to be asked: how could such a thing have happened? Just over a month earlier, at Har Sinai, the Jews had experienced the greatest possible revelation of Hashem. How could they have acted so foolishly?

The Ramban and Rabbeinu Bachaye both deal with this question. They explain that from the time of the Exodus until that time, Moshe Rabbeinu had constantly guided the Jewish people. They saw him as the only one who could lead them in the ways of Hashem and connect them with their Creator. At this time, the Jews were led to believe that Moshe had died, and the people panicked. Without Moshe’s leadership, how would they continue? How would they survive the desert’s extreme conditions? Could they still continue to be Hashem’s people?

The Eirev Rav (an unsavory group of converts that had joined the Jews by the Yetzi’as Mitzrayim) offered a suggestion: Moshe could be replaced by a special spiritual mechanism. An ox is engraved on the left side of Hashem’s Throne of Glory (which everyone had seen at the Yam Suf), representing Hashem’s power to override His attribute of Justice. They suggested that appealing to the corporeal figure of a calf and honoring it could serve as a way to beg Hashem to override His attribute of Justice and guide them. They hoped that Hashem would relate to them through the image they had made and guide them, using the calf as an intermediary. And so, they made the Golden Calf.

However, the situation quickly degenerated into out-and-out idolatry. People started bringing sacrifices and bowing to the calf itself, forgetting about Hashem.

Rav Reuven Fine asserts that the root of the decision to make the calf stemmed from a negative self-image. The Jews thought that they were helpless without Moshe Rabbeinu to guide them. They couldn’t conceive of having an intimate relationship with Hashem without any intermediary.

Most of us can relate to this as well. We are imperfect beings connected to the material world. Hashem seems beyond us, Perfect and True in the ultimate sense. When we daven Shemoneh Esrei, do we really feel that we are reaching the Creator? Sometimes, we might doubt that we can really build a relationship with Him. As natural as such thoughts may be, they can lead to tragedy, as they did for the desert generation.

These feelings are based on a faulty premise. They stem from the assumption that you have to be on a high spiritual level in order to be close to Hashem. However, this is not the case. Hashem is close to us as long as we try to do His will. The Torah refers to us as “Hashem’s sons,” (Devarim 14:1) a “treasured people,” “a kingdom of priests,” and “a holy nation.” (Shemos 19) This truth is not limited to the holiest members of the Jewish nation, but applies to all of us, imperfect as we may be. Hashem loves us even if we fall short of the mark. The Mishnah (Menachos 110a) states that Hashem’s estimation of a mitzvah is not measured by how well it was performed. When a person tries his best, regardless of how successful he is, Hashem accepts his service. The Mishnah states, “One who does a lot and one who does a little [are the same], as long as they are acting for the sake of Heaven.” Even if we are unaware of it, we are connected to Hashem and important to Him.

This idea is actually one of the main messages of Purim. The era in which the Purim story took place was a time when Hashem “hid His face,” so to speak, from the Jewish people. The Beis HaMikdash had been destroyed, the Jewish people were in exile, and the Megillah itself begins by recounting a party that celebrated the Jews’ downfall. An edict was issued to destroy the entire nation! It seemed to some that Hashem had abandoned them, G-d forbid. The Rambam (Sefer HaMitzvos, introduction) explains that the nation’s redemption from such a dire situation is a testimony to all future generations: Hashem is always close to His people. Whenever a Jew calls out to Hashem, He answers, and He is always waiting for a Jew to turn to him wholeheartedly.

Many people come to Rav Gamliel Rabinowitz to tell him their troubles. He frequently asks them, “Are you davening to Hashem wholeheartedly? The passuk states that ‘Hashem is near to all who call out to him in truth.’ Are you doing that? Are you davening with a minyan? You should never miss davening with a minyan. It says (Berachos 8a) ‘HaKadosh Baruch never spurns the tefillah of a minyan of Jews!’ How could anyone in his right mind forego davening with a minyan?”

May we be zocheh to recognize that we can connect with Hashem at all times!