Parshat Shemini 5779-repairing the Golden calf ‘debacle’

(based on a shiur given by Rabbi I.Bernstein zal in London in 1993)

א  וַיְהִי, בַּיּוֹם הַשְּׁמִינִי, קָרָא מֹשֶׁה, לְאַהֲרֹן וּלְבָנָיו--וּלְזִקְנֵי, יִשְׂרָאֵל.

1 And it came to pass on the eighth day, that Moses called Aaron and his sons, and the elders of Israel;

ב  וַיֹּאמֶר אֶל-אַהֲרֹן, קַח-לְךָ עֵגֶל בֶּן-בָּקָר לְחַטָּאת וְאַיִל לְעֹלָה--תְּמִימִם; וְהַקְרֵב, לִפְנֵי יְהוָה.

2 and he said unto Aaron: 'Take thee a bull-calf for a sin-offering, and a ram for a burnt-offering, without blemish, and offer them before the LORD.

ג  וְאֶל-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, תְּדַבֵּר לֵאמֹר:  קְחוּ שְׂעִיר-עִזִּים לְחַטָּאת, וְעֵגֶל וָכֶבֶשׂ בְּנֵי-שָׁנָה תְּמִימִם לְעֹלָה.

3 And unto the children of Israel thou shalt speak, saying: Take ye a he-goat for a sin-offering; and a calf and a lamb, both of the first year, without blemish, for a burnt-offering;

From these pesukim we see that an עֵגֶל בֶּן-בָּקָר is taken as a sin offering by Aaron and another one is taken for the Jewish people as a burnt offering. The calf of Aaron is explained by Rashi:

קח לך עגל. לְהוֹדִיעַ שֶׁכִּפֵּר לוֹ הַקָּבָּ"ה עַל יְדֵי עֵגֶל זֶה עַל מַעֲשֵׂה הָעֵגֶל שֶׁעָשָֹה (שם):

קח לך עגל ‘TAKE THEE A CALF — This animal was selected as a sin offering to announce to him that the Holy One, blessed be He, granted him atonement by means of this calf for the incident of the golden calf which he had made (Midrash Tanchuma, Shmini 4).’

However,if these animals are an atonement for the golden calf, why is Aaron’s goat a ‘sin offering’ and the children of Israel take a goat as a burnt offering. Why the difference?

The Kli Yakar answers this question:

קח לך עגל בן בקר לחטאת. יש מקשים למה עגל של אהרן בא לחטאת ועגל של ישראל בא לעולה, ואמרו בזה לפי שבחטא העגל לא חטא אהרן במחשבה שהרי ודאי לא נתכוין לשם ע"ז כלל ועיקר חטאו היתה במעשה שעשה העגל בפועל כמ"ש (שמות לב לה) ויגוף ה' את העם על אשר עשו את העגל אשר עשה אהרן. מה ת"ל אשר עשה אהרן אלא להורות בא שאהרן לא חטא כ"א בעשיית העגל, ולא במחשבה, ע"כ קרבנו עגל לחטאת המכפר על חטא המעשה, אבל ישראל שחטאו גם במחשבה כי ודאי לשם ע"ז נתכוונו ע"כ קרבנם עגל לעולה הבא על חטא ההרהור. ומה שקשה על פירוש זה הלא ישראל חטאו גם במעשה שהרי השתחוו לו ויזבחו לו ולמה לא הביאו לכפרה עגל לחטאת. נ"ל שעל חטא הזביחה הביאו לכפרה השעיר לפי שנאמר (ויקרא יז ז) ולא יזבחו עוד את זבחיהם לשעירים והיכן מצינו שזבחו ישראל לשעירים שאמר לשון עוד אלא ודאי שעל מה שנאמר בעגל ויזבחו לו קאי כי זביחה זו ודאי היתה לשעירים לשדים לא אלוה כי כל המעשה ההוא היה מעשה שטן ושעירים ירקדו שם (ישעיה יג כא) ע"כ נאמר קחו שעיר עזים לחטאת אבל אהרן שלא זבח לו כלל הביא עגל לחטאת לכפר על מה שעשה העגל.

'When Aaron made the golden calf, he did not sin in intent as it is obvious he had no interest in worshipping the golden calf. Only his sin was that of the action of fashioning a calf, an act of creating an image but with no desire to worship that image. The verse (Shemot 32:35) quoted by Kli Yakar confirms this approach as it adds the words אשר עשה אהרן, which confirms that Aaron’s dubious act was only to make the calf but certainly not to worship it. This is why he brings a sin offering which atones for a sin involving an action. However the Jews sinned in intent, with the express purpose of worshipping the idol, therefore they had to bring an ‘olah’/burnt offering which is always the atonement for a sin of intent. The ‘olah’ is burnt and becomes invisible, and this corresponds to the sin of thought which comes from a place which is ‘invisible’ i.e. the mind.'........

The only question left to answer is where is the atonement to the actual worshipping of the calf which the Jews performed, as we read in the story of the golden calf. The Kli Yakar answers that with regard to sacrificing to it, they also bring a he-goat קְחוּ שְׂעִיר-עִזִּים לְחַטָּאת, to atone for this sin. He proves that this is the correct animal to bring as a sin offering as proven from a later parsha in sefer Vayikra.

Rabbi Bernstein zal raises a problem from a later verse (pasuk 7) which says that Aaron atones for himself and also for the Jewish people, which is not in line with the suggestion of the Kli Yakar in terms of the acts of atonement that are taking place here, which clearly suggest separate acts of atonement of Aaron and of the Jewish people.

He answers by referring to the Ohr Hachaim on verse 7:

וכפר בעדך ובעד העם. משמע כי כפרת אהרן נוגעת גם לעם. והטעם הוא לצד כי חטא אהרן ישראל היו לו סיבה לחטוא שאמרו לו (תשא לב א) קום עשה לנו וגו', וכל עוד שלא נתכפר אהרן ישנו החטא לעושהו ולמסבב עושהו, ואחר שנתכפר נתכפרו שניהם, לזה אמר לו וכפר בעדך ובעד העם:

וכפר בעדך ובעד העם. "and make atonement for yourself and for the people."We learn from this that Aaron's own atonement effected the atonement of the people. This is because Aaron's sin was brought about through the Israelites. Had they not demanded from Aaron that he make a deity for them, none of all this would have happened. As long as Aaron had not obtained atonement for his part in that sin, both the sinner and the one who had been the prime cause of that sin still remained guilty. As soon as Aaron obtained atonement, so did the people. We derive all this from the linkage of the two atonements in this verse i.e. "on your behalf and on behalf of the people."

Ohr Hachaim explains that Aaron’s atonement will work for the people as well, as they instigated the whole thing in the first place. As long as Aaron is not forgiven, the people who caused Aaron to sin are also not forgiven and this is the meaning of verse 7, not in terms of the animals but in terms of the levels of forgiveness which must take place here.

Rabbi Bernstein adds that a Tosephot in TB Shavuot 14a , comments that the tribe of Levi are not called ‘am’, and this fits in so well that the atonement here,which  is said to be on behalf of the people/am, excluding the Leviim, who were not participants in this sin. This is why we have no responsive verses in the laining on a fast day in the section read by the Levi, as the Levi does not need atonement (as represented by these repeated verses-13 midot etc.) for the golden calf sin, which is alluded to in the fast day Torah reading.

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As always it is remarkable how exact the Torah is, in describing the requirements of atonement here in the beginning of our parsha. The golden calf episode became so traumatic that (as Sforno explains) the mitzvot which appear after the golden calf story are there to bring the Jews back to a level of holiness which was lost by worshipping the golden calf. Our great commentators bring this whole episode to life and make it inspirational for us, to understand that forgiveness can be achieved, as we believe, through teshuva and as once was applicable, through special sacrifices to God. Their insights are truly amazing.

Rabbi Ian Shaffer        SCW/Cherry Hill NJ     March 2019