Still Paying for the Calf?
Moshe Ben-Chaim & Moshe Barbanel
Howard: In Rabbi Pelcovitz's notes in his Sforno translation, he cites Talmud Sanhedrin 102a, "No punishmnent comes to the world in which there is not a part of payment for the sin of the Golden Calf."
What does this mean?
Rabbi: Let's read the complete Talmudic quote (Talmud Sanhedrin 102a):
"Rabbi Isaac said, 'No punishment comes to the world in which there is not a fraction(1) of payment for the sin of the Golden Calf, as it says, "And now go, take this people to where I will tell you; behold My angel goes before you. And on the day of My remembrance, I will remember their sin upon them." (Exod. 32:34)
A number of questions arise:
1) Exodus 32:35 states that God plagued the Jews who created the Calf. If so, what need is there for a perpetual punishment?
2) What is this idea of meting out a "fraction" of the Golden Calf sin? Why not mete out a greater measure, if it is warranted?
3) Rabbi Isaac suggests that future generations will pay the price for the Jews in the desert. But is this just? The Torah states "Each man in his own sin will be punished". (Deut. 24:16)
4) Furthermore, how is this sin different than others, in that it requires a "perpetual" punishment, while other sins do not?
5) We might also ask why God will not punish us for the Golden Calf, without it being joined to another sin. If in fact our punishment was not meted out in full when the Calf was first created, God can continue punishing us until the full measure is served, "without joining" it to another sin's punishment! But it appears this is not the case, as God says "And on the day of My remembrance, I will remember their sin upon them." We must explain what demands the punishment of the Golden Calf to be joined to other punishments.
6) What exactly was the unique nature of the sin in building the Golden Calf?
Rabbi Isaac says "No punishment comes to the world in which there is not a fraction of payment for the sin of the Golden Calf". Rabbi Isaac is saying one of two possibilities:
A) he is using this sin to underscore a sinful element in human nature, that has always existed;
B) he is teaching that this Golden Calf sin damaged man from that point forward.
I find it quite difficult to explain how a sin committed by others I never met, thousands of years before me, can corrupt me and require that "I" be punished. Based on this reasoning, I reject "B" and believe that "A" to be correct. If this is so, then even without the Golden Calf sin, there is part of human nature (pronounced to a high degree in the Golden Calf) which requires punishment, or correction, throughout time.
My friend Moshe Barbanel suggested as follows:
"Somehow the emotion that led us to sin with Golden Calf still effects man(2). That same false concept still plagues man, throughout time. We need to examine more carefully what transpired leading up to that post Sinai transgression. Then, Bnai Israel experienced a life-changing event: God “revealed Himself”. I remember a friend telling me, "If God just came down and levitated this spoon I would accept that an all-powerful being existed". One time in history this actually occurred...not only to one person but to an entire nation. In fact, not only does Judaism accept revelation at Mount Sinai, but so does Christianity and Islam. But despite this awesome event, not 40 days later, the Jews and gentiles became so insecure at Moshe's absence that they forced Aaron to build them an idol. Truly amazing. (Yet most commentators indicate that it was not pure idolatry because only a small number where put the death by Moshe and the tribe of Levi.)
God prepared Bnai Israel for this event with over a year of education. With that education administered by the best teacher ever known: Moshe. The Jews witnessed the 10 Plagues. Each plague was designed to teach both Egyptian and Jew true ideas of God and His awesome power. Chazel state that each plague attacked different Egyptian idolatries. Sforno divides the 10 Plagues into three distinct groups with the final plague being a punishment. God required in the final plague that Bnai Israel overcome their fear of their masters and their masters' idolatry by putting aside a sheep – worshipped by Egyptians – and slaughtering that false God. Obviously this was for their perfection. They must of have suffered some type of malaise in this area. They witnessed God split the Red Sea for them. In the desert God continued to educate them. Even Revelation required massive preparation on them. Yet after all this they faltered. They looked too much towards Moshe and when he tarried for a short time (a miscalculation on their part) they became insecure. They could not relate to a non-physical God. Somehow, when man finds himself at certain cross roads, his knowledge of the Almighty becomes insecure. This allows him to falter just as the great generation did who were educated."
I believe Moshe's answer to be right on target. Additionally, his answer addresses all of our questions.
Moshe Barbanel is saying that the sin of the Golden Calf – to a degree unmatched by other sins – embodies a particular human corruption. This corruption is primary to all sins, thereby explaining why "ALL future punishments will include a portion of punishment for the Golden Calf", or rather, for that corruption embodied in the Calf. In truth, even if the Golden Calf was never created, man always possessed that corruption. What is this corruption?
Rabbi Isaac intends to focus us on a truth concerning sin in general. To sin, man must be so overly attached to the physical world that he rejects truth and wisdom, and disobeys his Creator. This attachment was seen most acutely in the Jews after having witnessed Revelation. Right then and there, as Moshe Barbanel writes, it was truly amazing that they were capable of disobeying the Grand Orchestrator of that event, in building an idol. They could not relate to a non-physical God. They actually said to Aaron, "And Moshe the "man" who took us up from Egypt, we know now what has become of him". (Exod. 32:1) Here, the Jews confessed their attachment to Moshe the "man". So they sinned to satisfy their need for a tangible replacement. (God directs us to understand their precise sin by including the word "man")
God says, "And on the day of My remembrance, I will remember their sin upon them". He means to say that this very corruption of physical attachment is present in all sins. It is the primary culprit that leads man to sin, throughout all time. Thus, it always requires punishment, or corrective measures. We see this corruption in the heretical view "pantheism" – that God literally and geographically permeates all matter. This is man's downfall: he forces the non-physical God into his subjective physical terms. Man feels that all must fit into his tangible universe. He cannot grow intellectually and humbly accept that there is, that which he cannot fathom. So man sinfully views God on his own terms and makes Him into a dimensional being. But in this very verse, God also says He will send an angel. Why mention this here? Perhaps this intimates this very sin, expressed in their inability to have God Himself "go" with them. They are not on the level to relate to the intangible God. And God says so by sending a messenger.
At the precise moment when the Jewish nation heard a "voice of words, and saw no form" (Deut. 4:12) they denied that truth and longed for some form. That event of Revelation offered the Jews the greatest opportunity, but they faltered gravely. Now let us answer our questions with this insight.
1) If God plagued the Jews who created the Calf, what need is there for a perpetual punishment?
Answer: God punishes all generations, as we all share in this "germ" of that sin...we aren't punished for the sin per se.
2) What is this idea of meting out a "fraction" of the Golden Calf sin? Why not mete out a greater measure?
Answer: This means that man's physical attachment is "partially" the blame of sin. But to sin, man must also corrupt his thinking, commit denial, etc.
3) Rabbi Isaac suggests that future generations will pay the price for the Jews in the desert. But is this just? The Torah states "Each man in his own sin will be punished".
Answer: As we said, God punishes all generations, as we all share in this "germ" of that sin
4) Furthermore, how is this sin different than others, in that it requires a "perpetual" punishment, while other sins do not?
Answer: This attachment was seen most acutely in the Jews, after having witnesses Revelation and despite this, creating a tangible object to replace Moshe. The gentiles were those who said "This is your god".
5) Why will God not punish us "for the Golden Calf", without it being joined to another sin?
Answer: Because we are not being punished for the Calf, but for following the underlying emotion responsible for the Calf, present in all sins.
6) What exactly was the unique nature of the sin in building the Golden Calf?
Answer: Man's inability to abandon his physical attachments and forcing his definition of God to conform to the physical realm.
Thank you to Howard for this question, and to Moshe Barbanel for the answer.
(1) Literally, "a 24th part of an overweight of a litra".
(2) But this emotion predated the Golden Calf sin. Rabbi Isaac merely points to this sin as the case par excellence that embodies a certain corruption in man. This corruption is the attachment to the physical. Whereas other causes of sin might be lustful urges, ignorance, anger, etc., the sin of the Golden Calf is primary a sin of tangibility.