Framing matters. The context in which a story is told is part of the story itself. Take, for example, the story of Megillat Esther that we have just read. Imagine, if instead of beginning, “It was in the days of Ahashverosh, he was Ahashverosh who ruled from India to Ethiopia… (he) made a feast,” it read, “It was in the days when Jews had returned to build the second Temple… Ahashverosh made a feast.” Both would be true and could continue to describe the same events. Yet, they would tell very different stories. In this week’s parashah, the Jews build the “עגל הזהב-the Golden Calf”. A mere thirty-nine days after they were gifted the Torah by God Himself on Mount Sinai, they serve an idol. This event, shocking in its own right, is framed in a puzzling way.

The story appears to start at the beginning of Chapter 32:

וַיַּ֣רְא הָעָ֔ם כִּֽי־בֹשֵׁ֥שׁ מֹשֶׁ֖ה לָרֶ֣דֶת מִן־הָהָ֑ר וַיִּקָּהֵ֨ל הָעָ֜ם עַֽל־אַהֲרֹ֗ן וַיֹּאמְר֤וּ אֵלָיו֙ ק֣וּם׀ עֲשֵׂה־לָ֣נוּ אֱלֹהִ֗ים אֲשֶׁ֤ר יֵֽלְכוּ֙ לְפָנֵ֔ינוּ כִּי־זֶ֣ה׀ מֹשֶׁ֣ה הָאִ֗ישׁ אֲשֶׁ֤ר הֶֽעֱלָ֙נוּ֙ מֵאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרַ֔יִם לֹ֥א יָדַ֖עְנוּ מֶה־הָ֥יָה לֽוֹ (שמות לב:א)

The people saw that Moshe had delayed in descending the mountain. The people congregated upon Aharon and they said to him, “Get up and make us a god/power that will go before us. For this man, Moshe, who took us up from the Land of Egypt, we do not know what happened to him.” (Shemot 32:1).

This is indeed the beginning of the chapter, but it is not the beginning of the story. The chapters of the Torah are not of Jewish origin. In the Torah, this story begins one passuk earlier:

וַיִּתֵּ֣ן אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֗ה כְּכַלֹּתוֹ֙ לְדַבֵּ֤ר אִתּוֹ֙ בְּהַ֣ר סִינַ֔י שְׁנֵ֖י לֻחֹ֣ת הָעֵדֻ֑ת לֻחֹ֣ת........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)