A long drama had taken place. Moses had led the people from slavery to the beginning of the road to freedom. The people themselves had witnessed God at Mount Sinai, the only time in all history when an entire people became the recipients of revelation. Then came the disappearance of Moses for his long sojourn at the top of the mountain, an absence which led to the Israelites’ greatest collective sin, the making of the Golden Calf. Moses returned to the mountain to plead for forgiveness, which was granted.

Its symbol was the second set of Tablets. Now life must begin again. A shattered people must be rebuilt. How does Moses proceed? The verse with which the sedra begins contains the clue:

Moses assembled all the community of Israel and said to them: “These are the things God has commanded you to do. (Shemot 35:1)

Moses assembled all the community of Israel and said to them: “These are the things God has commanded you to do. (Shemot 35:1)

The verb vayakhel – which gives the sedra its name – is crucial to an understanding of the task in which Moses is engaged. At its simplest level it serves as a motiv-word, recalling a previous verse. In this case the verse is obvious:

When the people saw that Moses was long delayed in coming down the mountain, they assembled around Aaron and said to him, “Get up, make us gods to go before us. (Shemot 32:1)

When the people saw that Moses was long delayed in coming down the mountain, they assembled around Aaron and said to him, “Get up, make us gods to go before us. (Shemot 32:1)

Moses’ act is what the kabbalists called a tikkun: a restoration, a making-good-again, the redemption of a past misdemeanour. Just as the sin was committed by the people acting as a kahal or kehillah, so atonement was to be achieved by their again acting as a kehillah, this time by making a home for the Divine presence as they earlier sought to make a substitute for it. Moses orchestrates the people for good, as they had once been assembled for bad (The difference lies not only in the purpose but in the form of the verb, from passive in the case of the Calf to active in the case of Moses. Passivity allows bad things to happen:

Wherever it says ‘and it came to pass’ it is a sign of impending tragedy. (Megillah 10b)

Wherever it says ‘and it came to pass’ it is a sign of impending tragedy. (Megillah 10b)

Proactivity is the defeat of tragedy:

Wherever it says, ‘And there will be’ is a sign of impending joy. (Bamidbar Rabbah 13)

Wherever it says, ‘And there will be’ is a sign of impending joy. (Bamidbar Rabbah 13)

At a deeper level, though, the opening verse of the sedra alerts us to the nature of community in Judaism.

In classical Hebrew there........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)