Purim and the Golden Calf
What does the story of the Golden Calf have in common with the story of Purim? And no, this isn’t a joke. As Rabbi Lehmann taught us this Shabbat there is something serious at the core of Purim. Purim is the day of opposites The Book of Esther is filled with reversals, where terrible genocidal efforts give way to peace and stability. Where outrageous sexism (Vashti’s voice is suppressed) gives way to a world where women wield power (Esther’s voice carries the day). Yet the greatest reversal of all is a new way to understand Torah.
God writes the first set of tablets given to Moses. Moses, coming down from the mountain and watching the people worshipping the Golden Calf, breaks that tablet in anger. According to the Midrash, God commands Moses for breaking those tablets. The second set is written by Moses. It is a Torah with a human author in partnership with God. This is the deep meaning of Pirkei Avot, when they teach: Moses received the Torah at Sinai and transmitted it to Joshua. The act of transmission is as important as the teaching itself.
So what does this all have to do with Purim? The Book of Esther repeatedly tells that the Jews of Shushan “accepted and affirmed the teaching.” While the plain meaning is the teaching of Esther to observe Purim, its repetition suggests that it was in the time of Esther that the Jews reaffirmed their acceptance of all of Torah.
Only by living Torah*, by seeing the nature of the communities it would create, by watching the contrast between Moses and Haman, by seeing the wisdom of Esther, by watching salvation arrive in such a surprising way, could the people see that these words and this practice are indeed a gift from God to be accepted in love. In that same moment, they realized that the gift from God is worth living because it creates room in every generation for each voice to enrich, deepen, and develop that living tradition. As we live Torah, we understand it more deeply. And as Torah itself grows in this wondrous partnership with God, it becomes more and more fully the divine teaching it was meant to be.
Rabbi David Booth (with deep appreciation to Rabbi Lehmann)
*There are those who insist Torah must still be the word (only) of God. Otherwise it will lose its authority. I question that claim. I believe Torah to have been written by people intoxicated by God over thousands of years to best crystalize their experience of the God encounter and what it means for us as we live our lives. That love of Jews, of God, and of humanity feels far more authoritative than a distant transcendent voice. Or put another way, everyone agrees people wrote the Talmud and that it speaks with authority. Why should the Bible be any different?
