Me'am Loez on Ki Tissa: Moses Pleads the First Time

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In saying that God spoke to Moses, the Torah uses the word Va- Yedaber. This always indicates harsh speech.

God said, "Go down because your people have become corrupt. Go down from your greatness. All the greatness that I gave you was for the sake of Israel. It is only right that you be lowered from your high status."

God said, "For your people have become corrupt." He was referring to the mixed multitude which Moses had called "the people." Moses was the one who had brought them out of Egypt and had insisted that they be accepted and treated like Israelites even though this was against God's will.

"These are the ones who have caused corruption causing My people Israel to sin and quickly go aside from the way that I commanded them on Sinai. There I told them, 'Do not make yourself any statue or image.' (Exodus 20:4) Not much time has elapsed since the Torah was given. It has been only 40 days. "They have gone astray quickly. It is thus said, 'They have forgotten it.' This is like a bride who commits adultery under the wedding canopy. There is nothing more disgusting than this. It is thus written, "While the king was at his couch, my spickenard gave forth this fragrance." (Song of Songs 1: 12) The King here is God, who is sitting at His celebration, which was Mount Sinai, where the Torah was given. There they putrified their fragrance by making the Golden Calf.

The Israelites had made the Golden Calf with so much desire that all their precious jewels were considered like nothing. They used up 125 talents of gold. [This is the numerical value of the Hebrew word for "cast metal" which is masechah.] It is thus written, "They have made themselves a cast metal (masechah) calf." The wording is somewhat surprising because these are God's words. God was complaining to Moses that Israel had made a calf and had committed idolatry. Why did God have to mention that it was "cast metal?" This seems to indicate that if it had been made out of something else it would have made a difference. Above, when the Torah tells how the Calf was made it is not surprising that it describes it as a cast metal calf. But here, why does the Torah have to mention that it was cast metal?

It is important to realize that the Torah tells us how much gold was in the Calf. This is part of God's complaint. God said, "Look how much desire the Israelites had when they made the Calf. They gave so many talents of gold, as many as the numerical value of the word masechah. They bowed down to it and brought sacrifices to it and said, "This is your god, Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt."

God said, "Since the Israelites have sinned, it is right that you be lowered from your high status. The greatness that you had previously was not because of your merit, since no individual has the merit to reach such a high level; rather, it was through the merit of the community. Since they have sinned and lost their status, it is fitting that you lose your status."

God had already taught this to Jacob. When Jacob had his dream about the ladder, the Torah says, "Behold, angels of God are ascending and descending upon it." (Genesis 28:12) This indicates that the angels who were the emissaries of Jacob were going up and gaining status, and descending and losing status. When Jacob's descendants did God's will, they would gain in status and the angels would also ascend. If they did not do God's will, the Israelites would lose their status and their emissaries the angels, would lose their status.

Now that God said to Moses in anger, "Go, descend," Moses lost the status of prophet that he had before this and he descended from his exalted state.

According to another opinion, when God said to Moses, "Go, descend because your people have become corrupt," He did not mean the mixed multitude; rather, God was speaking of the Israelites themselves. Because they were wicked God did not say, "Because My people have become corrupt," but "your people." Since they were not doing God's will, they were not fit to be called the people of God.

Moses said to God, "Why is it then that when they are good you call them 'My people' and when they are bad, you call them 'your people?' If they are Your people and Your inheritance they should always be called, 'My people. Why do you call them 'your people?' Why are you saying to me, 'your people have sinned?'"

This is like a king who has a vineyard and gives it to a gardener to take care of. When the vineyard gives forth good fruits, the king says, "How good is the wine that my vineyard has produced." But when the wine is bad he says, "What terrible wine my gardener's vineyard has produced."

The gardener said to him, "Since the vineyard is yours, it should always be called your vineyard, whether it gives forth good wine or bad wine."

Moses said the same thing to God. Therefore we see that Moses later said, "They are Your people and Your inheritance." (Deuteronomy 9:29) Moses said to God, "Since Israel is Your people and Your inheritance and You have taken them, they must always be called Your people."

Exodus 32:9: God said to Moses, "I have observed the people. They are stiff-necked people."

Now God once again said to Moses, "Although they are sinning and are called 'your people,' do not think that you are responsible. I recognize these people and I know that they are stiff -necked. They are a people who do not accept correction. If a person tries to correct them, they turn their backs to him and show him their necks. They do not accept correction from anybody. Therefore it is not your fault."

Another explanation of "stiff-necked" or "hard-necked" is that they were so evil they deserved to have their necks broken. They therefore deserved to be killed.

Exodus 32:10: "Now leave me alone and My anger will burn forth against them and destroy them. I will then make you into a great nation."

"I will increase your children to fulfill the oath that I made to the patriarchs that I would increase their offspring and make them great. This would be considered keeping My oath to them since you are also one of their descendants."

When God told Moses to descend from his greatness, Moses became so weak that he did not have the strength to speak or to pray for Israel. Now he heard God say, "Leave Me alone" and he said to himself, "It appears that it is up to me to save Israel. If I leave God alone, He will destroy Israel. But if I do not, the people will survive." He immediately became strong and able to pray.

Moses' weakness was not because he was worried that he had lost his status. A truly spiritual person does not seek status and is not concerned if he is honored. This was certainly true of Moses, regarding whom the Torah says, "The man, Moses, was very humble, more so than any other man..." (Numbers 12:3) It was obvious that Moses would not seek status for himself.

Moses said to himself, "It is obvious to me that my prayers will not be accepted. The only reason my prayers were accepted was because of the merit of Israel. Now that my status has been lost because of Israel's sin, how am I important enough to have my prayers accepted?" Moses became weak and not able to pray.

When God told him "Leave Me alone," Moses was reconciled. He realized that God was giving him an opening to pray for the people so that they would not be destroyed.

Similarly, when a person becomes angry at his child, he says to those standing nearby, "Leave me alone; I will beat him and kill him." He lifts up his hand as if he wants to strike the child, but, of course, the bystanders come and stop him.

At that time Moses wanted to go down and destroy the Golden Calf, he wanted to kill those who had sinned and then go back up and pray for Israel. But he could not do this because he saw how bad the situation was. There were five angels of destruction: Af, Chemah, Ketzef, Hashmed, and Hash'chet. These angels had gone forth to destroy Israel. They also planned to kill Moses because he wanted to go down with the Tablets. This indicated to them that he did not believe God, who had told him that the Israelites had made the Calf, and he wanted to see it with his own eyes. Moses was very frightened of these angels, and he saw that the circumstances were very bad indeed. He said to himself, "While I am going down they can destroy the whole world."

Moses then grasped onto the Throne of Glory and prayed to God. From here we see how that sin caused such great evil. Before the Israelites made the Golden Calf, Moses had the power to wrestle with the angels and to conquer them. When Moses went to Egypt, he killed all of the angels.

After the Israelites made the Golden Calf, Moses was afraid of the angels. He no longer had the power to fight against them. Then Moses remembered the merit of the patriarchs and said to God, "Remember Abraham, and Isaac, and Israel, your servants." (Exodus 32:13)

As soon as Moses mentioned the names of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, three of the angels of destruction---Ketzef, Hashmed and Hash'chet---went away. The only angels left were Af and Chemah. Moses then said to God, "Lord of the universe, I will fight against one of these angels. I will fight against Chemah. May You destroy the second one, Af."

It is thus written, "And he set out to destroy them. If not for Moses, His chosen one, who stood in the breach before Him, who turned back His anger(chemah)." (Psalms 106:23)

There were exactly five angels of destruction because when a person does a good deed, an advocate is created to speak good of him. Similarly, when a person commits a sin an accusing angel is created who speaks evil against him. This angel testifies against him before God and says, "This person formed me through this sin that he did in such a place at such a time."

When the Israelites made the Golden Calf, they committed five sins alluded to in this verse: "They turned aside quickly from the way that I commanded them. They made themselves a cast metal calf, they bowed down to it, they sacrificed to it, and they said, 'These are your gods, Israel.'"

The first sin was, "They turned aside quickly from the way that I taught them." On Mount Sinai, God had declared, "I am Adonai your God." (Exodus 20:2) Now the Israelites rebelled against Him.

The second sin was, "They made themselves a cast metal calf."

The third sin was, "They bowed down to it."

The fourth sin was, "They sacrificed to it."

The fifth sin was, "They said, 'These are your gods, Israel.'"

As a result of these five sins, five angels of destruction were created.

Now Moses said, "Remember Abraham, Isaac and Israel, Your servants." (Exodus 32:13) Moses was asking that through the merit of the three patriarchs, three of the angels of destruction be destroyed.

The angel of destruction from the sin of bowing down to the Calf was Ketzef. This was destroyed through the merit of Abraham. It is said before the binding of Isaac, "We will bow down and we will return to You." (Genesis 22:5)

The second angel, created from the sin of sacrificing to the Calf, was Hashmed. This was done away with through the merit of Isaac, who had put forth his neck to be offered like a sacrifice.

The third angel, created from the sin where they said, "These are your gods, Israel," was Hash'chet. This angel was done away with through the merit of Jacob, regarding whom it is said, "He called Him Omnipotent, the God of Israel." (Genesis 33:20)

Then there remained two angels, Af and Chemah. Moses said, "Through Your great mercy do away with Af even though he was created from the sin of rebelling against the commandment 'I am Adonai your God.' (Exodus 20:2) I will do away with the second angel, Chemah, who was created from the sin of making a cast metal Calf, according to the Law. I shall examine the people like a wife suspected of adultery (sotah). This will be discussed at length below.

"Since they will be judged below on earth they cannot be punished on high. Thus, I will get rid of the second angel, Chemah."

Five angels were also created because of the five types of musical instruments that were played before the Golden Calf. This will also be discussed below.

According to another opinion, the five angels of destruction were Ketzef, Af, Chemah, Mash'chit, and Charon. When Moses saw them he went to the patriarchs and said to them, "Your sons are in terrible trouble. They have been given over like lambs to the slaughter. Pray for them."

Moses also stood up and prayed, "Lord of the universe. You swore to the patriarchs that you would increase their descendants like the sand of the seas. Now you want to destroy them like one person." It is thus written, "Remember Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the servants unto whom You spoke saying, 'I will increase your offspring like the stars in the sky.'"(Exodus 32:13) At that moment three angels of destruction---Ketzef, Af and Chemah---went away in the merit of the three patriarchs. Then there remained two angels of destruction, Mash'chit and Charon. Moses said, "Lord of the universe, for the sake of the oath that You made to the patriarchs, do away with one of them. And for the sake of the oath You made to me, do away with the second one, Charon."

This is the meaning of the verse, "Return from the anger(charon) of your fury(af)and change your mind about the evil that You wish to do to Your people." (Exodus 32:12)

Moses took the angel whose name was Charon and made for it a cave under the ground in the portion of Gad, hiding it there. When Israel sins, this angel rises and opens its mouth to swallow up Israel. This place is therefore called Peor, which means "opening of the mouth." When Moses died he was buried opposite that place, as it is written, "And He buried him in the valley opposite the house of Peor." (Deuteronomy 34:6) Moses was buried there to protect Israel. When that angel rises to swallow up Israel it sees Moses' grave and is afraid thus turning back from its dread mission.

Exodus 32:11: Moses began to plead before Adonai his God. He said, "0 God, why unleash Your wrath against Your people whom You brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand?"

Moses saw the angels standing ready to harm Israel. The Israelites were in great danger. Moses said to himself, "If I abandon Israel now, if I do not pray for them, if I go down to see what they did and prevent them from sinning further, the world will be destroyed. I see the angels ready to destroy it, and I will not move from here until I pray for them." Moses began to pray for them. He grabbed onto God, as it were, as a person grabs onto his friend by his garments, and said to Him, "I will not leave You until You forgive their sin."

This is the meaning of the verse where God said, "And now leave Me alone." (Exodus 32:10) Moses grabbed God as a person grabs his friend by the garment. God said to him, "You should leave Me alone. I will destroy them in an instant."

God also said to Moses, "I will make you into a great nation."

Moses said, "What good is it to me if You make me into a great nation? Perhaps tomorrow You will become angry and do the same to my children as You are doing to the people now. Now Israel has the merit of the three patriarchs. They are like a stool with three legs which stands firm. Nevertheless, You are angry with them and this merit cannot protect them.

"If You make me into a great nation, my children will have only my merit. They will be like a stool that has only one leg. It cannot stand up by itself. How can my merit protect them?

"Furthermore, if you destroy them and make me into a great nation, I will be ashamed before the patriarchs. They will say, 'Look what sort of leader he was. He was only looking out for his own good. He did not care if Israel was destroyed. As soon as God told him that he would make him into a great nation he turned away and did not pray for them.'"

Moses prayed for the Israelites so much that he became sick. In saying that Moses prayed, the Torah uses the word va-y'chal. This has the connotation of sickness, (choleh).

According to some commentaries the word va-y'chal indicates the annulment of a vow. When Moses began to pray for Israel and wanted God to forgive their sin, God said to him, "Do not pray before Me. I have already made an oath, 'He who sacrifices to gods shall be destroyed.'(Exodus 22:19) Whoever brings a sacrifice to any idol deserves to be killed and it will not help if you pray before Me."

Moses said to Him, "Lord of the universe, You have written in the Torah that whoever makes a vow or oath can have it annulled. You should allow Your oath to be annulled." At that time Moses annulled God's vow.

This is the connotation of the word va-y'chal. It is thus written in respect to a vow, "His words shall not be annulled (yachel)." (Numbers 30:3) It is from this verse that we see that it is possible to annul vows.

Other commentaries state that the word va-y'chal is related to the word chalal, which denotes a corpse. We learn this from the verse "When a corpse (chalal) is found in your land." (Deuteronomy 21:1) This means that Moses made himself like a corpse. He prayed with such devotion that he was ready to die. We see this from what Moses later said, "And now, if You forgive their sin, good; and if You do not, erase me from Your book that You have written." (Exodus 32:22)

Moses said to God, "Lord of the universe, I want to speak up for the Israelites. There was a time when you wanted to give the Torah to Esau's descendants and they did not want to accept it. Israel, on the other hand, accepted it with great love. Therefore even though they have sinned, they have the merit of all the commandments in the Torah. Compared to Esau's children, they are like saints. Esau's children did not want to accept the Torah; they did not want to keep even a single word of the Torah."

God said to him, "What good is it that the Israelites accepted the Torah when they strayed so quickly from the way I commanded them? On Mount Sinai I told them not to worship idols. Yet they committed that sin. Whoever worships idols denies everything in the Torah. It is just as if they had not accepted the Torah at all, as if they had not kept any of it. It is not fitting that My Divinity should be associated with them; they have denied My Essence."

The Torah thus says, "Moses prayed before Adonai his God." No place else in the Torah is God referred to as "his God" with respect to Moses; rather it says, "Moses cried out to God" or "Moses prayed to God." But here God is referred to as Moses' God. Since God said that the people sinned and it would no longer be right for God to call Himself "their God," Moses referred to Him as "my God" and the Torah refers to Him as "his (Moses') God."

Moses then said to God, "Lord of the universe, remember the time when I went to Egypt to do Your will. As soon as I mentioned Your Name before the Israelites, they believed. They bowed their heads and prostrated themselves." It is thus written, "The people believed and bowed their heads and they prostrated themselves." (Exodus 4:31) Moses said, "They really deserve a reward."

God said to him, "Of what value is it that they bowed down? Now they have violated My commandment. They have made a calf and bowed down to it."

Moses said, "Lord of the universe, remember the young boys [Israelites] who did not taste sin. They never emitted semen in vain. They brought sacrifices before You." It is thus written, "He sent the young boys among the children of Israel and they sacrificed cattle to God." (Exodus 24:5) The merit of sacrifice is very great since the world survives through this merit. Through these sacrifices Israel entered the covenant of the Torah and the commandments.

Moses said, "When Israel entered the covenant You swore that You would not exchange them for another nation. Even though they have sinned in this way, they are still Your people and You must have mercy on them, in the merit of those young boys who brought You sacrifice."

God said to him, "What use have I from those sacrifices? What good is the covenant they made? They have brought sacrifices to an idol! It is as if they made a covenant with the idol."

Moses said, "Lord of the universe, remember the time You said, 'I am Adonai your God. (Exodus 20:2) Every time You said a word to them they agreed and said 'yes.' They bowed down to the Calf not to deny You, heaven forbid. They believe in You as ever before. They wanted an intermediary between themselves and You. They did the same as the generation of Enosh. Heaven forbid; they have not denied You."

God said, "What good is all they agreed to on Mount Sinai? Now they have said things that are diametrically opposed to the words that they heard then. They said, 'These are your gods, Israel.' (Exodus 32:4) This is considered as if they denied My existence; therefore, 'Go down, for your people have become corrupt.'" (Exodus 32:7)

Moses said, "Lord of the universe, how are they my people? You say to me, 'your people.'"

God said to him, "They were My people in Egypt. I said to you, 'Go, bring My troops, My people, the children of Israel out of Egypt.'(Exodus 7:4) I wanted to use this wording. I called them 'My people, the children of Israel.' I was telling you not to take the mixed multitude with them. But you were humble and good and you told Me to accept the mixed multitude since they wanted to become proselytes and take upon themselves the yoke of the Torah and its commandments. I already knew the harm that would come from them. But I did not want to refuse you so I did as you said. I did not want to tell you I did not wish to accept them because they would do great evil. Since they had not yet sinned I did not give you this answer. I judge a person only as he is at that time. I do not punish a person for what he will do in the future. That is why I did not refute your argument. Even so, I did not wish to accept them. I wanted My people to remain pure without intermingling with other nations. Because of your argument I put aside My reason and I said I would do as you desire. Now they are your people and they are the ones who committed the sin of the Calf, causing My people to sin.

"Your people said to My people, 'These are your gods, Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.'" It is thus written that they said, "These are your gods, Israel." (Exodus 32:4) These words were not said by the Israelites. If they had been said by the Israelites, the Torah would have said, "These are our gods." Also, if the Israelites had been speaking, why would the Torah say, "These are your gods, Israel?"

When the Israelites were at Mount Sinai, they were like a rose with a very beautiful fragrance. Now the "rose" began to stink. It had a bad stench because of their sin.

It is true that they said earlier, "We will do and we will listen" (Exodus 24:7), but in their hearts they were still thinking about idolatry. Their sin was even greater because the first two of the Ten Commandments are, "I am Adonai you God" and "You shall not have any other gods before Me." (Exodus 20:2, 3). These commandments were heard from God Himself while the others were transmitted through Moses. They sinned regarding these two commandments. God therefore said, "They have strayed quickly from the way that I have commanded them." (Exodus 32:8) God was saying that the Israelites had strayed from the words that He Himself has commanded them.

Similarly, a king married a woman and gave her two beautiful and extremely precious jewels. She began to play with these jewels and she lost them. When the king heard that the two jewels were lost, he became very angry and drove her away from his house. His friends came and tried to reconcile her with the king. The king said, "How do you expect me not to be angry at her? I should punish her even more. She lost the two jewels that I gave her with my own hands. If they were jewels that I sent to her through a messenger, it wouldn't be so bad. It would still be wrong but it would not be the same as losing the two jewels that I gave her with my own hands as a sign of love. Her carelessness with these jewels is a sign that she takes me lightly and does not respect me."

At that moment, Moses' face became dark. He was like a blind person because his anguish was so great. He wanted to come down from heaven but he did not know which way to go. The angels wanted to kill him. They said that he should be the atonement for his people. We explained in the Portion of Chayay Sarah that if a generation sins, God takes the greatest saints of the time to atone for their sins. The angels considered this a good time to kill Moses. They had wanted to kill him before because they were jealous of him for taking the Torah but then were unable to do so. Now, again, they wished to kill him, saying that he should be the atonement for his people.

God, however, had great mercy and opened up for him a place under the Throne of Glory. He said, "Go down there quickly." It is thus written that Moses said, "God said to me 'Get up, go down quickly from this." (Deuteronomy 9:12). The words "from this" (mizeh) appear redundant. This alludes to the fact that God opened up a place through which Moses could descend. God had great mercy on Moses even though He was very angry at this time.

Moses said to God, "Lord of the universe, can sin not be atoned for?"

God said to him, "Remember what I told you at the burning bush: 'I have seen the anguish of My people in Egypt.'(Exodus 3:7). I wanted to tell you then that they were destined to receive the Torah from Mount Sinai but I saw another vision. I saw that after they received the Torah they were destined to make the Golden Calf. I therefore said, 'See I have seen (ra'oh ra'iti). At that time I already knew what they were destined to do."

Moses was somewhat relieved by God's words. He said, "Even though You knew what they would do You did not hesitate to redeem them. Today, again, despite their sin, do not hesitate to accept their repentance."

At that time the Satan began to denounce Israel. The decree, "Whoever sacrifices to other gods shall be destroyed" (Exodus 22:19), was about to be sealed against the Israelites. On the Tablets the words, "Whoever sacrifices to other gods shall be destroyed" were written right next to "I am Adonai your God."

When the Israelites made the Calf and offered sacrifices before it, the Tablets were in the hands of God and Moses. The Satan wanted to seal in the Tablets the verse, "Whoever sacrifices to other gods shall be destroyed" so it would be fulfilled against Israel. Then their punishment would have been sealed for all time. But Moses stood in prayer and pushed aside the Satan. He expelled him so that his arguments and words would not be heard. Moses' weeping and crying out allowed him to receive the Torah from God's Hands.

This is very much like a king who was angry at his child. He took a pen in hand in order to seal a decree against his son. His friend came along and grabbed the pen out of his hand, preventing the king from signing the decree. Once the decree was signed it would have been very hard to get the king to change his mind. But once he had taken the pen from the king's hand, the friend was able to calm the king down. He pleaded before the king very much until the king erased the decree.

Moses did the same thing. First he took the Tablets from God's "Hands" so that the decree would not be sealed. Only then did he stand up and pray.

Moses said, "Lord of the universe, when we were in Marah there were bitter waters. I said to you, 'What good are these waters; why were they created? It would be better had they not been created.'

"You answered, 'Do not speak to Me in such a manner. There is nothing in this world that I have created without reason. You only have to pray that this water become sweet.'

"How can You destroy an entire nation? Just as You made the bitter waters sweet, You can sweeten the bitterness of Israel and heal the people of their sin."

Moses then prayed at length before God and said, "Why should Your anger be displayed against Your people? Why are You so angry at them? It is only because of the Torah. I and my companions---Aaron and his sons, Joshua, Caleb, Yair, Machir son of Manasseh and other saints in this generation---make ourselves guarantors to do everything in our power to lead the Israelites on a straight path and cause them to repent until their sin is forgiven."

Moses therefore said, "Why God, unleash Your wrath against Your people?" The words that Moses said seem somewhat strange. After the Israelites made the Calf and offered sacrifices before it and denied God by saying, "These are your gods, Israel," why did Moses request forgiveness as if they had not done any sin? This alludes to what we said. Moses did not mean that the Israelites had not done anything wrong. He said, "You are only angry because of Your Torah. We take upon ourselves to rectify this. We will do everything in our power to make them repent and accept their punishment. From now on the righteous people of the generation will do everything we can to make them change their ways, leading them on a straight path."

Moses had another intention as well when he said, "Why, God, should You unleash Your wrath on Your people?" Moses said, "You have already told me 'Go down because your people have become corrupt.'(Exodus 32:7) The ones who sinned were the people of the mixed multitude who are called "my people," but Your people did not sin. God, why would You unleash Your anger against Your people? Why are You angry at Your people, the Israelites? Why do You want to destroy them?

"There is another reason why You should not be angry at them. You brought them out of the land of Egypt. The place from which You brought them was Egypt, where everybody worshiped idols. They were there so many years and they learned from the country's evil ways."

The Egyptians worshiped Capricorn (taleh), which was the "first-born" of the zodiac. When the Israelites saw that Capricorn had fallen, they assumed that the sign of Taurus (shor), which comes after Capricorn, was now foremost and had conquered Capricorn.

Because of this error they made the Calf, which parallels the sign of Taurus. Therefore whatever they did, they learned from the Egyptians. It is not surprising that they followed what they were accustomed to.

Moses therefore said, "Why, God, should You unleash Your anger against Your people whom You brought out of the land of Egypt?" (Exodus 32:11)

The words "whom You brought out of the land of Egypt" appear to be redundant. Actually, since God had brought them out of Egypt, He had all the more reason to be angry at them. He had brought them out of Egypt by doing so many miracles for them. Now they were ungrateful to God, going as far as making the Golden Calf which in essence was denying God.

But Moses said, "It is no wonder that the Israelites did this. They learned from the Egyptians. It is true that You taught them, 'Do not make any statue or any image,' but they erred and assumed that this was not forbidden. They did not make this Calf to worship it. They wanted to make an oracle and a leader to take my place. They thought that I was already dead. They wanted to make an intermediary between themselves and You, as the generation of Enosh tried to do. This was their only error. Therefore, they deserve to be forgiven.

"Also, when they were in Egypt, You already knew that they would make the Golden Calf only 40 days after the Torah was given. You still sent me and told me to bring them out. You did so many miracles for them through me and now You want to kill them!

"A mortal, human king may do something good for his servant because he does not know the future. If the servant then rebels against him, the king is angry and kills him. But You knew the future and still desecration of Your Name. The generations would say, 'What kind of a God do the Israelites have? People wanted to become proselytes and to repent and their God killed them in the mountains. This is what will be done to every proselyte who wants to join the Israelites.'

"Therefore, I ask You to repent from Your display of anger even against the mixed multitude. Do not destroy them today as one person. If You want to destroy them do it little by little. And with regard to Israel change Your mind about doing evil against Your people. (Exodus 32:12) Your people did not make the Golden Calf. It was the mixed multitude. They tricked the Israelites into following them."

Some explain these verses in a different way. The Israelites said, "We may have seen many miracles and wonders with our own eyes, but God did not do them. Moses did them with his magical powers. Through these powers, he brought us out of Egypt." They had a tradition from their ancestors that they had to be in exile for 400 years. When they left before this time was up, they said, "This is obviously not from God but from Moses." When they saw great miracles and wonders they said, "If these are God's deeds, why does He need all these miracles? He could place a thought in Pharaoh's mind and bring us out with his good will, without all these signs and miracles."

God wanted to harden Pharaoh's heart and make him refuse to send them out because He wanted to do all these miracles and wonders. Now Moses said in his prayer, "Lord of the universe, why is Your anger flaring out against Your people, whom You brought out of Egypt with Your great power and mighty hand? You brought them out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand to show Your great power to Egypt. It is true that there is room for error; the Israelites might ask why all the miracles were necessary. But now, why do You want to kill them? The Egyptians will think that You could not kill them before because they were under the power of Egypt, so You took them out of Egypt to kill them in the mountains."

This is why Moses said here, "With Your great strength and mighty hand." He was saying, "You brought them out with Your great power and mighty hand in order to show Your strength, but now people will say just the opposite.

"Therefore I ask You to change Your mind about the evil not only for now, but for all times. I am asking You to accept their prayer and to annul any decree."

Moses therefore said, "Change Your mind about doing evil to Your people." He had already said, "Turn back from Your display of anger." This alludes to the fact that Moses prayed for all generations.

Exodus 32:13,14: "Remember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac and Israel. You swore to them by Your very Essence and declared that You would make their descendants as numerous as the stars of the sky, giving their descendants the land You promised so they would be able to occupy it forever." God refrained from doing evil that He had planned for His people.

Moses said, "You may want to destroy them for violating all the Ten Commandments. They violated the commandments against sexual immorality and idolatry, which count as if they have violated all Ten Commandments. But remember Abraham, our father, who was tested in ten different ways. He was not yet rewarded for these Ten Tests. Therefore You may forgive his children now."

Similarly, a king may give his close friend ten valuable jewels to watch. This friend has a daughter. The king sees this beautiful daughter and marries her, making her into the queen. The king then hangs on her neck ten jewels just like those that he had given her father to watch. After a while, the queen loses the ten jewels which were hung on her neck. The king becomes very angry at her and wants to drive her out of the palace. Her friends come to reconcile her with the king, but the king refuses to listen to them. They say to him, "Our lord the king, why are you angry; why do you not want to listen to our words?"

The king replies, "Why should I not be angry? Why should I not chase her out of the palace for losing the ten precious jewels that I have given her?"

They say to him, "If you listen to us, we can reconcile you and you will not have to drive her away. There are another ten jewels just like the ones that you gave her. You gave them to her father to watch. Let those jewels which he has watched so carefully be in place of those which she has lost."

Moses therefore said, "Remember Abraham; forgive his children for violating the Ten Commandments through the merit of the ten tests which he withstood.

"If they deserve to be burned for what they did, remember Abraham, who was willing to let himself be burned for Your Name in Ur Casdim."

"If they deserve to be killed by the sword, remember Isaac, who put forth his neck on the altar and was willing to be slaughtered to keep Your command."

"If they deserve exile, remember Jacob, who exiled himself to Charan to obey his father and mother, who commanded him to go to Charan to take a wife from the sons of Laban. All his life he suffered for this.

"Remember what You swore to these three saints. You swore to them, 'I will increase your children like the stars of the heaven, and all this land that I mentioned, I will give to your children forever.'"

Moses said, "You swore to them by Yourself, by your very Essence. You did not swear to them by the heaven, by the earth, or by the mountains. All these things come to an end. It can be said that, just as these things can be destroyed, so can Your oath be annulled. But this oath was by Your very Essence, by Your great Name. Just as You live and exist forever, so this oath lives and exists for all times."

God had thus said, "I have sworn through My own Essence because You have done this thing and not withheld your son, your only one, I will bless you and I will make your offspring is many as the stars of the heaven." (Genesis 22:17,18) God was saying, "I have sworn by My Name that because you were willing to sacrifice your son I will greatly increase your children."

Moses said, "Since you swore by Your own Essence, if You destroy them today this will be a desecration of Your Name. People will not know that the oath can be fulfilled through me. What if people say that You have violated Your oath?"

Moses therefore continued, "You swore to them by Yourself, by Your own Essence; the oath was by Your great Name."

There were three things that Moses asked for in his prayer. Moses had a reply for each of God's words. God said to Moses, "Now leave Me alone and My anger will blaze forth." (Exodus 32:10) Moses replied, "Why, God, shall Your anger blaze forth against Your people whom You brought outof the land of Egypt?" (Exodus 32:11)

"Why are you angry with them? You cannot say you were misled when You took them out of Egypt. Before You took them out You knew that they would sin; nevertheless, You brought them out of Egypt, like good friends. What new thing has happened that You should be angry with them?"

The second thing that God said to him was, "I will destroy them." (Exodus 32:10) Moses replied, "Why should Egypt say that You brought them out with evil, to kill them on the mountains and to destroy them?" (Exodus 32:12)

"You say that You want to destroy them. I am saying that this will bring about great evil. The Egyptians will say that You killed them without any reason, that You had bad intentions when You brought them out. The evil that they did in worshiping idols is something that the Egyptians also did. Since this was already known to You, why kill them now? Therefore, I say to You, return from Your show of anger and change Your mind about the evil that You want to do to Your people." (Exodus 32:12)

The third thing that God said to Moses was, "I will make you into a great nation." (Exodus 32:10) Moses replied to this, "Remember Abraham, Isaac and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own Essence, 'I will increase your children.'" (Exodus 32:13)

"You swore to them that You would increase their children; how can You now want to destroy them? How can I believe this now without an oath?"

One opinion is that when God told Moses, "I will make you into a great nation," God was saying, "You are a virtuous person and a great man. Therefore your descendants will certainly be good people. I will be able to fulfill the oath that I made to your ancestors through the good children that descend from you and not through these bad descendants of the patriarchs."

Moses replied and said, "Remember Abraham, Isaac and Israel, your servants." "Look at the patriarchs. Although they were Your servants and very great people, they had some very bad descendants. What guarantee do I have that my descendants will be better? It is possible that my descendants will be even worse than those of the patriarchs."

God said to Moses, "I will look among the Israelites for ten righteous people just as I looked in Sodom when I told Abraham that if I found ten righteous people in the city I would not destroy it for their sake.(Genesis 18:32) "Here also, if there are ten righteous among them I will not destroy them."

Moses said, "If it depends upon ten righteous people I will find them: myself, Aaron, Eleazar, Itamar, Pinchas, Caleb, and Joshua."

God said to him, "You have only seven righteous people. Where are the other three?"

Moses said, "I will find You another three righteous people. Remember Abraham Isaac and Israel, Your servants. Let them complete the ten righteous people that You are seeking."

Moses then said to God, "I have something else to say to You." Moses then said to God, "Lord of the universe, it is true that they violated all of the Ten Commandments. You told them, 'Do not have any other gods before me.'" "But You also want to violate what You said in the commandments. You said, 'I keep kindness for thousands for those love Me.'" (Exodus 20:6) "This means that You remember kindness for two thousand generations for those who love You.

"One of those who loved You is Abraham. You spoke of his children as the children of Abraham the one who loves Me.'"(Isaiah 41:8)

"You promised to remember this love of Abraham for two thousand generations. Only seven generations have now passed. They are Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Levi, Kehat, Amram and myself, Moses. If You do not want to remember the promise even for a few. generations and You want to destroy Israel, how can You remember kindness for two thousand generations?"

God said to him, "Since you are a descendant of the patriarchs, I will kill the rest of the Israelites and keep the oath through you. I will make you into a great nation."

Moses said, "Lord of the universe, just as You became angry with the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, tomorrow You will become angry at my children. Moreover, You made a covenant with the twelve tribes in addition to the one You made with the patriarchs. Therefore, Your oath pertains to all twelve tribes and You cannot exchange them for others. Even if You make me into a great nation, I only represent the tribe of Levi. Only the tribe of Levi would become a great nation; the other tribes would be destroyed. Your oath, however, applied to all twelve tribes. This would be like swearing while holding a sacred object (nekitat chafetz) as a Torah scroll or tefillin. You could have considered heaven and earth to be such sacred objects.

"If You had sworn by heaven and earth You could say, 'Just as heaven and earth will not exist forever, My oath will not exist forever.' But instead, You swore by Your great Name. You told Abraham 'I've sworn by Myself,' says God, 'that I will bless you and I will increase your offspring like the stars of the heaven and like the sand on the seashore.'"(Genesis 22:16,17). "Therefore the oath must remain forever just as Your Name endures forever. How can You destroy them?"

This is the meaning of what Moses said here, "Remember Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your very Self.'"

God spoke to the Golden Calf in Moses' presence and asked it, "Who made You?"

"The Egyptians made me," said the Calf. "They are the men of mixed multitude."

God asked the Calf, "Didn't My people Israel make you?"

"No," replied the Calf.

It is thus written, "The ox knows its master and the donkey the feeding trough of its owner, but Israel does not know. My people do not contemplate." (Isaiah 1:3) This is speaking about the Golden Calf, where the front end had the form of an ox and the rear end had the form of a donkey, as mentioned earlier. The creature knew who had made it.

When God asked, "Who made you?" it replied, "Israel does not know."

When God asked if Israel had had a portion in it, it replied, "My people do not contemplate it." It was the Egyptians who made it."

Moses then said to God, "Behold, Your people Israel did not make the Calf; the mixed multitude made it."

Immediately, "God changed His mind about the evil that He had spoken to do to His people."


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