KI TISA 5781

This is an auspicious Shabbos. It is the Yahrtzeit of the Covid pandemic lockdown. It was this Torah reading of Ki Tisa last year that was the 1^st Shabbos in lockdown. The Yiddish word yahrtzeit comes from the word yahr (year) and tzeit (time). Yahrtzeit means an “anniversary.” We use it to refer to the anniversary of someone’s death, but technically, it can refer to any anniversary.

Last year, it was the 1^st time ever I missed hearing a Torah reading when I wasn’t ill or on vacation. It was an eerie feeling to recite the Torah reading alone—especially since it included the story of the sin of the Golden Calf. As I read, I was suddenly filled with dread. It felt like reading this parsha at the beginning of the pandemic lockdown was no accident, like it was a message from above that what was happening to the world was a consequence of our immoral behavior, like the immoral behavior accompanying the worship of the Golden Calf—and that feeling of dread has not left me since.

In the opening of the narrative, the Torah tells us (Ex. 32:6): vayakumu l’tzacheyk (they rose to play). The term “play” in the Torah has clear sexual overtones indicating here sinful sexual behavior. I’ll let you use your imagination to figure out what kinds of behavior was meant in the story and what kind of immoral behavior we are guilty of in our time—it certainly includes those expressed by the #MeToo movement.

Why did they resort to making and worshipping the Golden Calf and all the sinful behavior surrounding it? Our Sages offer many opinions. When many opinions are presented by our Sages, I usually favor what is called, the pshat—the plain meaning of the text. The text tells us that Moses went up Mt. Sinai, telling the people he would be there for arba-im yom v’arba-im Laila (40 days and 40 nights). The people heard Moses say this and thought the day he went up would counted as the 1^st day of the 40. But Moses meant he would be away for a full 40 days and 40 nights.

When Moses did not return as expected they panicked and the Torah tells us: Vaya-ar ha-am ki vosheysh Moshe laredet min hahar (The people saw that Moses was, vosheysh/delayed from coming down the mountain). The Talmud (Shabbat 89a) breaks down vosheysh/delayed into 2 words: ba-u sheysh (the 6^th hour had come)—the hour they heard Moses promised his return—and he wasn’t there. The Talmud tells us that Satan showed them an image of a dead Moses—and in their panic of not having a representative to Gd, the Jews made a Golden Calf which would represent Gd to them. So, in the end, what caused this tragedy? They had no patience! 

My colleague, Rabbi Mitchell Wohlberg, points out that in modern Hebrew, when one wants to say, “Haste makes waste,” one says, Hachipazon min haSatan (rushing is from Satan)—the same Satan who made the Jews lose their patience at the Golden Calf!

Patience may be called a virtue but these days it’s not easily practiced. The lack of patience is practically built into our DNA. Think about the words we used to describe our daily actions. We leap out of bed, we gulp our coffee, we bolt our food, we whiz into town, we dash to the office, we tear for home.

But not this year! This year our world has been turned upside down. This year everything had to be slowed down. All of us had our patience tested, as we couldn’t go out to eat or enjoy a vacation; we couldn’t go out to school or work; we couldn’t visit with friends and family…all the while wondering how long we would have to patiently wait to get back to some sort of normal.

As the weeks and months went by, we waited patiently for the worst of the pandemic to pass. But now comes the greatest challenge. Now the end is in sight! Doctors at Johns Hopkins say it could start happening around April. Others say maybe by July. It’s precisely at a such a time as this that we have to be most careful. Remember, the Jews waited patiently for Moses. It was only when the end was in sight—after 39½ days—that their patience ran out. We dare not make this same mistake now.

We may be done with Coronavirus, but the virus is not done with us. Yes, we’re exhausted and frustrated. Yes, we’re tired of masks and feeling constrained. Yes, we’re bored with the monotony of life. Yes, we desperately want life to go back to normal. But how soon we get there really depends on us.

It’s good to see, slowly some of our regular congregants returning to shul—especially after receiving the vaccine. We want to encourage more people to start coming back in the weeks and months ahead, as they feel comfortable in doing so. But all of us must continue to patiently wear our masks, wash our hands, and be socially distant. We must not lose our patience now!

As Dr. Rochelle Walensky—Director of the Centers for Disease Control—said: “I know people are tired; they want to get back to normal. But we’re not there yet!”

I read somewhere that in 1939, with a World War at hand, the British government, seeking to rally their people, printed 2½ million copies of a poster that was hung all over cities in England. It had a simple message: “Keep Calm and Carry On.” That’s good advice for us all! Amen!