Ki Tissa

Ki Tissa - Shelley Marsh

Shelley Marsh works as the Head of Social Welfare and Development for UJIA Makor. She has worked in face to face youth work in the UK and Israel for over twenty years. She trains youth workers in Jewish informal education across the Jewish community in the UK. She has an MA in Community Leadership. Her work on self-esteem in young people has been reported in the national press and on radio.

Back in the 80's, Prefab Sprout sang
     If I didn't know better, I would swear I was someone else
     Lord, I can't believe, I don't believe I'm me
     But who else can I be?...
     But you would always make me see today...
     And now the Golden Calf has turned to clay...

The image of the Golden Calf is striking. The Golden Calf is at the centre of Ki Tissa, a parshah that questions the role of leaders, the notion of leadership and the concept of group dynamics.

Why did the Children of Israel want to worship an idol?
Was the Golden Calf created simply to fill the empty void left by Moses?

Creating the Golden Calf was such a major transgression that we are reminded in the book of Psalms (106:19): 'they made a calf at Chorev and bowed down to a molten image...' and by the Prophet Nehemiah (9:17-18) 'but You are a forgiving God, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and plentiful in loving kindness and did not forsake them, even when they had made themselves a molten calf...'

Rashi (11th century commentator) tells us that if Moses had prepared the people in a more comprehensive manner, then they would have been more able to cope whilst he was spending time away from them. Moses had left Aaron responsible for the well being of the Children of Israel. He might not have communicated clearly enough with the people, but he had put a strategic plan into place and had left his deputy in charge.

Was Aaron's mistake that he wasn't really ready to take on the role of deputy? Did he still need leadership too? Whilst Aaron has been blamed for poor leadership, medieval commentator Rabbi Moses Ben Nachman writes, 'They did not ask for a god-calf representing the supreme powers of life and death, but merely a substitute for Moses' leadership.'

The Golden Calf has been compared to the 'pop idol', money-worshipping materialism that we understand in our society today. This element cannot be totally omitted, but the main reason the Golden Calf resonates with us is that it is about leadership. People benefit from good leadership. Good leaders empower and motivate. Good leaders encourage - literally give courage - to others and want to develop each individual to reach their own maximum potential. Good leaders involve others in decision making processes. This, in turn, manifests in other people wanting to become good leaders.

Aaron was struggling to replace a good leader. The people bowed down to the idol and they gained nothing. Had they gained fulfilment they might not have been interested in the return of Moses, but the people remained spiritually and emotionally empty. The Israelites were so busy looking for leadership that they didn't notice their own potential, and built the Golden Calf in order to replace their leadership figure.

There is a need to link some of the leadership lessons from Ki Tissa into the leadership we have in British Jewry today. Good communal leadership can't be judged by the financial contributions one is able to make, another theme present throughout this parshah. We must encourage each other to contribute to communal life, to make a stand, and to get involved. The potential we have as individuals is an incredible force when brought together.

     But you would always make me see today...
We each have our own vision of the Jewish community and we need to act on that vision.

     And now the Golden Calf has turned to clay...
We cannot only be reliant on communal leaders to lead British Jewry. We must all take our place in developing our community. We need to acknowledge our own responsibility in allowing the Golden Calf to have been created. The Golden Calf will only turn into clay and then to dust, and disappear in the breeze, when we are prepared to fully accept our individual responsibility for shaping the future.