By Barrett Holman Leak
SAN DIEGO — Ki Tissa (Exodus 30:11-34:35) concerns the original Fantastic Voyage – a momentous and miraculous adventure. Picture this: the Israelites, a ragtag group of about 2 million liberated slaves (approximately 600,000 men, not including women and children), had just made a dramatic escape from Egypt. Imagine the pyrotechnics of the parting Red Sea and then there was food that rained down from the sky.
In this text, Moses is juggling some hefty divine instructions. Then Moses ascends Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments, demonstrating a profound moment of spiritual elevation. He is there on behalf of the Israelites to get the rest of the divine guidance the people need to know now that they are, like Norman’s Lear’s The Jeffersons, “moving on up” from enslavement in Egypt. But God’s people decided it was taking too long and that they needed to go another way, to follow a golden god in the shape of a calf. They stopped elevating.
Instead of praying, meditating, and keeping their eyes watching God, as author Zora Neale Hurston wrote, with a view to their destiny being tied up with God, they decided to make a golden god and party down to worship it.
The Israelites got overwhelmed with anxiety and fear and decided to make a golden calf to worship another god. Aaron, Moses’ brother, who should have known better, instead of doing crowd control, used his leadership to emcee the party and even helped craft the idol. When Moses comes down from Mount Sinai, he’s holding the rules by which they were to live and sees this golden calf party. Dancing and drinking are happening. But the righteous indignation was real—Moses smashed the tablets. Can you imagine the scene? Tablets shattered. Music stopped. People caught in mid-twerk. Silence. It was awkward.
Moses, after dealing with this “calf-tastrophe,” returns to the mountain to plead with God to forgive his wayward, messy people. God agrees but with conditions that make more work for Moses. When Moses descends with the new tablets, his face is beyond med spa radiant— it is glowing. This glow was a visible sign of his elevated encounter with the divine, and Moses had to wear a veil to keep from blinding everyone.
So, what is in this portion of Torah for us that is relevant today, in this moment? First, it’s about understanding the importance of sacred commitments and the communal responsibility toward spiritual focus. As people of God. we have an obligation to do what we know is right no matter what. We have an obligation to support those who do what is right, no matter what. We are wrong to support wrong actions just because they make us feel good. It is a shanda, a shame upon us when we do this.
However painful it is, we must always stand up for what is right and stand against what is wrong. NO excuses. NO justifications. We cannot call ourselves Jews if we are standing outside our Judaism just because we think it temporarily gets us a benefit or some revenge.
First and foremost, we must commit to our Judaism. In the context of 21st-century America, the concept of commitment can often be fleeting and challenged by the fast-paced, ever-changing world we live in.
Second, the golden calf-tastrophe is a timeless reminder of the human tendency to seek tangible gods when faith wanes. We create “golden calves” today—be it in the form of wealth, status, or technology—things that promise security but ultimately divert us from deeper spiritual truths.
Third, the trauma of being under genocidal attack, constant harassment, and intimidation is distracting many of us and grinding us in a place of intergenerational trauma and stagnation. The shock-and-awe effect of a constant stream of multiple new policies and mass firings has distracted us.
The uncertainty surrounding job security, attending a university class, and our self-determination as a people have left many feeling overwhelmed and riddled with fear, if not sick with it. It is difficult to maintain faith and hold onto your Jewish values amid chaos. Yet, it is by staying attuned to our Jewish values, to our Judaism, that we can find God’s voice and guidance, even and especially through chaos.
But here is something about chaos that you may not realize: it is when you ascend Mount Sinai, that is when you elevate, when you seek to know God and live as God would have you live in your words and deeds, that chaos typically arrives. That person or situation comes that threatens to drive you to the distractions of fear, anxiety, overwhelm, bitterness, and vengeance.
We are a resilient people. We are called to continue to elevate no matter the person or situation. In that elevation, we fight for our lives when necessary because God has given us life, and no one has the right to take it from us. But, again, amid the darkness of the chaos, our spiritual eyes must be watching God, for it is in God we have our destiny and from Whom we draw our strength. When you elevate, when you are with God, focused on God, expect the distractions and keep your focus.
While you might not have that perpetual med-spa glow, when you elevate as you are called to do, an authentic relationship with God radiates through your actions, words, and life. It’s a call to reflect the divine light we encounter, illuminating our world. We can do the right thing, stand up for what is right and stand against evil, even while under attack, and win. We have done it before. We can do it again.
We are all still on that elevating journey, a journey filled with divine instructions, human failings, and opportunities for redemption.
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Barrett Holman Leak is a freelance writer based in San Diego.