by Dovid Chechik

Parashas Ki Sisa contains the story of the golden calf — how, only forty days after receiving the Torah, the Jews sinned with the Aygel Hazahav. In February 1986, Dovid Chechik of AT&T Information Systems in Holmdel posted a D'var Torah to net.religion.jewish addressing this episode's most immediate punishment: the removal of the edyam, the ornaments or weapons that the Jews had received at Sinai. His Parshat Mishpatim post had closed with a promise: "To find out what happened to the crowns — tune in next week for Ki Sisa." This is that post.

Parashas Ki Sisa contains the story of how, only forty days after receiving the Torah, the Jews sinned with the Aygel Hazahav — the golden calf.

The most immediate punishment for the sin of the Aygel is described in the Torah: "V'ata hored edyecha mayalecha... Vayisnatslu Bnai Yisroel es edyam meyhar Chorev" — "And now remove your ornaments from upon you... And the Jews were stripped of the ornaments that they had from Mount Horev." The literal translation of edyam is ornaments. Targum translates edyam as tikun zinhon — Aramaic for the Hebrew klei zayin, meaning weapons. What are these ornaments that were received at the giving of the Torah, and why are they referred to as weapons? Why were they removed after the sin of the Aygel?

Before answering this question, let us look at another Midrash that begs explanation. The Midrash Rabba contains the following discussion relating to both the giving of the Torah at Sinai and the sin of the Aygel:

Rav Shmuel bar Rav Nachman said: it was appropriate for our forefathers to have said Na'ase Venishma — "we will do and we will hear" — while receiving the Torah at Sinai. It may also have been appropriate for them to say Eylah Elohecha Yisroel — "this is your god, Israel" — while worshiping the golden calf.

The Midrash is difficult to understand. The expressions and their contexts are completely different. How was Eylah Elohecha Yisroel an appropriate expression? And if it was appropriate, why were the edyam taken away from the Jews?

In order to understand the actual sin and its most immediate punishment, let us look at where the edyam originated. The Midrash Tanchuma on Parashas Tetzaveh relates:

Rav Abba Bar Rav Kahana said: when the Jews said Na'ase venishma — "we will do and we will hear" — G-d immediately sent two angels to each and every Jew, one with weapons and another with a crown.

Why was each Jew given both a crown and weapons? The crown was for his own acceptance of the Torah. But each Jew could have answered in the singular and said E'ese veshma — "I will do and I will hear." Since they answered as a group, each took responsibility not only for keeping the laws himself, but also for ensuring that the community at large would follow the dictates of the Torah. And so the Midrash Tanchuma on Parashas Yisro states:

Rebi said: when the Jews stood at Mount Sinai they were all as one in happily accepting upon themselves the majesty of heaven. As it says: "And all the nation answered in one voice and said, all that Hashem said we will do and we will hear." And not only this, but they also gave themselves as collateral, one for another.

Since each one accepted the responsibility of watching his neighbor, he was given weapons — symbolic of the strength needed to carry out the task. Did the Jews live up to their commitments?

By analyzing the appropriateness of Eylah Elohecha Yisroel — "this is your god, Israel" — we can answer all our questions. The emphasis in the Midrash is on the exact words used. The Jews were saying that the Aygel was your god — and not mine. The sin of idol worship is not just the deed; its essence is the acceptance of the idol in the mind of the individual. The Talmud in Tractate Sanhedrin (32) tells us that if someone worshiped idols but did not accept them in his heart, he is not completely liable. Since most Jews did not accept the Aygel as a god but described it as Elohecha — "your god" — they did not entirely commit the sin of idol worship.

Why then were the Jews punished? The sin of most Jews was that they did not rise up and stop the few of their brethren who did sin. Jews are obligated to stop one another from sinning. They had agreed to watch out for one another when the Torah was given, and they had violated that agreement. The first punishment was therefore to remove the edyam — the ornaments, the weapons — that they had been given for agreeing to ensure that the laws would be followed by all.

Colophon

Written by Dovid Chechik, AT&T Information Systems Labs, Holmdel, New Jersey. Posted to net.religion.jewish, February 25, 1986. This is the fourth in Chechik's weekly D'var Torah series for net.religion.jewish, and the direct continuation of his Parshat Mishpatim post, which closed with the words: "To find out what happened to the crowns — tune in next week for Ki Sisa." The edyam removed at the Aygel and the two crowns given at Sinai are one and the same: the visible symbol of collective responsibility voluntarily assumed at Horev — and collectively forfeited at the foot of the mountain.

Preserved from the UTZOO Usenet Archive (news039f1.tgz, batch b59) for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. Original Message-ID: [email protected].

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