Description

I have accidentally watched the TV show “Botched” too many times. “Botched” is exactly what it sounds like — it’s a show about plastic surgeons who try to reverse botched previous plastic surgeries. The people on this show are… wild to say the least. This show can teach us a lot, but the #1 lesson I have learned from it is: If you won’t, someone else will. I mean of course, that if you want to look like a human-version of comic book Superman and the first plastic surgeon you ask refuses, never fear, eventually you’ll find someone who will agree to make you the Clark Kent of your dreams.

This show came to mind as I was reading this week’s parsha, Ki Tisa. B’nei Yisrael (the Children of Israel) are waiting at the bottom of Har Sinai (Mount Sinai) as Moshe ascends to get the 10 Commandments (Aseret HaDibrot). Moshe is gone for a while, and B’nei Yisrael gets anxious. They go to Aharon (Aaron) the second-in-command and propose a solution — if Moshe is gone and we no longer have a leader, let’s make an idol!

Firstly, Aharon is a lovely, peaceful guy, but I have to imagine he’s a bit stung that if B’nei Yisrael essentially says, “If we can’t have Moshe, then the next best thing is a golden calf!!!!” Rude… whatever. What Aharon does next has puzzled many of us since first learning this Torah narrative. He says, “Ok, well go gather the earrings of your wives, daughters, and sons and bring them to me.”

Why in the world did Aharon entertain the idea of building a god for B’nei Yisrael? The Chizkuni, a 13th century French Torah commentator, presents Aharon’s options:

1. Suggest someone else to be the leader, but then have a fight to the death when Moshe actually did get back and potentially have a deadly civil war on his hands
2. Say no and then B’nei Yisrael would just find someone else to do their bidding and have their false god even faster
3. Suggest that HE, Aharon, take over for Moshe, but then have the awkward thing of ceding power back to Moshe when he did return

So, we see that the earrings ploy was Aharon’s attempt at buying some time. Maybe the wives, sons, and daughters wouldn’t be so eager to hand over their golden hoops, he thought. Maybe the women would not want an inanimate object to take the place of Moshe… but alas, the gold came rolling in.

Aharon knew the lesson that I personally learned from the TV show “Botched” — if you won’t do it, someone else will (and in an even worse way!) There is a similar theory as to why we have laws governing slavery in the Torah. If slavery is this horrible, dehumanizing thing that should have never existed, why does the Torah dignify it with laws and regulations?

Humans can be great, but humans also like to elevate themselves above other humans. The theory is if there were no laws about slavery in the Torah, then slavery would have happened anyway, but just without anything regulating it. It’s an interesting idea.

So Aharon is thinking, “They’re going to do it ANYWAY, so it might as well be on my watch.” He also knows that straight-up denying them isn’t an option, but he also can’t straight-up acquiesce. He recognizes something that the plastic surgeons who deny the Clark-Kent-wannabe might not — turning someone away doesn’t stop them. But if they care about the well-being of this type of patient, they should give them the chance to change their minds without making them feel out of control.

The truth is, no one can make decisions for us, no one can convince us 100% of anything.

For full text, email me at shirajkaplan@gmail.com or join my email list here.

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