The egel ha'zahav

The medrash says (מדרש רבה, א', ל"ו)

דבר אחר וירא אלקים אמר ריש לקיש שראה שהן עתידין להמרות על ים סוף דכתיב (תהלים ק"ו ז') וימרו על ים בים סוף, וידע אלקים ידע שהן עתידין לומר (שמות ט"ו ב') זה קלי ואנוהו. רבי יהושע בן לוי אמר ראה שעתידין לומר (שם ל"ב, ד') אלה אלהיך ישראל, וידע אלקים שעתידים להקדים נעשה לנשמע

“’And Hashem saw…And Hashem knew’ Reish Lakish said, ‘He saw that the benei yisrael would rebel at the Yam Suf, and He knew that they would say זה קלי ואנוהו. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said, ‘He saw that they would say אלה אלוהיך ישראל, and He knew that they would say נעשה before נשמע.”

• Why did saying נעשה before נשמע ameliorate the חטא of the עגל הזהב?

The Medrash Tanchuma says (שמות, פרק ל"ב, סימן כ"א)

אמר ליה הקדוש ברוך הוא: לא כבר אמרתי לך בסנה, ראה ראיתי (שמות ג' ז') אתה רואה ראיה אחת, ואני רואה שני ראיות. שאני רואה שבאים לסיני ומקבלים תורתי, ואני יורד בסיני בטטראמילין שלי, שהם מתכונים בו ושומטין אחד מהם ומכעיסין אותי בו, שנאמר, ופני שור מהשמאל וגו' (יחזקאל א' י')

Hashem said to Moshe, “Did I not already say to you at the סנה, ‘I have surely seen.’ You see one sight and I see two sights. I see the bnei yisrael coming to Har Sinai and accepting my Torah. I will descend on Har Sinai with my chariot pulled by four horses, which they will make intentions on, then steal one of them and anger me with it (by making the egel ha’zahav), as the passuk says (concerning the מעשה המרכבה), ‘There was the face of an ox on the left…’”.

According to this medrash, the reason that the benei yisrael made an egel as an avodah zarah is because they sought to capture the essence of the shor that they saw in the מעשה המרכבה.

However, the Medrash Tanchuma also says (כי תשא, פרק י"ט)

ויתפרקו כל העם את נזמי הזהב... השליך לאש... ויש אומרים, שמיכה היה שנתמכמך בבנין, מה שהציל משה מן הלבנים. נטל הלוח שכתב עליו משה, עלה שור, כשהעלה ארונו של יוסף. השליכו לתוך הכור בין הנזמים, ויצא העגל גועה כשהוא מקרטע. התחילו אומרים, אלה אלהיך ישראל

“After Aharon threw the gold into the furnace, מיכה took the tablet on which Moshe had written עלי שור in order to float Yosef’s ארון out of the Nile, and he threw the tablet into the furnace. The עגל הזהב came out lowing, and they started saying אלה אלהיך ישראל.”

• Why does the Medrash Tanchuma relate the עגל הזהב to both the פני השור in the מעשה המרכבה and also to the tablet that was used by Moshe to bring Yosef out of Mitzraim?

The passuk says (שמות ל"ב ד')

וַיִּקַּח מִיָּדָם וַיָּצַר אֹתוֹ בַּחֶרֶט וַיַּעֲשֵׂהוּ עֵגֶל מַסֵּכָה וַיֹּאמְרוּ אֵלֶּה אֱלֹהֶיךָ יִשְׂרָאֵל אֲשֶׁר הֶעֱלוּךָ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם

“And he took the gold from their hands and he formed it in a mold and he cast a calf, and they said, ‘These are your gods, oh benei yisrael, that brought you out of Mitzraim.’”

It is difficult to think that the benei yisrael thought that the egel ha’zahav was the god that had brought them out of Mitzraim. At קריעת ים סוף the medrash says (ילקוט שמעוני בשלח רמ"ז)

ראתה שפחה על הים מה שלא ראה יחזקאל בן בוזי הכהן

“A maidservant saw at the sea that which Yechezkel did not see.”

And that at Har Sinai, Rashi says (דברים ד' ל"ה)

כשנתן הקדוש ברוך הוא את התורה, פתח להם שבעה רקיעים וכשם שקרע את העליונים כך קרע את התחתונים, וראו שהוא יחידי

“When Hashem gave the Torah, He opened the 7 heavens and rent asunder the entire world, and they saw that Hashem is the only power.”

• How could the benei yisrael think that the egel ha’zahav was the god that had brought them out of Mitzraim if they had clearly seen that Hashem had brought them out?

The עץ יוסף explains as follows:

When the erev rav said eleh elokechah yisrael, they did not mean that the עגל הזהב was a god that had brought them out of Mitzraim. Rather they meant that klal yisrael has an indelible zechus because of which Hashem was forced to bring them out of Mitzraim, since it would not have been appropriate for a people (the benei yisrael) who “owned” such a madregah to remain enslaved. Subsequently, the benei yisrael did not owe their gratitude to Hashem for freeing them, rather they deserved their freedom, due to their elevated status.

With this understanding of the עגל הזהב, that which the benei yisrael “stole” the פני השור from the מעשה המרכבה, and that which the tablet with alei shur written on it was used to create the egel ha’zahav relate to the same idea.

The benei yisrael claimed they had indelibly acquired the madregah represented by the shor in the kisei ha’kavod, and therefore Hashem had been forced to redeem them from Mitzraim. Since Yosef was the personification of this madregah, it was fitting that the symbol of their right to be redeemed in their own zechus, the egel ha’zahav, should be created using the tablet that was used to bring Yosef himself out of Mitzraim.

The gemara says in Shabbos

ההוא צדוקי דחזייה לרבא דקא מעיין בשמעתא ויתבה אצבעתא דידיה תותי כרעא וקא מייץ בהו וקא מבען אצבעתיה דמא א"ל עמא פזיזא דקדמיתו פומייכו לאודנייכו אכתי בפחזותייכו קיימיתו ברישא איבעי' לכו למשמע אי מציתו קבליתו ואי לא לא קבליתו א"ל אנן דסגינן בשלימותא כתיב בן (משלי י"א, ג') תומת ישרים תנחם הנך אינשי דסגן בעלילותא כתיב בהו (משלי י"א, ג') וסלף בוגדים ישדם

A צדוקי saw Rava learning, he was inadvertently crushing his fingers under his heel and blood was dripping out. He said to him, “You hasty people, that said נעשה before נשמע. First you should have determined if you be able to bear the Torah, and only then should you have accepted it.”

Rava replied, “We trust Hashem, and concerning us the passuk says, תומת ישרים תנחם. However you go slyly, concerning you the passuk says וסלף בוגדים ישדם – the crookedness of the treacherous will be their downfall.”

The accomplishment of saying נעשה before נשמע was that the benei yisrael acknowledged that it would not be in their own merit that they would be able to uphold the Torah, but rather they would rely on the כח that Hashem would give them to uphold the Torah that they had accepted, that would enable them to continue.

This is the opposite attitude to the חטא of the עגל הזהב, where they assumed that even יציאת מצרים had been forced upon Hashem כביכול because of the great מדרגה of כלל ישראל.

That is why saying נעשה before נשמע ameliorated the later עבירה of the עגל הזהב.