Torah Lesson 9 Parashat Ki Tisa: the Israelites and the Golden Calf

Torah Lesson 9 Parashat Ki Tisa: The Israelites and the Golden Calf

INTRODUCTION

In Parashat Ki Tisa, we read the famous story of the Golden Calf. Feeling left alone in the desert by Moses (who had gone up to Mount Sinai to receive further instructions from God), the Israelites lose faith in their leader and in God. They construct a Golden Calf as an alternative focus of worship. The Torah recounts the great anger exhibited by God and Moses toward the Israelites for their apparent faithlessness.

In this lesson students will explore the events of this story, how different players contributed to the problem, and how Moses eventually seeks forgiveness from God for the people’s sin of building a Golden Calf. Rashi, a great Jewish commentator, taught that Yom Kippur was established on the day that the people of Israel were forgiven for the sin of the Golden Calf (Rashi, D’varim 9:18). The forgiveness in our actual Torah text, however, is only implied. Moses begs God, “If I have gained Your favor, O my lord, pray, let my lord go in our midst, even though this is a stiffnecked people. Pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for Your own!” (Exodus 34:9). God does not respond with the words that God will later use in the desert when the people again doubt the Divine Power, “I pardon, as you have asked” (Numbers 14:20). Instead, here in Exodus, God simply moves forward, saying, “I hereby make a covenant. Before all your people I will work such wonders as have not been wrought on all the earth or in any nation” (Exodus 34:10). We are left with the realization that sometimes accepting an apology is not that easy.

In this lesson students will consider alternative ways of dealing with difficult problems, using the action that takes place in the story of the Golden Calf as a model.

ENDURING UNDERSTANDINGS

• Torah is an ongoing dialogue between the text and its students.

• Torah is real in our daily lives; it is with us wherever we are.

• Developing the skills to study Torah is essential to integrating Torah into our lives.

• The Torah teaches me how to be part of the Jewish People.

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

1. What does the Torah have to say to me and my world?

71 72 Torah Lesson 9 CHAI: Learning for Jewish Life

2. Why is the Torah different from other books?

3. How can Torah study help me in my everyday life?

QUESTIONS TO BE ADDRESSED

1. Why did the Israelites make the Golden Calf?

2. Why do God and Moses get angry at the Israelites?

3. What can I learn from this story about my own life today?

EVIDENCE OF UNDERSTANDING

Students will propose alternative solutions when presented with problems from the Golden Calf story.

LESSON OVERVIEW

• Set Induction (10 minutes)

• Telling Our Story (10 minutes)

• Solving Problems a Different Way (15 minutes)

• Concluding the Story (20 minutes)

• Conclusion (5 minutes)

MATERIALS NEEDED

• Some Things Jews Do and Believe poster

• Ki Tisa poster from the Sh’mot/Exodus Journey posters

• Letter to parents (page 76)

READING RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS

Berman, Melanie, and Joel Lurie Grishaver. My Weekly Sidrah. Los Angeles: Torah Aura Publications, 1986, pp. 78–80.

Steinbock, Steven E. Torah: The Growing Gift. New York: UAHC Press, 1994. CHAI: Learning for Jewish Life Parashat Ki Tisa: The Israelites and the Golden Calf 73

LESSON PLAN

SET INDUCTION (10 MINUTES)

The purpose of this set induction is to help the students understand why God was so angry at the Israelites for making the Golden Calf. Later in this lesson, the students will consider different approaches to solving problems based on events in this Torah portion.

1. Sing or recite together the blessing for Torah study. /v¨rI, h¥rc¦sC eIxgk¨,I m¦nUb²Um±¨¨J§S¦CUbeu ruh¤J£t 'okIg¨v k¤Q n Ubh¥vO¡²h±t'h v¨T©t QUrC Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech haolam, asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu laasok b’divrei Torah.

Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Sovereign of the universe, who has sanctified us through Your commandments and commanded us to engage in the words of Torah.

2. Point to the previous Sh’mot/Exodus Journey posters and ask students to explain where we left off in our story. (The Israelites heard the Ten Commandments, but were so overwhelmed and afraid. They asked Moses to go get the rest of the laws for them. They told Moses that they would listen to the laws from him, but they were afraid to hear them straight from God.)

3. Explain to the students that Moses was on Mount Sinai for forty days getting the laws from God. Ask students, “Imagine that your parents go away on a trip. You know they will be coming home, but you don’t know when. Imagine that a long time had passed; how would you feel? (Possible answers: scared, frustrated, free.)

4. Hang up the Sh’mot/Exodus Journey poster, Ki Tisa. Explain to the students that in today’s class they will learn about how the Israelites felt when Moses was on Mount Sinai. They will learn about what the Israelites did while Moses was away and how God and Moses reacted to their actions.

LEARNING ACTIVITIES Telling Our Story (10 minutes)

In this activity students explore the first part of our story and identify the problems that the people were facing when Moses did not come down from the mountain.

1. Ask students to turn to pages 38–39 of their student workbooks, Our Story: The Golden Calf. Dramatically read the text out loud.

2. Ask the students the following questions for group discussion:

• Why do you think the Israelite people were scared and nervous when Moses was gone a long time? (In addition to other answers, students should identify that they were afraid without their leader.)

• Why was making the Golden Calf a bad decision? 74 Torah Lesson 9 CHAI: Learning for Jewish Life

Solving Problems a Different Way (15 minutes)

In this activity students work in small groups to explore how the different players (God, Moses, Aaron, the Israelites) could have acted differently in the story and therefore could have avoided the Israelites building the Golden Calf and God being so angry.

1. Divide the students into three groups. Ask students to turn to Lessons from Our Story: Solving the Problem on page 40 in their workbooks. Assign to each group of students one of the problems to work on. If the class is large, divide the class into more than three groups and allow two groups to work on the same problem.

2. Explain to the students that they have 5 minutes to read their problem and to think of ways that the different players (God, Moses, Aaron, and the Israelites) could have acted differently. If they had done something different, could they have prevented all of the problems? Each group should come up with at least one alternative solution to their problem. For example, alternative solutions for the first problem include: Moses could have told the people how long he was going to be gone; Moses could have asked God to reassure the people because they were getting nervous; Moses’s brother Aaron could have tried to calm the people; the Israelites could have remembered that they were slaves in Egypt for many years, so they could wait for Moses a little longer.

3. After 5 minutes, reconvene the class. Have each group read its problem and alternative solution to the class. Allow for discussion or questions after each group presents its solution.

Concluding the Story (20 minutes) 1. Ask students to turn to pages 41–42 in their workbooks, Our Story: Moses and God React. Dramatically read the conclusion of the story.

2. Ask students, “How were the problems solved in the end? What problems are not solved? (Problems that are solved: Moses calms down and asks God to forgive the people; God first says that God will not be with the people anymore, but then agrees to stay with them; God asks Moses to create a new set of tablets. Problems that are not solved: Aaron’s role in building the Golden Calf.)

3. Ask students, “Do you think that God forgave the people for making the Golden Calf?

4. Ask the students to turn to page 43 of their workbooks. Read the three steps to t’shuvah:

T’shuvah is a special Jewish way of saying you are sorry. There are three steps to t’shuvah:

1. SEE (what we have done wrong)

2. FEEL SORRY (for our mistakes)

3. CHANGE (our actions)

5. Tell the students that just like the Israelites after they built the Golden Calf, they can say they are sorry about something in their own life and try to do better.

6. Ask the students to think about something they did wrong and to answer the questions in their workbooks. CHAI: Learning for Jewish Life Parashat Ki Tisa: The Israelites and the Golden Calf 75

CONCLUSION (5 MINUTES)

1. Remind students that over the last seven weeks they have learned about how the Israelites went from slaves to a people in relationship with God and one another. Bring out or point to the Some Things Jews Do and Believe poster. Ask the students, “Which items do you think we learned about today?” (We say we are sorry when we make a mistake and try to do better next time.)

2. Tell the students, “In the rest of the Torah, the Israelites will continue to learn what it means to be a people. We will learn more of the rules that God wants us to follow. Sometimes we will have a difficult time, and sometimes God will get angry. Sometimes we will do things that we regret, and sometimes God will. In the end, though, we are one people—the Jewish people—in a very special relationship with our God.”

3. Explain to the students that traditionally we say a special phrase when we finish a book of the Torah. Ask students to turn to page 44 of their workbooks. Read the following together: e¯Z©j§,°b±u ²z£je²z£je

CHAZAK, CHAZAK ,V’NITCHAZEIK ! BE STRONG, BE STRONG, AND MAY YOU BE STRENGTHENED!

4. Hand out the letter to parents (page 76). CHAI: Learning for Jewish Life

Dear Parents,

In class today we read the famous story of the Golden Calf. Feeling left alone in the desert by Moses (who had gone up to Mount Sinai to receive further instructions from God), the Israelites lose faith in their leader and in God. They construct a Golden Calf as an alternative focus of worship. The Torah recounts the great anger exhibited by God and Moses toward the Israelites for their apparent faithlessness.

Students explored how different players contributed to the problem and how Moses eventually seeks forgiveness from God for the people’s sin of building the Golden Calf. Rashi, a great Jewish commentator, taught that Yom Kippur was established on the day that the people of Israel were forgiven for the sin of the Golden Calf (Rashi, D’varim 9:18). The forgiveness in our actual Torah text, however, is only implied. Moses begs God, “If I have gained Your favor, O my lord, pray, let my lord go in our midst, even though this is a stiffnecked people. Pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for Your own!” (Exodus 34:9). God does not respond with the words that God will later use in the desert when the people again doubt the Divine Power, “I pardon, as you have asked” (Numbers 14:20). Instead, here in Exodus, God simply moves forward, saying, “I hereby make a covenant. Before all your people I will work such wonders as have not been wrought on all the earth or in any nation” (Exodus 34:10). We are left with the realization that sometimes accepting an apology is not that easy. Sometimes the apology comes in simply moving forward and strengthen- ing the relationship.

Our lesson concluded with the students exploring the idea of t’shuvah, “repentance,” in Judaism and how we seek forgiveness from God and those we harmed. The students identified “We say we are sorry and try to do better next time” as the central message of our lesson.

This lesson concludes our study of the Book of Exodus. Our students learned the traditional phrase said at the end of studying a book of Torah: “Chazak, chazak, v’nitchazeik! (Be strong, be strong, and may you be strengthened!)” Make sure to congratulate your child on this wonderful accomplishment, and may the study of Torah continue to strengthen our souls and our community!

To explore more about the building of the Golden Calf, please visit http://urj.org/torah/exodus/ index.cfm and read commentary on Ki Tisa.

Sincerely,

______