Shabbat
Each week we feature a different outstanding Florida Rabbi.
Ki Tissa
Rabbi Edward M.Maline, D.D.
Temple Emanu-El
Ft. Lauderdale
Sedra "Ki Tissa" from the Book of Exodus focuses upon the incident of the Golden Calf - a paramount symbol of idolatry in ancient Israel.
Frequently, the Torah inveighs against the sin of idolatry - the worship of foreign gods, imitation of the practices of the peoples among whom the Israelites lived - all of which would lead to a dissolution of the covenant that bound Israel to the One and Eternal God.
Idolatry, today, is no less a sin, no less a violation of the covenantal relationship than it was centuries ago.
Today, idolatry takes on new forms-false values, the lure of materialism and secularism which blind the eyes to the spiritual realities of life and the world.
In our technologically advanced society and with progress in scientific knowledge we too may revere the newest idols of our technocracy. We often forget that religion and science are handmaidens. Each deals with a different realm- science explains the workings of the universe but religion goes beyond science to affirm, by faith and not by empirical observation, the ultimate source and purpose of life and the world.
Rabbi Abraham Heschel, "Alav hashalom", once said: "The world will not collapse for want of information - we have a super abundance of facts, theories and hypotheses. (His statement was made before the Internet)The world will collapse for lack of appreciation of the awesomeness of the universe - its orderliness, unity and harmony and the laws that govern it.
Awe, reverence appreciation for the ultimate foundations and destiny of the world are the ideals we need to recreate and rediscover in our times. Anything less would be a surrender to the idolatry of science and technology - a newer version of the sin of the Golden Calf.