So the topic tonight is the חטא העגל, the sin of the golden calf, and the way it's explained in different sefarim and also על פי חסידות. Now this sin, this עבירה, חטא העגל, is probably the worst aveirah that the Yidden ever did in history. It's an aveirah that not only did we suffer at the time when it was done, but we suffer up to this day. Until Mashiach will come we're going to still continue suffering from that one sin that the Jews did, that they worshipped, made and worshipped that golden calf. Hashem said וביום פקדי ופקדתי, after Hashem said \"I forgive them\", but He said, \"Remember וביום פקדי, the day I'm going to remember I will remember\", which means that I will always remember this sin. And as the chachamim tell us, that what Hashem meant was that whenever Hashem punishes any person for any sin, He also includes a little bit of punishment for the חטא העגל. Because the חטא העגל continues. It's a chet that is always there. Now why? Why is this sin a sin that continues always? Because this sin is the source of all the sins. If the Yidden wouldn't have sinned with the egel, then there wouldn't be anything, it wouldn't be such a thing as us doing an aveirah. Similar to the חטא עץ הדעת. When Adam Harishon ate from the עץ הדעת, if he wouldn't have eaten from the עץ הדעת, from that tree, there wouldn't have been a possibility of sin bichlal, at all. And only because he did, he ate from that tree, that's why later on there is a possibility of sin. And the חטא העגל is very similar to the חטא עץ הדעת, because it says in the Gemara that when Adam Harishon and Chavah ate from the tree, ירדה זוהמא לעולם, a certain tumah, a certain impurity came down to the world. And that impurity made it possible, as I will explain soon, made it possible that we should, people should be able to do an aveirah. If not for that impurity, there wouldn't be a possibility of doing an aveirah. So Adam Harishon, by him eating from the tree, brought a certain impurity, a tumah to the world, made it possible for aveirot to be done. And then the Gemara says that כשעמדו ישראל על סיני, when the Yidden stood by Har Sinai to receive the תורה, פסקה זוהמתן, that impurity left. And it came back to the same stage as it was before the sin of the עץ הדעת, and again they came back to a point that there wouldn't be a possibility of any sins. כשחטאו בעגל, when they sinned with the egel, that brought back that possibility that there should be a possibility of a sin. Now the truth is that it's not the same as before. After it came back again, it didn't come back the same way it was before. But still it came back and made the possibility of an aveirah, and I'll explain soon the whole thing, and it made that there is again a possibility to do an aveirah. And that is why every time we do an aveirah, we are punished for the חטא העגל. Hashem remembers the חטא העגל because the fact that we're able to chas veshalom do an aveirah today is because the Yidden did the egel then. What, let me, I'll explain in a second. Yeah? One, one sec, and I'll explain what this whole thing is.

When Hashem created the world, it says עולם על מילואו נברא. The world was created full. The world was created in a way that Godliness was revealed. Godliness was recognized. Hashem was in this world in a very, very open way, and you could see it very clearly. And since Godliness was not concealed, there was no possibility of doing anything against Hashem, because it was clear that this is it and He is the real thing and there was no way you could do something the opposite. That's the way the world was created. That's why it says that Hashem says עיקר שכינה בתחתונים היתה. The main place where Hashem dwelled, so to speak, was down here in this world. So this world was a place that you couldn't do any aveirah. Hashem left the possibility of only one test. Everything else was impossible. He gave one test, and that's what Hashem made. He did it special to see, to give him one test, and had Adam Harishon passed that test, then there wouldn't be any possibility to do an aveirah, because Godliness was so clear and so true in the eyes of the world that there wouldn't be a possibility to do an aveirah. Unfortunately, that one test that was given to him, he failed. He didn't pass the test. And since he didn't pass the test, what it brought was a concealment of godliness, which is what we said before the expression of the Gemara, the זוהמא, the tumah, the impurity that he brought into the world. And impurity means the fact that not everything is pure, not everything is the real way and you can't see the truth. And therefore, from that moment on, the world became in such a way that the gashmiyut of the world is in such a stage that it doesn't see the truth. And it is separated, so to speak, from the truth, from godliness. So much so that even when the Avot did mitzvot, and they did mitzvot, we know that קיימו אבות כל התורה כולה עד שלא ניתנה, they did all the mitzvot. The mitzvot that they did, which we know a mitzvah means a godly thing, a godly act, the mitzvot did not have any effect on the physical world. Whatever they did did not penetrate into the physical world. They put on tefillin, but the tefillin didn't become holy, because gashmiyut and ruchniyut, spirituality and gashmiyut, were two separate worlds. And this all happened with the cheit of the עץ הדעת. Because he sinned, he brought the impurity, that now the gashmiyut, the physical world, is no kli, is no vessel, to contain godliness. That's what he did, he brought this blockade, so to speak, into the world, that there is a gezeirah. When the Yidden went to receive the Torah, where Hashem said, \"I'm taking away this blockade.\" And at that time what happened? That concealment was taken away. And Hashem said, \"From now on, godliness will be felt in the world, at least for the Jews, godliness will be felt in the world, and there will be no more aveirot, there will be no more concealment.\" And that's the famous mashal that the Midrash gives of a king who had two countries, Rome, Romi, and Syria, and he had a gezeirah, a decree that the people from Rome shouldn't travel to Syria, the people from Syria shouldn't travel to Rome, and one day the king got up and he nullified the decree, and he said, \"From now on, you could commute, you could communicate.\" And so, too, till מתן תורה there was a decree, עליונים לא ירדו לתחתונים, the ones above can't go down, from down you can't go up. השמים שמים להשם, the heaven is for השם, ארץ, the earthly things are for people. There was a separation between gashmiyut and ruchniyut. Why? All because of the חטא עץ הדעת. But Hashem said, \"By מתן תורה, I'm taking that away. And now you are able to combine the two. Now when you do a mitzvah, you could bring godliness into the world, and you can make physical things holy.\" And at that time became back to the same stage as it was before the חטא עץ הדעת, and there was no possibility of an aveirah. But just like at that time Hashem said, \"There is one test I give you, and that's the one I want you to see if you'll pass or fail.\" And that was the cheit, the test of the עץ הדעת. Here, too, again at the same time Hashem did the same thing. He said, \"Now there is one test that they had, and that test was the test of whether to worship the egel, and they failed the test, and they worshipped the egel.\" And what happened? The same thing happened again. חזרה זוהמתן, that tumah came back, and when it came back, now again there is a concealment of godliness. Now again there is a possibility of doing aveirot because we don't see the truth. But, as I said before, the Zohar makes it very clear, it did not come back exact same way as it was before. Because before מתן תורה, after the חטא עץ הדעת, the concealment was so strong that there was no connection between gashmiyut and ruchniyut at all. And that's why if you did a mitzvah, the mitzvah, the gashmiyusdike object that you did the mitzvah with, did not contain spirituality. It couldn't. There was a clear cut in between the two. Now, there became a concealment and godliness again, and therefore there's a possibility of doing a sin, but still, certain things remained as it was from the time of מתן תורה. That didn't change even though they sinned. And that was that when we do a mitzvah, when we do the commandment of Hashem, the kedushah, the holiness, the spirituality of the mitzvah is transfers into the gashmiyut, it penetrates into the gashmiyut, and the gashmiyut itself becomes holy. That still remained. And also, there is a difference between a Yid and a goy. At the time of מתן תורה, השם chose the Yidden, and that remained. And when a Yid does a mitzvah, this happens. When a גוי does a mitzvah, nothing happens. A גוי could do a mitzvah, there is no special, godly light that comes into the world. While if a Yid does a mitzvah, he does bring godly light into the world, and it's there. But we don't see it. That happened. Had not been חטא חטא העגל, had they not sinned, we would see. We would see the light that we bring down every time we do a mitzvah, and we would not be able to do any aveirah. And therefore, it is thanks to the חטא העגל that we are able to do an aveirah now. As much as we still have mitzvot, as much as we do bring godliness into the world because of מתן תורה, but the חטא העגל pushed it back a lot and again made this concealment of Godliness, and that's why we're able to do an aveirah from then on. And still now, the reason we're able, possible for a person to do something against the will of Hashem is because of the חטא העגל. And many things happened from then, different troubles came. For instance, one of the things it says in the Gemara that happened after the חטא העגל was that if not for the חטא העגל, we would never forget. Certainly the Torah that we learn, we wouldn't forget. The Gemara says, אילמלא חטאו בעגל, if the Yidden wouldn't sin by עגל, לא נשתכחה תורה מישראל. The Yidden would never forget, every person, any yid of Torah a Yid would learn, you would always remember it. And it's only because of the חטא העגל that we forget. Very simple reason, because what happened through the חטא העגל, the truth was concealed. And shikchah, forgetfulness, is because of the opposite of truth. If the truth is clear in your mind, you don't forget. Why do you forget? Because you don't really know the truth, you forget on the truth. So the sin of the עגל was the thing that brought the possibility of us forgetting. And if not for that, we wouldn't forget. Another thing, it says if not for the חטא העגל, we wouldn't die. At least the Jews wouldn't die. Just like Hashem said when He spoke to them about the חטא, about the עץ הדעת, He says: Don't eat from the tree, because the day you're going to eat from the tree, you're going to die. And when they ate from the tree, that brought death into the world. If not for that, no one would die. That brought death into the world. The same is with the חטא העגל. It says when Hashem gave them the לוחות, it says the words were חרות על הלוחות. חרות means carved out on the לוחות. But the Gemara says that the word חרות could be read differently, too. If you put different vowels, it's not חרות, but cheirut. Cheirut means freedom. Freedom of what? Well, obviously, freedom of problems, you wouldn't have all kinds of tzarot, but the Gemara says even more: חירות ממלאך המות. We would be free from the angel of death. There wouldn't be any death in the world. And it's only because of the חטא העגל that there is death. Just like I said before, just like the עץ הדעת, השם said to אדם הראשון: The day you're going to eat from the tree, you're going to die. Now, the truth is they didn't die that day. אדם הראשון lived 930 years, and he did this sin on the first day he was created, so he lived another 930 years. But what it means is, according to one pshat, what it means is that that day death was brought upon the world. That day it was decreed that he will die. And because he will eventually die, already from that moment on it's considered as if he died. Because, in theory, if you know eventually something is going to stop, even when it's there it's not really there. It's only there as a temporary form and so it's not really considered being there. So before that, they should have lived forever. Had they lived forever, then they would always be alive. The fact that Hashem decreed that you are eventually going to die, it could be 1,000 years later, but the fact that you're eventually going to die means that already death started then, because the living in a form of knowing that eventually you're going to die, the living has a different point. Like the Gemara says, the Mishnah says concerning מים המכזבים, it says there is a law that in certain types of impurity, when you go to the mikveh you have to go in a special mikveh, it has to be מים חיים, living waters. And what's living waters? From a well, it cannot be a regular mikveh. A זב has to go to that mikveh. And it says in the Mishnah that if you have they have certain wells that dries up once in seven years, you can't use that, even while it's fresh and good water, because the fact that we know that eventually it's going to dry up, even while it's there it's not really alive. That's not really the true type of concept of life. So when אדם הראשון was told that the day you're going to eat from the עץ הדעת you're going to die, it meant that that day he actually started dying, in theory, because the decree of death came upon them. Also, the Rabbeinu Bachya has another pshat that התינוק משנולד מתחיל ליאבד, a child from the day it's born starts dying, which means, in simple pshat, that there are certain cells that start dying from the moment you're born. And all that is because eventually he's going to die, so certain parts start dying. Had Hashem not decreed death, then no cells would die, he would be alive. And now, actually there are certain parts of the person that start dying out. That's what the Rabbeinu Bachya says, written for 800 years ago. And medically it's true, nowadays they say there are billions and billions of cells, and some start dying right away. But it all came as a result of the חטא עץ הדעת. And then when it came to Matan Torah, we would have been rid of all that, and there would have been freedom from the מלאך המות, from the angel of death. And when the Yidden sinned with the egel, that brought back death to the world. Which is the reason why, one of The things Hashem told them to do in order to get a kaparah, forgiveness for the חטא העגל, was to make the פרה אדומה, to bring this red heifer, the red cow. And what was the purpose of this red cow? What would they do with it? There's a whole thing, a process that they have to do, whole procedure, and then you have to take the ashes and mix it with water, and that would be used to sprinkle on a person who became טמא מת, who became impure from a dead body. Now what's the connection between the two things? On one hand we say the פרה אדומה is a kaparah, forgiveness, for the sin of the egel. It says even an expression, let the mother come and wipe up the dirt that was done by the child. The calf, the golden calf was a calf, and the פרה אדומה was a mother, a cow, an adult cow. So let the mother wipe up the dirt from the child, from the calf. But we have two things here. On one hand we're saying it's a kaparah for the חטא העגל, and then we're saying it's to purify you from the מלאך המות, from the from the טומאת מת, it's to purify you from the טומאה that you get from a dead body. And the answer is the two things go together, because it is the egel that brought death. So the whole idea that there is such a thing as טומאת מת, as impurity from a dead body, came because of the עגל. And therefore, this korban, let's call it, of the פרה אדומה, which was a kaparah for the חטא העגל, also works to take away the טומאת מת, because מיתה, death, is connected to the עגל. And therefore, when Mashiach will come, that's when death will go away, and that's when we will have the last פרה אדומה. It says in the Rambam Mashiach is going to bring, make the tenth פרה אדומה. The tenth always is the one that's the highest level. So till now we had nine פרות אדומות, and Mashiach will bring the tenth. But what's connection with Mashiach? Because that's when death will go away. That's when sin will go away, because we will not have any more sins, and that's when we will be forgiven completely for the עגל. That's when we will have the last פרה אדומה, because the עגל brought death and the עגל brought sin. So this is to explain what the עגל accomplished, how terrible the עגל was, that it brought back what the חטא עץ הדעת did, not 100%, but a big portion of the חטא עץ הדעת it brought back, because by מתן תורה it went away, and it brought back the concealment of Godliness, it brought back the possibility of doing the sin, it brought back the concept of shechachah, forgetting, it brought back the concept of death in the world, especially to Jews, because of this חטא העגל.

Now what was the חטא העגל? We're all talking about what the result of the חטא העגל was, but what was the חטא העגל? The חטא העגל was עבודה זרה. It was an idol. They made a golden calf and they worshipped it as a god. They said that this is the god. This is עבודה זרה, this is worshipping idols. And to worship idols means to deny in the unity of Hashem. So at that time, the Jews denied in the truth of Hashem. And because it wasn't done by one or two or five people, but it was done by the community, even though there were people that didn't participate, the whole of Shevet Levi didn't participate, the women, all the women didn't participate, but because it was a community, a communal aveirah, and what type of an aveirah? An aveirah that was the denial in the truth of Hashem, that's why this brought this great trouble to the world, and it affected everybody. It affected all the Jews as a whole, including those that didn't participate. It affected the women, it affected the Shevet Levi, it affected Moshe Rabbeinu himself. Moshe Rabbeinu did not have anything to do with the חטא העגל. See, some people, you could say even if they didn't participate, but at least they could have protested, they could have stopped others. And if they did try to stop, they could have tried harder. You never know what could have been. Moshe Rabbeinu was not in that category at all. Moshe Rabbeinu was at that time in Shamayim, he was by Hashem. So he didn't do anything to it. He didn't, wasn't even there to be able to say, why didn't you try harder to stop them? So Moshe Rabbeinu had no connection. And nevertheless, even Moshe Rabbeinu was affected by the חטא העגל, that his madreigah became lower, it says. Hashem said to Moshe Rabbeinu in shamayim when he was still there, Hashem said to him, you know that the Jews made an egel down there? לך רד, go down. So simple peshat is go down from here and go see what's happening. But Rashi says לך רד, go down מגדולתך, go down for your madreigah. He lowered his madreigah because that brought a yeridah, a descent in the whole spiritual level of the world. But the question that comes up is, how do we understand how is it possible that the Jews made an egel? Let's put ourselves in that situation. It was less than 40 days from when the Jews stood by Har Sinai. It was less than 40 days when the Jews heard from Hashem Himself, אנכי השם אלוקיך אשר הוצאתיך מארץ מצרים, I am God who took you out of Mitzrayim. He said, לא יהיה לך אלוקים אחרים על פני, do not have any other god. And they saw the great revelation of Godliness, which we can't even describe because it's not something that's describable. We know they told their children and they passed it on throughout all generations that they had this great revelation. What it was, they can't describe because it was a spiritual, Godly revelation. Imagine, they saw! It says אתה הראת לדעת by Matan Torah, Hashem showed us, He showed Himself to us. And Rashi says, whatever it should mean, but Rashi uses the term, He opened up all the heavens and He said, \"Look!\" And He made us see all the heavens to see that there is nothing but Hashem. So how is it possible that soon after that, less than 40 days later, the Jews fell so low to worship an egel, to worship a calf, to make an idol? How is it possible? I mean, we can imagine how that how that could happen. Now the truth is Rashi does say that the Satan was involved. The Satan made the world look dark, he brought a darkness to the world, and the Yidden miscalculated and they thought Moshe should have been here and he's not here, probably he died. And imagine how they felt, and there was a great darkness that he made. Not only that, it says that he made the Yidden see a vision, a false vision, but he made them see a vision as if the malachim, the angels are carrying a bed and Moshe Rabbeinu is laying on the bed. So they saw in their eyes clearly that Moshe Rabbeinu had died. So true. So they got very scared, and with that shock, you could imagine anything could happen. But still, it's still not clear. How is it possible to fall so low to make an avodah zarah? We can understand they get nervous and they got shocked and they didn't know what to do and things happen and all kinds of ideas, but to go against the complete avodah zarah, to make an avodah zarah, there has to be something else. We must say that there was some other mistake they made. There was definitely a mistake, but there was a mistake which could be explained that it's a very fine level of a mistake, and from that, got משתלשל, turned into avodah zarah. The truth is they worshipped avodah zarah, we're not going to deny that, but it didn't start with avodah zarah. It started with one problem and a mistake that is logical to make, and then some people took advantage of it, especially the Erev Rav, and they turned it into avodah zarah, and they came and pulled the Yidden into it in a short time. But it started with some kind of an idea that they had, and that idea made sense. It was wrong, but it made sense. It wasn't just turning away from Hashem and going to avodah zarah. Now what was that mistake that they made? So let's look into the Chumash. In Chumash it says like this: וירא העם כי בשש משה לרדת מן ההר, the Yidden saw that משה is hesitating, is late from coming down from the mountain. ויקהל העם על אהרן, so they gathered around אהרן, ויאמרו אליו, they said to him, קום, get up, עשה לנו אלקים, make us a god, אשר ילכו לפנינו, that should go before us, כי זה משה האיש, because this man משה, אשר העלנו מארץ מצרים, that took us out of מצרים, לא ידענו מה היה לו, we don't know what happened to him. This is the pasuk. In other words, the Yidden were frightened and they didn't know what happened because of משה רבינו. They thought משה רבינו is not here, he died. So let's understand, if משה רבינו died, let's say it would have been true, why make another god? Makes no sense! If they would say, \"Look, משה died, we need another משה! We need someone else to replace משה רבינו, but not another god!\" What is the pshat they say, \"Because משה is not here, we don't know what happened to משה, משה that took us out of מצרים, we don't know what happened to him, and therefore we need another god\"? It's like we say לא ממין הטענה. They should have said, \"משה is not here, let's make another משה, let's get another leader!\" They should have said to אהרן, \"You, you lead us! Let's get something else.\" Why, why another god? So we must say that this is not what they meant. That's not what they meant. They didn't mean another god. They did not mean avodah zarah, they didn't mean another god. What they meant was we know that Hashem communicates with us and connects Himself to us through משה רבינו. משה רבינו is like in between. I hate to use the word intermediate because it'll confuse and think that it's true, but that's what they said. משה רבינו was the one that brought us the Torah, it is with משה רבינו that we get our connection to Hashem, so obviously we need a ממוצע, we need somebody in between should help us get close to Hashem. And that's what they said: \"So let's get something else or somebody else that will be, instead of משה, will be the ממוצע.\" And that's exactly what they said. Let's look at the pasuk again. When they saw that משה is late, so they gathered around אהרן they said, קום עשה לנו אלקים, let's make Elokim. Now here Elokim we must say does not mean God. The word אלקים has another meaning. אלקים means also a leader. Earlier in Chumash, more than once, but at least one time, when Moshe Rabbeinu said, \"I can't go to Pharaoh because I can't talk,\" so Hashem said, \"You know what? You go, and Aharon will talk for you, and you will be for him לאלקים.\" He uses the word אלקים. And Rashi says, what does אלקים mean, Moshe will be Aharon's God? No, it means he'll be his שר, his officer, his master. So the word אלקים could mean a leader. And that's what they said, let's make us אלקים, we need another leader like משה, אשר ילכו לפנינו. And they said, we know that Hashem wants that there should be a being that is between us and Hashem. And that's why when they spoke to Aharon and they said, why do we need somebody else? כי זה משה האיש, because this man משה אשר העלנו מארץ מצרים, that took us out of מצרים, לא ידענו מה היה לו, that we don't know what happened to him. Why do they mention again that he took us out of Mitzrayim? I mean, everyone knew Moshe took them out of Mitzrayim. They should have said, because this man Moshe is not here, we don't know what happened to him. Why did they tell Aharon? Aharon knew that Moshe took them out of Mitzrayim. They said to Aharon, because this man Moshe who took us out of Mitzrayim is not here, or we don't know what happened to him. They meant to say, you see, why did Hashem send Moshe to take us out of Mitzrayim? Why didn't he take us out of Mitzrayim himself? Obviously, the way Hashem operates is that he has a Moshe, he has somebody that is there from being part of down here of this world, that he is the one that connects us to Hashem. And therefore, we need somebody else. Now, let's stop and think. Okay, so they should have thought of another person. Why would they think of making an עגל? Why a golden calf, a calf made out of gold? Why out of gold? Well, the truth is they already knew that very soon Hashem will tell them to make a Mishkan. That's what Rashi says in different places, to make this Mishkan. What was the purpose of the Mishkan? The purpose of the Mishkan was to be a place where Hashem will dwell, which means Hashem wants us to make a physical building with physical things made of gold, silver, copper, and that would be where Hashem would come down to communicate with us. So what do we see here? That not only within a human being like Moshe Rabbeinu Hashem connects to us, but it happens also through something physical. And maybe it's even better, because the whole idea is that He should connect Himself to us, why did He need something? Because something that should be closer to us. So if he's not a human being, it's even something more physical, it's lower, it's even more. And they knew even further, they knew that Hashem would tell him to make the aron, and on top of the aron you would have the two keruvim, two keruvim. And Hashem says, \"I will come and talk to you from between the keruvim.\" So Hashem said to them, \"Make keruvim out of gold, and that will be through which you will have a connection to Me.\" And it is throughout all the years later, the mishkan and the Beit Hamikdash, that it was through the קדש הקדשים, the Holy of Holies, and the aron, and the כפורת, and the keruvim that we always connect ourselves to Hashem. They used to daven, we still daven now towards that place. And it says you daven towards the Beit Hamikdash, if you're in the Beit Hamikdash you have to daven towards the קדש הקדשים, everything is towards the aron. So the aron is the thing that connects. So they thought, so then obviously let's make something made out of gold. And even more than that, Rashi, after right after the Torah was given, Hashem said to them, the way Rashi explains, don't ever make an aron with keruvim in your every shul. In other words, the Jews would have thought maybe we should make an aron with keruvim in every shul, so Hashem said, \"Don't do it.\" Now, Hashem did not say it, said it to Moshe to tell the Yidden, Moshe didn't even tell them yet because he hadn't come down yet. But Hashem said it, why did Hashem think that the Yidden would even think of making something in every shul? Because the keruvim would be something that would help us get close to Hashem. And the Yidden knew this because of what was handed down from Avraham, from Yitzchak and Yaakov, that there would be a משכן and there would be כרובים, they knew. Rashi says that how did they have the wood for the משכן? Because Yaakov Avinu knew that, and he planted, he brought the trees for this wood from ארץ ישראל to ארץ מצרים, and he told them to take it out. They knew this משכן would be, so they knew they would have כרובים. So what went through their mind was that there is a concept of כרובים, and the כרובים are supposed to be to connect us. So they said to themselves, if Moshe isn't here, Moshe is the one that connects us, so let's take something instead of Moshe, not an עבודה זרה. Not, not another God, but something instead of Moshe, let's make אלוקים instead of Moshe. And what could it be? Just like the כרובים, it could be something made out of gold, and it could be even a golden calf. Why a calf? Why a golden calf, which is a young ox? So it says in the מדרש, this is what it says in the מדרש, and the מדרש needs peshat, and this explains it. The מדרש says that when Hashem gave the Torah, He came down with a whole מרכבה. מרכבה is Hashem's chariot. And it says on the chariot of Hashem, in the higher heavens, there are four faces on four sides. On one side there is a face of a man, one side the face of a lion, one side the face of an eagle, and one side the face of an ox. And when the Jews saw the מרכבה, and they saw the face of the ox, says the מדרש, they liked it. And they said, \"Let's make an ox, too, like in the מרכבה.\" Now what does that mean? It says that the ox came of the מרכבה in their eyes, and that's why they made an עגל. What it means is, when they saw what was going on למעלה, they saw that in the higher heavens there are different מדרגות, there are different levels. There is a סדר השתלשלות. There are different levels through which Hashem communicates, through which Hashem works. And one of them was an ox. So they said, just like in שמים there is a concept, a spiritual concept of an ox, which is through which Hashem works, part of the מרכבה, so let us make something very similar. Let's make an ox down here and made of gold, like the Keruvim. And in their eyes, this was the right thing to do. Now even though it was just 40, less than 40 days after מתן תורה, they made such a mistake. It wasn't that they turned away right away to עבודה זרה. The ta'anah was, since Moshe is not here, Moshe took it out of Mitzrayim, obviously Hashem wants there should be somebody else, not just directly from Hashem. So let's make Elokim, which is a leader, and let's make, and it turned out into being an egel.

Now let's look at this. What was their mistake? If we just finish explaining that there is such a thing as the Keruvim, and there is such a thing as Moshe Rabbeinu, so it sounds like that what they said was right. What's the big problem here? The problem is, we know that there is nothing but Hashem. There is no such thing as a ממוצע. There is no such thing as an intermediary. להבדיל להבדיל the גוים, their philosophy, the Christians is they have to have an intermediary. We're not allowed to have one. It can't be, cuz there is only Hashem and we are directly to Hashem. But if Hashem Himself tells you that I want you to do something in connection to this person, then it's not a problem. Hashem sent Moshe Rabbeinu to give the Torah. So if Hashem chose him, then he is not a separate entity that is in between us and Hashem. What we would call, but what a real intermediary the way they call it is a ממוצע המפסיק. It's something that separates. It means you can't be directly connected to Hashem because there is this separation in between. That's what they thought would happen. The truth is it's not so. Moshe Rabbeinu was only one to connect us to Hashem, not to separate. He meant to bring us closer to Hashem. And why could he do it? Because Hashem chose Moshe Rabbeinu. So Moshe Rabbeinu was not a separate entity because of who he was. It's only because Hashem said, \"You go down and you bring the Torah.\" So if it comes from Hashem's side, then it's not a contradiction to the truth of the unity of Hashem, because Hashem made it. Hashem made the world, Hashem chose Hashem chose Moshe Rabbeinu to be the one to bring us the Torah, and to bring us closer to Hashem. And Moshe Rabbeinu was a great person. It says on Moshe Rabbeinu, he is called איש האלקים, the man of God, and the Midrash says it means from the half and up he was, from half and down he was man, and half and up he was God. What does that mean? Not chas v'shalom he was God, Moshe was a human being. But he was so great and so holy that he didn't feel himself as a separate entity. He felt completely battel to Hashem. Why? And the fact that he brought the Torah didn't make him into a separate entity is because Hashem sent him. When the Yidden had to make the כרובים, why was it? Why could that be a way that we our תפילות go up to Hashem through the כרובים, and it's through there that we have our קרבנות and everything? Because Hashem commanded us to do it. So it doesn't come from us, so it comes from Hashem. Hashem is the Creator. Hashem is the only Being, and the way He puts it, that's what happens. But when the Yidden decided on their own, \"We're going to make an intermediary, we're going to make something that's in between,\" and they decided, they chose it, if it comes from them, then it's automatically false and it's against the truth of Hashem, because there is nothing but Hashem. This gives importance importance to another being. When you give importance to Moshe Rabbeinu because Hashem made him to be who he is, sent him to us, we're not giving importance to anybody else. Even though we're giving importance to Moshe Rabbeinu, but not because of him, it's because Hashem sent him. It's one of the reasons it says why in the Haggadah, we don't even mention Moshe Rabbeinu's name. It's mentioned once דרך אגב, once by the way in a pasuk. But throughout the whole Haggadah we don't mention once that Moshe took us out of Mitzrayim, for this simple reason: we shouldn't make a mistake and think that Moshe, as a separate entity, did something. On the other hand, we know Moshe took us out. Right here the pasuk says Moshe took us out of Mitzrayim, but not as a separate entity, because he was sent by God. But people might forget, so we take him out of the Haggadah. But the כרובים are things that help us get close to Hashem because Hashem said so. But when they decided to make an עגל on their own, that is the complete opposite of Hashem. That is the complete opposite of the unity of Hashem. And from here, it is not so far to turn into avodah zarah. It started off with a mistake in a philosophy not to think to go against Hashem, but that mistake led them very soon to avodah zarah. You start thinking there is a separate entity who gets you close to Hashem, but the moment it's a separate entity, then tomorrow, and it actually happened the next morning, tomorrow, the next day, you start thinking, well, maybe this is God Himself, and that's how it goes. That means it started with something very philosophical, which has a source in truth, with a mistake. It's similar like many of the sins that the Yidden did during the time of the desert, that we know that Chassidut explains it was a mistake and a terrible sin, but it didn't start with that sin right away. For instance, just to use an example, the meraglim, the twelve spies. We also have the same question: how is it possible that these twelve spies, who were such great people, the greatest of all the Jews, it says Moshe Rabbeinu chose them, and ten of them stopped believing in the truth of Hashem? They told the Jews that Hashem said go to Eretz Yisrael, we don't want, we say it's not good, with all the things that go along with it. So Chassidus explains it wasn't just that they went against Hashem. They made a little mistake. Moshe Rabbeinu sent them to see what's happening, but not to come up with ideas. And they came back with an idea. But the main mistake they made was that they wanted, it was a from a holy reason, they felt, why should we go to Eretz Yisrael and get involved in all the physical matters? We could stay in the desert and get the man from shamayim, that's the bread we're going to eat, we're going to have water from the well of Miriam, our clothes grows with us, we have the ענני הכבוד, the clouds. Why in the world should we get involved? Let's sit here. And what did they do here? They learned and davened, that's all they did. But it's a mistake! It's a mistake on a very high level. Wasn't a mistake? That's not what Hashem wants. It's a very good idea. But if Hashem would want it, fine, but Hashem said go to Eretz Yisrael, so it's a mistake. So it started with a mistake in philosophy and in a short while turned out in turned the Yidden against Hashem. And this is the source of all the tzaros that we have, all the problems, that because of that, we have חורבן בית המקדש. This took place the the story of the meraglim took place on Tisha B'Av, and Hashem said, \"Now you're crying, the Yidden cried on Tisha B'Av for nothing, I'll show you, you will eventually cry for something in the same day.\" So we cry now on Tisha B'Av, and it's all because of them. So it started with something in a very high philosophical idea, but a mistake, and it rolled very fast into a big aveirah. Even by Korach, if you're learning Kabbalah, what the mistake of Korach, Korach rebelled against Moshe Rabbeinu, could you imagine how terrible it was? In Kabbalah, it explains he had a very great idea. He was in the level of Mashiach's time, and that's why he wanted all kinds of things in Kabbalah, and it just turned away to be a rebellion against Moshe Rabbeinu. The same thing with the egel. It started with something that's not so terrible. It's bad, it's wrong, but when you go wrong in that way, you could turn away, and that's what happened. Their mistake was that they thought they could make a memutza. And it's interesting, it could have turned, had they not worshipped it as an idol, know what would have happened? It would have turned out to be something good. What would have been? Moshe Rabbeinu would have come down from the mountain next morning and showed them, had they not worshipped it, showed them that this memutza, this thing that you think has a power, not a power, but has a concept of being between you and Hashem, bringing you close to Hashem, is nothing on its own. Moshe would have taken it, exactly what he did, ground it up, and showed that it's nothing. What would he have showed them? That when you even when you have a memutza that you think is something in between, it's not can be its own, it can't be a separate entity. That would have enlightened them and would have made them understand much deeper the truth of Hashem. That's actually what Aharon meant. It's interesting, one of the pesukim here, Aharon said, \"Let's make a מזבח,\" after the עגל was created, \"let's make an altar,\" and he says, \"Tomorrow we will have a holiday, we will serve, we will bring a קרבן on this altar, and we will have a חג להשם, a holiday to Hashem.\" What kind of holiday did he have in mind? What did he think? So Rashi said what he meant was he hoped Moshe would come, and then they would use that altar to bring sacrifices to Hashem. Good. That's what he had in mind. It didn't work out, because the שטן, it says, woke them up so early before anything, before Moshe had a chance to come, they already started worshipping the idol. But Aharon said, \"Tomorrow we'll have a holiday,\" because he meant we'll worship Hashem. But what kind of holiday? Why would it be a holiday? He would say, \"We worship Hashem.\" The holiday would have been he would have showed them that what even though you think this as a ממוצע, you'll see it's nothing. And that would have brought them to understand the truth of Hashem even deeper than they understood till then. But the שטן got involved and already schlepped them, and they started worshipping, and it turned into avodah zarah, and it turned into an idol. And that's the worst thing. It turned an idol the denial of the truth of Hashem, and that became the worst sin that the Jews ever did, and as I said in the beginning, became the source of all the sins of all later generations, because it was worshipping an idol. Which, it's interesting, the true, in truth, the whole concept of idol worship also came by a mistake, a similar mistake, worse than that, but a similar mistake. The Rambam explains where did idol worship come from? How did people get the idea of taking an image, a rock, and bowing down to it? It's crazy. I mean, it makes no sense. So the Rambam said, \"No, it makes sense.\" And he starts off like this, he says like this: In the time of Enosh, Enosh, one of the people in Chumash, in the time of Enosh, people started thinking, and that's what they thought. We know we get all kinds of things from the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and the constellations. We get all kinds of השפעות, all kinds of influences and things, as we know, the sun makes things grow, and the light comes. People thought that it's the will of Hashem that we should thank the stars. We know the truth that the stars give us, but it's not their own, they have, they're not, they don't do it with their own power, it's Hashem gives us light. The sun is only a tool in the hands of Hashem. That's all it is, it's a tool. They thought, since it's a tool in the hands of Hashem, Hashem would like that we should thank the stars. And then it started by saying, let's ask the stars to give us. And then it started that let's say someone wanted to ask the sun to give him light, and it was at night. There's no sun out, so who is, who do they ask? So they make an image of the sun, and they started praying to that, and thanking that. And eventually this was forgotten, and it turned out that they started making images of different things, and praying to it, and thanking it, and davenen and worshipping it. But it all started with one mistake, that they thought Hashem would like that this should happen. And that's wrong, and that started, and that's how it went down. By the way, Rashi in Chumash in one of the פסוקים here quotes a פסוק and he mentions the word Enosh, and the Rebbe says that's to hint that the whole idea of this עגל is similar to what happened in the time of Enosh, the same mistake. That they thought Hashem would like this, this is the right way, that we have things in between us and Hashem, the sun and the stars, and that's how they started, and it turned they thought they were doing the right thing, and then it turned into idol worship. The same is with the חטא העגל. It turned into idol worship because they started thinking that there could be a separate entity as a ממוצע because that's what Hashem wants, and they didn't realize that one little difference: that was told by Hashem and this is your own idea, and that's wrong.

Now, I said in the beginning, just to finish off, that we're still stuck with the sin of the עגל up to today. Now, we don't, God forbid, worship an עגל, we don't do any avodah zarah, but I said what it means is that we at that time this brought a concealment of Godliness which gave the ability, possibility of doing sins, and that's what we do. But in truth, every sin that we do is like avodah zarah. Every sin that we do is the denial of the truth of Hashem. Because if we really believed in the truth of Hashem, we wouldn't sin in anything. So avodah zarah in truth is not only when you actually bow down to an idol. If you first of all think that my power counts. A person who goes to business and works, and thinks that my work will bring me the parnasah, that's avodah zarah too. What you have to realize is that Hashem gives you the parnasah, but He wants us to make a kli, to make a vessel. He wants us to do something. He wants the stars to give the star to give the light, the the sun to give the light, but it's all from Him. Us also, He wants us to work, we have to work because He wants, and we have to do everything naturally, but we have to remember it's all from Him. The moment you forget that, that's avodah zarah, that's עבודה זרה בדקות. So that's what we mean that that sin of the עגל, which is avodah zarah, is still continuing until this day. Especially the way it was then, an עגל הזהב, the golden calf, the calf of gold, and that's what the people say that in America what's the avodah zarah is the עגל הזהב, the gold, the avodah zarah of money, of gold, and people worship the gold. That's really what it is. Worship it means thinking this is an entity in itself, when really it's not, and all came from the חטא העגל as it started then, and it never finished. As we're going on, it's getting, no We're we're refining ourselves, we're getting closer to Mashiach, when Mashiach will come we'll get rid of it, but till Mashiach comes, this is still around. But what do we have to do to fight it? Don't do an aveirah, when you do the will of Hashem, you're fighting the concealment of Hashem, and you're fighting what the עגל brought about into this world. And it says even more, not only by doing mitzvot, בכל דרכיך דעהו, when a person uses his physical personal needs, not mitzvot, for the sake of Hashem, then you're fighting the עגל even more. Because when you do a mitzvah, after all you're forced to it so to speak, because you know Hashem said you have to do it. But when a person takes a drink of water, which is not a mitzvah, and he says, \"Well, even my drink of water is not separate than Hashem, and therefore I have to use this only for the sake of Hashem, to make a berachah, have to make an after-berachah, and I have to drink so I shall have the strength to be able to study Torah. I should drink now so I should be able to talk and give over a word of Torah, it shouldn't my throat shouldn't get stuck.\" If you drink it that way, you're showing that there is no separate entity than Hashem. Even this which looks like a separate entity, we don't see Hashem here, even this is part of Hashem, and therefore it has to be utilized for Hashem. So, all the mitzvot that we do and all בכל דרכיך דעהו, anything that we do for the sake of Hashem even when it's in our own things, all this fights the חטא העגל. One more thing. One of the things that was supposed to forgive with the חטא העגל was מחצית השקל for the same reason. חטא העגל was the idea of thinking that there's a separate entity. What's the מחצית השקל? Half a shekel. Half a shekel means that you realize that you're only half, and the other half is Hashem, that you're nothing, you're no real being without Hashem being with you. And the truth is we have to realize that Hashem is the real being, not together with me. I always repeat this. I once was driving, and I stopped behind a car by a red light, and I saw a bumper sticker, and it said, \"God is my co-pilot.\" I turned around, I think my son was sitting next to me, I said, there's a goy, you can see it was a goy, I said a very nice goy, you understand, but I said if it would be a Yid, he wouldn't write that. God is not my co-pilot, God is my pilot. And lo and behold, a few days later I was driving, just hashgacha pratit, and I stopped behind a car, I saw a bumper sticker: \"God is my pilot.\" So, that's that's what it is. So, when we realize that, that's how we fight the חטא העגל. And when we all realize that and behave accordingly, this will get rid of the חטא העגל completely and Mashiach will come, and then it says ואת רוח הטומאה אעביר מן הארץ, Hashem will take away the impurity, will go back like it was before the egel by Matan Torah, before the עץ הדעת and even more, but in such a way that it's going to never come back. See, the other times it went away, it was there at the beginning and then it left again, then by the Matan Torah it went the tumah went away again, and it came back again, but now it's going to go away and it's going to be יבולע המוות לנצח, death will be swallowed in forever, and it'll never come back, and this will happen soon when Mashiach will come. Yes. Depends when. In the beginning we'll still have a little bit, but later not. It'll be only aliyot in kedushah, it says. How could he be 20 when he was created? He looked like a 20-year-old! It couldn't be 20 when he was When he was created, he was a second old. He looked like a 20-year-old. לא יהיה, by עשרת הדברות, the second דיבר. No, but לא יהיה לך אלהים אחרים על פני. No, but that wouldn't be the worst. This is the worst. Hashem said, \"I am your God. Don't have any other idols.\" Then he said a few other mitzvot, Shabbos, but this is the first thing. The first thing is to believe in Hashem and not to believe in anything else. Except for this one. Like by the עץ הדעת, he left one for a test, hoping that this they would pass this test and that will be the end of it. And they didn't. We're exactly, we're suffering all this because of it. Yeah. No, it was because No, it was Part of another shevet, by the חטא העגל. Yeah, but every person is part of the community, but the main point is not the because it's done by you, because the reason you're able to do an aveirah now that Hashem is punishing is because of the egel, so that you have a piece of the egel in you. Oh, we win a little bit. Doesn't mean to, when I say fight, it doesn't mean, I don't mean win and wipe it out completely. We get rid of it a little bit. We get a little bit more, and a little more. When will Mashiach come? When all the people together will fight it as much as they can, then it'll put up a big fight and erase it. But each time we fight it, so I'm saying each time we fight it, we take away a little bit of it. Okay, one second, let me give this side a chance. We got to, all the ladies. No, He told it to Adam Harishon also. He told it to Adam Harishon, too. It's one of the seven mitzvot that was given to Adam Harishon actually. It wasn't that strict, right, when because only when Hashem chose the Jews as a nation, that's when He says, now that He had His nation, He chose them, \"Now you can't go away from Me.\" It's like when someone marries a woman, that's when he tells her, \"Remember, you have to be faithful.\" That's when Hashem married us, and then by doing avodah zarah, it's like a wife who's not faithful. Exactly. It's the worst. No, because it's going against Him. It's like the worst a person could do. Well, obviously. It means you're cutting yourself off from Him. Sure. Yes. One second, let 2,000. Right, this is not a this is not a punishment or reward. That's not a punishment. This is a fact. The fact is it brought concealment to the world, and that's it, and still stays there until this is wiped out. Punishment is one thing. This is not punishment. Right. Why? Because the fact that we're able to do an aveirah now, which Hashem will punish for, is because of the eigel. So each one like has a little bit of the eigel in him. The eigel had an effect, it brought a certain blemish into every person, into the whole world. And this is the tumah that was brought down into the world. Yes? Right. I said that with the מחצית השקל and with the And it's still there, exactly. If not for the Mishkan, if not for all this, who knows what would have been? It'd been 10 times worse. The concealment would be greater. And now that took away a big part of it, but there's still a concealment is still left. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, and that's and you're always on the lookout and you're always, you know, And here also this this brought this tumah, this cover up of the world. No, he I mean, in simple pshat, he thought he told them. He told them 40 days, they they, like it's 8:00 o'clock or 5:00. Like this, right. So he said he thought that they understood it. That's פשוטו של פשט. Now obviously Hashem was in here to make sure that they should be able to make that mistake, so Hashem made it possible for them to make the mistake. Hashem made it into a test. So Hashem wanted that it shouldn't be clear, the test should be there. That's a different sheilah, because then in everything like that you could ask, how does Hashem test us if He knows we're going to fail and He knows the future. That's that's a good question, but nothing to do with with the eigel specifically. That's a question on all tests and everything. Yes? What happened to them afterwards? Where are they? I mean, obviously they were completely lost. Because of it they No, the shevatim, they weren't part of any shevet. How many, it should have been thousands and millions of people that didn't have a place to live because they weren't part of the shevatim. No, they all got lost, it's Huh? But still, the the men were always the the lineage should have continued. The woman, you could say, intermarried with the men, so their children were all from that shevet, but the men... So, yes? So only one, because they were commanded. Brit milah was the exception. Because Hashem commanded him to do it, it's already brit milah is already the beginning of Matan Torah. That's the only one because that the concept of Matan Torah started already a little bit at that time. Wasn't born yet. I mean, he wasn't hatched either, but he wasn't... Huh? Yeah. No, no. See, the chumash in פרשת חוקת, and the eigel is in פרשת כי תשא. No, it's not till many parshiyot later that we learn about the פרה אדומה. No. Right, and they didn't, but they were not told about the פרה אדומה till close to a year later, nine months later. The eigel was done on Shivah Asar b'Tammuz, and they were told about the פרה אדומה on the second day of Nisan, a year, next year. No, it wasn't written down. Yeah, but not the whole chumash was written down before Matan Torah. No. Right, but that was not written in the Torah. It says that one of the other things that were given before Matan Torah yet was told about the פרה אדומה as a future thing, but it's not written in the Torah. In the Torah, it's written in פרשת חוקת, much later. Dinim it says they were dinim, yeah. Yeah, certain chukim, yeah. Sure, that's Why it's it was through the thing that brought up Yosef brought the עגל. Maybe it's the no, why is that? Yosef is connected to the שור of the מרכבה. It says that Yosef is called שור because he's connected to פני שור of the מרכבה. And they took the פני שור of the מרכבה and, because of that, they made an עגל down here. So, I guess that's the connection. Of the four? I don't think it's the... It's not the lowest. The נשר is the... I think it's not the... I guess, I don't know if it's the highest or lowest, but I guess that's the one that he fit most. Yeah. And it says he's right, also. It says פני, the רב תבואות בכח שור. But a lion is also strong. A lion is a חיה, this is a בהמה, this is closer to them. There are all... Sometimes, yeah. Yeah.