Reb Ginsbourg: Ki Sisa – What was the Sin of the Golden Calf?

 if all this was the work of the non-Jewish erev rav, 

why were Bnei Israel so severely punished?

Rav Yitzchak Karo prefaces his commentary on the events of the golden calf, with two questions: ‘First: how could Bnei Israel make the calf, and forget all that Hashem had done for them - the ten plagues, the splitting of the Sea, the manna and the well of water, and how could they have become such ingrates - all this so soon after receiving the Torah, and they had not yet left Har Sinai, where they had received the Torah.

‘Second: What did they mean in asking: ‘Make for us gods’? If their intention was for idolatry, why did they say:’For this man Moshe..we do not know what became of him’?, as clearly they did not think Moshe was a god.

‘If their intention was for a leader in place of Moshe, why do we read that: ‘they have made themselves a molten calf, prostrated themselves to it and sacrificed to it, and they said:’This is your god, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt’?

Before examining the insights of our sage commentators to these perplexing questions, let us bring Rav Avigdor Nebenzahl’s cautionary words, in defence of Bnei Israel.

Expounds the Rav: ‘How can there be any criticism whatsoever against Bnei Israel? Were they not ‘lost’, thinking that their distinguished leader, Moshe Rabbeinu, who was the connection, as it were, between them and Hashem, had disappeared, and was no more; and, in one instant, millions of people, men, women and children, were left in the midst of the awesome desert, not knowing what and how to proceed.

‘How easy it is to understand their great concern in the face of the unknown; conceivably the manna, which fell miraculously in the merit of Moshe, might not, in his absence, fall in the coming morning; perhaps, too, the miraculous well of water might also not give of its waters, and the wondrous clouds of glory might also cease to protect then.

‘If the attribute of judgement applied even to Moshe, ‘the man of G-d’, who knows what would be the fate of the people?

‘How, then, can one come with complaints against these terrified people, who now sought to find a means that the shechina should continue to dwell upon them, without delay?.’

To savor the answers of these sages, and of other parshanim, let us read the relevant psukim:(32:1-10)’The people saw that Moshe had delayed in descending from the mountain ( Rashi: They erred in their calculations, Moshe had told them that he would return after 40 days, meaning on the 41st day, and they thought that he said he would return on the 40th day ), and the people gathered around Aaron, and said to him:’make for us gods that will go before us, for this man, Moshe, who brought us up from the land of Egypt - we do not know what became of him.’

The Torah then relates the miraculous emergence of the golden calf, and (32:4)’They said:’This is your god, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt. Aaron saw and built an altar before him.. they offered up offerings ..’, and, as the Torah relates, the offenders were punished, and the whole of the people, but for the intervention of Moshe, faced annihilation from Above.

Rav Nebenzahl explains why, despite the factors that brought the people to this deed, thousands were in fact punished for their part in the sin of the golden calf.

Wonders the Rav: ’Here we ask: Why? Were they not אנוסים: compelled by the circumstances to act as they did, rather than being deemed מזידים: intentional transgressors?

‘Answer: there was an element of blame because, before he ascended, Moshe had said to Bnei Israel (24:14)’Wait for us here until we return to you, and here, Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a case, let him go to them.’

‘Bnei Israel, instead of consulting them, killed Hur - for opposing their proposed actions - and next went to Aaron, not to ask him what to do, but to tell him what to do; and Aaron, the great lover of the people, bearing in mind the fate of Hur, felt compelled to do their bidding, fearing that were they to kill him also, the people would have been doomed to Divine extinction.

‘This was the reason for their punishment.’

The Rav adds:’ if all of the people - after all they had seen - truly believed that the golden calf which had just been created, was indeed ‘Your god..which brought you up from the land of Egypt’, they should have been adjudged as complete ‘fools’, and exempt from all that the Torah commands, and not punished!

‘The answer, as the Kuzari - amongst other early parshanim - expounds, is that they, having been misled by the Satan into thinking that Moshe was indeed dead, and he being the one on whom the shechina resided, and only by his guidance were they able to traverse thr desert, now sought in his place, another ‘guide’ on which the shechina would dwell, so that they could remain connected to the Creator.

‘In truth, this thought was not completely unfounded, as immediately after these events - according to Midrash Tanchuma - the command to build the Mishkan was given, where the shechina would dwell; and, in it, were the two cherubs, whose being enabled the residing of the shechina in Israel.

‘Their error, however, was only in this, that they created this entity without being commanded to do so by Hashem, and, in so doing, transgressed the prohibition (20:20)’gods of silver and gods of gold you shall not make for you’; they certainly did not believe that the molten calf had any independent power, and assuredly there was no intention of idolatry.’

The Malbim also prefaces his commentary on our events, by elucidating:’The people made it clear, that they were not seeking a god to worship, as, had this been their intention, they would not have said:’for this man Moshe..’.

‘Rather, they sought a leader who would lead them as Moshe had, on whom Hashem would rest his shechina, as he had on the physical Moshe.

‘They made this clear by their words ‘for this man Moshe’, meaning that, though it was clear to them that the ‘spiritual’ godly Moshe still existed, and would return to them, as he had promised to do, Moshe ‘the man’, the physical Moshe, who ‘brought us up from the land of Egypt’, in his physical form, and spoke to us face-to-face with them, and judged them and led them, ‘we do not know what became of him’, as it was not possible that a physical entity - in their minds - could continue to exist such a long period, without food, and they therefore now needed a new leader in physical form.’

Rav Yaakov Kaminetsky, also, first notes the perilous position in which Bnei Israel found themselves, in the absence of their leader, Moshe, and asks:’Since our Sages ( Eruvin 41:) teach that fears for one’s sustenance can cause a person to lose his mind and the ‘mind of his Creator’, how much more so in the desperate situation of the people, at that time.

‘Why, then, should we wonder that they did not stand up to the נסיון: the testing position in which they found themselves, knowing that the manna fell till then only in the merit of Moshe, and when the Satan ‘showed’ them that Moshe was dead, who knows if there would be manna the next day, and there was no other scrap of food to be found, how would a parent answer his offspring who asked for a piece of bread?

‘Therefore, they felt compelled to create an immediate substitute in the place of Moshe - so much so that, when Hur counselled them to wait another day, they killed him, and, similarly, when Aaron told them to remove their wives’ jewelry - thinking that this would take at least a day - they did so immediately.

‘From this, we can deduce that the foundation of the golden calf and its creation, was a lack of בטחון: of trust, thus explaining a seemingly difficult rebuke from the prophet Yechezkiel ( 20:13-14 ):’The house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness., My sabbaths they desecrated; then I said to pour out My wrath upon them..to make an end of them’, but did not do so so My Name ‘should not be desecrated before the eyes of the nations before whose eyes I had brought them out.’

‘But, we do not find desecration of the Sabbath except in regard to the manna, nor that Hashem sought to annihilate them except in the instance of the golden calf and the later instance of the meraglim - in neither of which do we find desecration of the Sabbath.

‘The answer is that in all of these cases, we find a common thread of a lack of בטחון: of trust, in Hashem’s hashgacha pratit over Bnei Israel - a defect which we first saw in the behaviour of many of them on that testing first Shabbat of the manna.

‘It was for this reason that on the first Shabbat at Mara, Hashem taught them a lesson, in trust, by the bitter tree, at Hashem’s command, turning the bitter water, sweet.

‘To the same end, Moshe Rabbeinu instructed them that the manna was to be ‘eaten that day’, this being the essential message of the Shabbat, to show our trust in Hashem’s ‘conduct’.

‘This, too, was the underlying sin of the golden calf - the lack of trust in Hashem.’

Rav Karo, whose queries we brought at the outset, answers:’All of these queries can be answered in one - and that is, that in the episode of the golden calf, there were two groups, one of which sought a leader in place of the absent Moshe, and the second, who were idolators, sought gods.

‘The ערב רב: the mixed multitude, who, like their forebears, were idolators, sought an idol, but Bnei Israel sought a replacement leader, for the absent Moshe.

‘This is why the Torah relates: (32:1) 'and העם gathered around Aaron’, as, when Bnei Israel are bad, they too are referred to as an עם, and both groups demanded:’make for us gods that will go before us, for this man Moshe who brought us up front the land of Egypt - we do not know what became of him’.

‘This pasuk brings the demands of each of the two groups: the erev rav said:’make for us gods that will go before us’, whilst Bnei Israel said:’for this man Moshe who brought us up from the land of Egypt - we do not know what became of him’.

‘This is why, in the first half, they said אלוה: gods, whilst in the second part, they said האיש: the man, as their request was not for an idol, but for a man in place of Moshe.

‘This is also why, when the calf emerged, the erev rav said to Bnei Israel:’This is your god, O Israel’, meaning: not as you thought a leader in the place of Moshe, but ‘this is your god..which brought you up from the land of Egypt’ - not who brought ‘us’ out of Egypt, because it was Moshe who, without consulting Hashem, permitted the erev rav to leave, with Bnei Israel.’

The Kli Yakar adds:’Most of the parshanim, in their commentaries about this wondrous episode, sought ways to remove blame from the seed of Avraham, in respect of this shameful deed, and, agree that the major share of the blame does indeed fall on the erev rav, who were the instigators, and who caused Bnei Israel to also stray.

‘In honor of the entire house of Israel, I come to summarize the understanding of these parshanim, augmented with thoughts which have occurred to me, so as to cleanse Bnei Israel.

‘The opening phrase: ‘The people saw’ refers to the erev rav, as’ - unlike Rav Karo’s view, - ‘wherever העם: the people, appears, it speaks of the lesser people, as we find in a number of instances in the Torah; ‘that Moshe had delayed’: as they knew that their exodus from Egypt was not by Hashem’s command, but by Moshe’s decision, they feared that, should Moshe not return, Hashem would command that they be sent away from the people, lest they lead them to sin, in the idolatry of Egypt, and that the reason He had not commanded their removal till now, was only out of respect for Moshe.

‘They therefore contrived to seek a leader in place of Moshe, because ‘this man Moshe, we do not know what he had’: we don’t know from where his powers derived, as he must have the image of some picture or star by the power of which he led and performed miracles, ‘because we don’t know what he had’.

‘You, Aaron, his brother assuredly know what that image was, and we therefore want you to make for us an image thst will be an intermediary between us and the stars, as Satan had deceived them, showing them the image of the bed of Moshe between heaven and earth, as an intermediary between the two - and they therefore wanted another intermediary, and asked for ‘gods’, in the plural, as they did not know which image to choose.’

The Torah then relates, that, to delay them, Aaron instructed them to remove the personal jewelry from their wives, expecting that the wives might resist, but the men deceived him, bringing their own jewelry and saying it was from their wives; and, as Aaron later related to Moshe, whilst he thought that the gold which was cast into the fire would require work to shape it, which would take a day or two - in which time he was certain that Moshe would return - the erev rav, by their sorcery, caused the molten gold to emerge in the shape of the calf.

‘And they said:’This is your god, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt’, which is proof that this was said by the erev rav, as a Jew would not say to a fellow Jew ‘your god’, as was he, too, not also his G-d?

‘When Aaron saw that the contrivance of the Satan had succeeded, he sought to delay them, by building an altar, as without it there could not be offerings, and proclaimed:’A festival for Hashem tomorrow! - not for the calf, but ‘for Hashem’ - but the erev rav did not wait, but immediately made their offerings.

‘And then - as we read - Moshe returned.’

Here we are compelled to ask: if all this was the work of the erev rav, why were Bnei Israel so severely punished?

The Beit Halevi provides an answer:’The Midrash Tanchuma relates, that when Bnei Israel at matan Torah proclaimed: ‘All that Hashem says we shall do and we shall observe’, two angels were sent to each of them, with a crown and a weapon for each.

‘Let us clarify: should each man not have proclaimed in the singular: ‘I will do and I will observe’, and not in the plural ‘we shall..’?

‘They so, because each man made two commitments: first, that he would do so, and second: that he would also ensure that his fellow Jews did likewise.

‘We can now understand their transgression: true, the declaration’This is your god, O Israel..’ was indeed made by the erev rav, not one of Bnei Israel accepted this heresy on himself, but they transgressed their committment to also be concerned for their fellow Jew, by not objecting, and killing, those who said so.

‘The proof of this, is that they were now commanded to return the weapon they had received, as it was to symbolize the duty towards their fellow Jews - to compel them to ‘do and to obey’ - and, as they failed to do so, they did not merit this heavenly symbol.’

E.M. Saidel – Kiddush and the World Cup – Ki Tisa

וְעָשִׂיתָ כִּיּוֹר נְחֹשֶׁת וְכַנּוֹ נְחֹשֶׁת לְרָחְצָה וְנָתַתָּ אֹתוֹ בֵּין אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד וּבֵין הַמִּזְבֵּחַ וְנָתַתָּ שָׁמָּה מָיִם (שמות ל, יח).

 

Immediately following the paragraph regarding מַחֲצִית הַשֶּׁקֶל, the Torah proceeds to describe the כִּיּוֹר.

 

As we all know, the כִּיּוֹר was the "apparatus" in the Mishkan and following that, in the Beit HaMikdash, which the Kohanim used to wash their hands and feet before beginning their עֲבוֹדָה.

 

What exactly is a כִּיּוֹר? Rashi (quoting the Gemara, Yoma 37a) describes it as a דּוּד, some kind of container, made from copper, that holds water (in modern Hebrew the word דּוּד refers to the hot water boiler in your home). Attached to this דּוּד are דַּדִּים, some type of faucets or taps that allow you to empty the water from the דּוּד. Until Bayit Sheini there were only two faucets in the כִּיּוֹר, until Ben Katin, the Kohen Gadol, instituted 12 faucets (Yoma, ibid.)

 

Connected to this כִּיּוֹר was its כַנּוֹ, which Rashi describes as some kind of base attached to the כִּיּוֹר. There are differences of opinion as to the function of the כַּן. According to Tosfot (Zevachim 22a), the base of the כִּיּוֹר was also some type of container (תֵּבָה פְּרוּצָה) to hold water – the water from the כִּיּוֹר would flow out through the taps and fall into this base so the Kohanim could wash both their hands and feet. 

The Gemara there says that unlike the כִּיּוֹר, which was considered a כְּלִי שָׁרֵת, that sanctifies its contents, the כַּן was not. Another opinion (Malbim, Radak on מלכים א ז, כז) says that the purpose of the כַּן was to elevate the כִּיּוֹר to a sufficient height that would facilitate washing the hands and feet. In the first Beit HaMikdash, Shlomo created what sefer Melachim (ibid.) describes as מְּכֹנוֹת, some kind of base on wheels, a trolley, on which to place the כִּיּוֹר.

 

There are no specifications in the Torah or in Chazal regarding the required dimensions and shape of the כִּיּוֹר and its capacity. According to sefer Mikdash David (קדשים סימן ב) these details are not relevant – any shape or form the artisan made the כִּיּוֹר in was acceptable. The importance of the כִּיּוֹר was not in its appearance, but its functionality.

 

In the Mishkan, the source of the copper to make the כִּיּוֹר and its base was from brass mirrors, מַרְאֹת הַצֹּבְאֹת, that the women donated to the Mishkan (שמות לח, ח).

 

The location of the כִּיּוֹר was in the space between the outer Mizbeach and the Heichal (שמות ל, יח), on the southern end (משנה מידות ג, ו).

 

There is a machloket in the Gemara (Sota 15b) regarding the source of the water for the כִּיּוֹר, whether it has to be מֵי מַעְיָן, or another source. The halacha is that all types of clean water may be used, but de facto, in the Mikdash they were makpid to use davka מֵי מַעְיָן (רמב"ם, הל' ביאת מקדש ה, יב), using an aqueduct to transport water from עֵין עֵיטָם, near Solomon's Pools.

 

Since the כִּיּוֹר is considered a כְּלִי שָׁרֵת and any water placed in it becomes קֹדֶשׁ, it also falls under the same laws of any of the קֳדְשִׁים that they are אָסוּר בְּלִינָה, in other words the water placed in the כִּיּוֹר cannot be used the following day (משנה יומא לז, א). Shlomo HaMelech installed a contraption to circumvent this issue. According to one opinion (רמב"ם, הל' ביאת מקדש, ה, טו) the יָם שְׁלֹמֹה, which was considered a mikveh, served as a reservoir to daily refill the ten כִּיּוֹרִים on trolleys, that Shlomo placed in the 1st Beit HaMikdash. 

According to another opinion (Rashi, Yoma 37a), in Bayit Sheini, the Kohen Gadol, Ben Katin (see above) devised a pulley contraption that would lower the כִּיּוֹר during the night into a well so that its water would be an integral part of the מַעְיָן and would therefore not be נִפְסַל בְּלִינָה. Early each morning, they would raise the כִּיּוֹר back up for its daily use.

 

How did the Kohanim wash their hands and feet, קִדּוּשׁ יָדַיִם וְרַגְלַיִם, using the כִּיּוֹר? This is a machloket in the Gemara (Zevachim 19b). Washing had to be performed standing up because it was considered עֲבוֹדָה and all עֲבוֹדָה is done standing. According to the Chachamim they would wash first the right hand and right foot and then switch to washing the left hand and left foot (including underneath the foot, which required lifting the foot up). 

R' Yossi the son of R' Yehuda says they washed the left hand/foot and the right hand/foot simultaneously. The Chachamim negate R' Yossi's opinion asking "How can the Kohanim stand when both feet are raised simultaneously?" The halacha is according to the Chachamim (רמב"ם, הלכות ביאת מקדש, ה).

 

The hands had to be washed up to the wrist and the feet up to the knee (מנחת חינוך מצווה ק"ו אות ב'). The action of washing combined scrubbing and rinsing, to clean off the dirt (תוספתא, מנחות א, ז).

 

Washing was done with water extracted from the כִּיּוֹר and not by inserting your hands into the כִּיּוֹר. According to some opinions use was made of a נָטְלָה, filling up water from the כִּיּוֹר in a cup and then pouring it over the hands and feet (תרגום יונתן, שמות ל,יט).

 

Above is a brief description of the technicalities and the modus operandi of the כִּיּוֹר.

 

Of all the כֵּלִים in the Mikdash, the כִּיּוֹר is something of a conundrum. Is it considered one of the main כֵּלִים in the Mikdash, like the Menorah, Shulchan etc., or not? It is not mentioned in parshiyot Truma/Tetzaveh together with the other כֵּלִים. Later, in sefer Bamidbar (פרק ז) describing transportation of all the parts of the Mishkan by the Levi'im, no mention at all is made of the כִּיּוֹר, not how it was wrapped (if at all) and by whom it was carried.

 

Another question is why the raw materials used to make the כִּיּוֹר in the Mishkan were from brass "vanity" mirrors used by women to beautify themselves? Such an activity is normally associated with the יֵצֶר הָרַע and not exactly the kind of thing you would want in the Mishkan. In fact, that was Moshe Rabbeinu's first reaction when HKB"H told him to use them.

 

In order to answer these questions and understand the inner essence of the כִּיּוֹר, we need to return to sefer Breishit, to the Creation.

 

The Midrash Tanchuma (פקודי ב, ב) says "R' Shimon Bar Yochai says that the components of the Mishkan down here in this world are paralleled by similar components in Heaven and correlate with the six days of Creation. Some examples. On the first day HKB"H created Heaven and earth. There are seven levels in Heaven (שִׁבְעָה רְקִיעִים) and these are paralleled by the seven יְרִיעוֹת covering the Heichal in the Mishkan ... On the third day HKB"H concentrated all the waters on earth into one place (seas and oceans) and these are paralleled in the Mishkan by the כִּיּוֹר, etc."

 

We see from this that the water in the כִּיּוֹר is connected to the water from בְּרִיאַת הָעוֹלָם and specifically to the lower waters. On the 2^nd day HKB"H separated the lower and the upper waters, as a result of which the lower waters complained that they did not want to be "disconnected" from Heaven. HKB"H placated them saying that they would be reconnected to the upper waters when the Mishkan and the Beit HaMikdash would be built, the salt (sea) water via the salt used to salt the Korbanot and the fresh (river/lake) water in the Korban נִסּוּךְ הַמַּיִם on Sukkot. According to the Midrash above … also through the water of the כִּיּוֹר.

 

The way the water cycle works here on earth is that the salt water from the seas/oceans evaporates (is reverse-distilled) into the air, forming clouds. The wind then blows these clouds over the landmass where they release water in the form of rain which fills the lakes and rivers, which then flow back into the sea. All water down here on earth is therefore connected via one cyclic process.

 

In the passuk before the creation of man, it describes how an אֵד, a vapor/cloud rose up from the ground and irrigated the entire surface of the earth. The next passuk (Breishit 2, 7) describes how HKB"H created man, by taking dust from the earth. Clearly this was not dry dust, but dust moistened by water, as per the previous passuk (Meir Panim). Therefore, man was created from dust of the earth mixed with water. In fact, modern science has been able to determine that the male body is made up of 60% water. Females davka have less water in their body mass – only 55%.

 

Water in the Torah has a slightly "schizophrenic" personality.

 

On the one hand water is synonymous with Torah. The Midrash (שיר השירים רבה א, יט) says that just like water covers the earth from one end to the other, so too does Torah. Just like water exists forever, so too does the Torah. Just like water purifies the body, so too does Torah. Just like water falls drop by drop (rain) and becomes a coursing river, so too is Torah acquired "drop by drop", two halachot each day, until they become a bubbling torrent, etc.

 

On the other hand, water is considered to be the element in nature that is connected with תַּאֲווֹת. R' Chaim Vital (שערי הקדושה) says that all the negative מִדּוֹת originate from four elements. The negative mida of the pursuit of pleasure and the physical תַּאֲווֹת originate from the element of water. Think about it – where do most of the world build hotels? Nearby a body of water.

 

So, on the one hand water is connected with the Torah and on the other hand it is a tool of the יֵצֶר הָרַע, used to trip us up.

 

This is reflected in the word מַיִם itself. You have the two letters "mem", the two opposing types of water. What is the pivotal point that decides which type of water you will follow? The letter "yud", the עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְּרוֹת. When they are present, the scales are tipped in favor of the spiritual water of the Torah. In their absence we fall into the abyss of the waters of תַּאֲוָה.

 

The pivotal point is the "yud", the יָדַיִם, the hands.

 

If we are מְקַדֵּשׁ the hands, if we do קִדּוּשׁ יָדַיִם וְרַגְלַיִם, those hands become fit for performing avodah in the Beit HaMikdash, the highest level of spirituality a human can achieve in this world – the Kohen Gadol on Yom Kippur in the Kodesh HaKodashim, who is likened to an angel. Conversely, chas veshalom, if we do not sanctify our hands, they can lead us to the most terrible sins רַחֲמָנָא לִצְּלַן – all those on the left tablet of the עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְּרוֹת - which are all directly connected to, or are תּוֹלָדוֹת, of the element of water, like קִנְאָה and חֶמְדַּת הַמָּמוֹן.

 

When HKB"H told Moshe to use the מַרְאֹת הַצֹּבְאֹת donated by the women to the Mishkan, he was affronted. How can a tool of the יֵצֶר הָרַע be a part of the Mishkan? The answer is twofold.

 

Firstly - and this is an enormous chidush – even the יֵצֶר הָרַע has a place in the Beit HaMikdash! When HKB"H finished the job of creating the world, at the end of the 6^th day, He reviewed everything He had created and granted it His seal of approval – טוֹב מְאֹד (note, that unlike schools and universities which give students an "excellent" grade, HKB"H's highest grade is טוֹב מְאֹד). Included in that was the יֵצֶר הָרַע. The יֵצֶר הָרַע is a necessary part of Creation, it has a role to play and is therefore an inextricable component in the Mikdash. A major section of sefer Meir Panim describes how the Lechem HaPanim makes use of the beneficial aspects of the יֵצֶר הָרַע to do tikkun for the עֵץ הַדַּעַת.

 

Secondly, these were not simple "vanity" mirrors, used for the purpose of תַּאֲוָה. They are called מַרְאֹת הַצֹּבְאֹת because they played a vital role in the creation of Am Yisrael. If not for the נָשִׁים צִדְקָנִיּוֹת in Egypt, who after a long day of back breaking slave labor, used those very same mirrors to make themselves beautiful to entice their equally exhausted husbands - תַּחַת הַתַּפּוּחַ עוֹרַרְתִּיךָ for one singular purpose – in order that Am Yisrael would פָּרוּ וַיִּשְׁרְצוּ וַיִּרְבּוּ וַיַּעַצְמוּ בִּמְאֹד מְאֹד and end up becoming the multitudes that formed צִבְאוֹת ה'. Davka it is the females who have less water (55%) in their body mass, they are less drawn to the sins of water than men.

 

What lies at the heart of the machloket between the Chachamim and R' Yossi regarding how you do קִדּוּשׁ יָדַיִם וְרַגְלַיִם?

 

According to R' Yossi, the reason that the כִּיּוֹר is not considered on a par with the other כֵּלִים in the Mishkan is because the כִּיּוֹר is not a כְּלִי that you do avodah with. The כִּיּוֹר is a הֶכְשֵׁר עֲבוֹדָה, it is a facilitator that prepares the Kohen to do avodah. That is why R' Yossi holds of the opinion that you should wash both hands and feet simultaneously. You cannot possibly stand up and do such an action, but that is not compulsory, because R' Yossi does not consider the כִּיּוֹר and קִדּוּשׁ יָדַיִם וְרַגְלַיִם as avodah and therefore does not require standing.

 

The Chachamim do consider קִדּוּשׁ יָדַיִם וְרַגְלַיִם as avodah and the halacha is like them. However, this does not alter the fact that the Torah does not include the כִּיּוֹר with the other כֵּלִים in Truma and Tetzaveh. Why? The כִּיּוֹר may be avodah, but it is not the same level as the avodah of the other כֵּלִים. The avodah of the other כֵּלִים each have a solitary purpose – the Menorah to disseminate the תּוֹרָה שֶׁבְּעַל פֶּה throughout the world, the Shulchan to disseminate prosperity throughout the world, etc. 

The כִּיּוֹר on the other hand does not have one solitary purpose, it has a multiple purpose – to facilitate the avodah of all the other כֵּלִים. It is the starting point of all the other avodot! No hands, no Mizbeach. No hands, no Menorah. No hands, no Ketoret … no hands (look ma', no hands!) – back home to ma'. From that perspective the כִּיּוֹר is not inferior to the other כֵּלִים, it is the most elevated, which is why it is mentioned last – אַחֲרוֹן אַחֲרוֹן חָבִיב.

 

The כִּיּוֹר has a vital function directly connected to the first two days of Creation. On the first day HKB"H created light. On the second day HKB"H separated the two waters and separated Heaven and earth. The third day - the כִּיּוֹר - is the link that connects Heaven and earth, the lower waters with the upper waters. 

It is the starting point that connects the מִקְדָּשׁ שֶׁל מַעֲלָה with the מִקְדָּשׁ שֶׁל מַטָּה, as David HaMelech said (Tehilim 123, 3) כְּעִיר שֶׁחֻבְּרָה לָּהּ יַחְדָּו. This is where it all begins, with the כִּיּוֹר. After that and only after that does the earthly Menorah connect with the Heavenly Menorah, the earthly Shulchan with the Heavenly Shulchan etc.

 

The location of the כִּיּוֹר, between the Mizbeach, used to atone for sins resulting from the element of water and the spirituality of the Heichal, reflect this theme.

 

When Am Yisrael sinned with the egel, they chose the "wrong water". The passuk (Shmot 32, 6) says וַיָּקֻמוּ לְצַחֵק. What does that mean? Rashi says two things - גִּלּוּי עֲרָיוֹת and שְׁפִיכוּת דָּמִים – sins of the element of water and … sins of the hands.

 

They took the two integral luchot and broke them apart into two halves. To atone for this HKB"H commanded them to bring מַחֲצִית הַשֶּׁקֶל weighing ten "geira". The passuk (Shmot 30, 13) says עֶשְׂרִים גֵּרָה הַשֶּׁקֶל. Why ten geira? Because Am Yisrael sinned by not abiding by עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְּרוֹת so they atone for that by bringing a coin weighing ten geira. The gematria of עֶשְׂרִים גֵּרָה is 828. Half of that is 414 which is the gematria of מְקוֹר חַיִּים. 

When HKB"H wanted to create man, He said (Breishit 1, 26) וַיֹּאמֶר אֱ-לֹקִים נַעֲשֶׂה אָדָם בְּצַלְמֵנוּ כִּדְמוּתֵנוּ וְיִרְדּוּ בִדְגַת הַיָּם וּבְעוֹף הַשָּׁמַיִם וּבַבְּהֵמָה וּבְכָל הָאָרֶץ, that man should have dominion over all the other creatures – including the יֵצֶר הָרַע. 

At the sin of the egel, Am Yisrael allowed their יֵצֶר הָרַע to have dominion over them, so to atone for that they have to bring 414, in gematria וּבַבְּהֵמָה וּבְכָל הָאָרֶץ as a reminder of who should have control over who. They brought ten geira – the letter "yud", the same letter yud that connects the two waters and is the pivotal point between them in the word מַיִם.

 

Immediately following that we have the paragraph of the כִּיּוֹר because it is a continuation of the same thing.

 

In Bamidbar it does not say specifically who carried the כִּיּוֹר. The reason is the same as above, because it was not carried by one specific family of one specific tribe. It was carried by the entire Am Yisrael, in their hearts and … in their hands. An eternal reminder that the starting point of the Mishkan is first to do קִדּוּשׁ יָדַיִם וְרַגְלַיִם.

 

The gematria of כִּיּוֹר is גְּבִיעַ הָעוֹלָם. No, this has nothing to do with the FIFA World Cup. It is a different kind of גְּבִיעַ altogether, the גְּבִיעַ of the world. The word גְּבִיעַ is the foundation of Am Yisrael – ג' the 3 Avot, יב' – the Twelve Tribes and ע' the seventy souls who went down to Egypt with Yaakov that seeded Am Yisrael. Just like Am Yisrael is the גְּבִיעַ הָעוֹלָם, the foundation of the world, so too is the כִּיּוֹר, the link between Heaven and earth.

 

Through our sins, we no longer have the Beit HaMikdash and the כִּיּוֹר. However, the heart of the כִּיּוֹר still pulsates within us and is ever present in our lives. Every time we perform an act of קְדֻשָּׁה, like waking up, like eating bread, like davening in shul, like the Kohanim blessing Am Yisrael, etc. – we still first do קִדּוּשׁ יָדַיִם, or by its synonym נְטִילַת יָדַיִם. Many of the halachot of נְטִילַת יָדַיִם are in fact derived from the כִּיּוֹר, for example the opinion that the Kohanim used a נָטְלָה (Zevachim 22a).

 

Doing נְטִילַת יָדַיִם is not simply a sanitary issue (although the by-product of it is improved sanitation - which is why less Jews died during the Bubonic plague than non-Jews). It is predominantly a spiritual issue, to remove spiritual impurity. The inner, spiritual meaning of נְטִילַת יָדַיִם is explored in the shiur on Eikev (2022).

 

The essence of נְטִילַת יָדַיִם and the כִּיּוֹר are tikkun for Adam Harishon who was created by HKB"H taking a קוֹמֶץ of the earth mixed with water (Meir Panim) and like Am Yisrael with the egel, Adam allowed his יֵצֶר הָרַע to have control over him. The gematria of כִּיּוֹר is קוֹמֶץ.

 

It is also not coincidental that we read this parsha in proximity to Purim, because the theme repeats – Am Yisrael allowing their יֵצֶר הָרַע to have control over them when they participated in Achashverosh's feast and sinned with water related sins. The gematria of כִּיּוֹר is כְּטוֹב לֵב הַמֶּלֶךְ בַּיָּיִן.

It is our fervent prayer to be victorious in the "world cup", the restoration of the original גְּבִיעַ הָעוֹלָם, Am Yisrael. That HKB"H should take our "halves", reunite us and make us whole again so that we may merit the Geulah and the return of the Shechina (the gematria of כִּיּוֹר is מִלִּפְנֵי ה'), בבי"א.