Parshat Ki Tisa - Appreciation: Not Just A Character Trait
by Rabbi Lobel

(Exodus; chapter 32 verse 1)"And the people saw that Moses delayed in descending the mountain, and the people gathered around Aaron and said to him, "rise up, makes for us a G-d who will go before us for this Moses, the man who bought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what became of him."

Rashi on the verse explains that the people miscalculated the proper arrival of Moses. Moses said that he would return on the fourtieth day. Moses meant forty complete days, and the day he left was not included in that calculation because he left in the morning; in the preceding night he was still with Israel rendering the day incomplete.

Moses left on the seventh of Sivan and the fortieth day was the seventeenth day of Tamuz. On the sixteen of Tamuz, Satan came and confused the world by creating an image of darkness and gloom. The Jewish nation took this as an implication that Moses died. This, in turn, caused the sin of the Golden Calf.

The Daas Zekainim on this verse explains that the Jewish nation did not have intention to serve idolatry, using the Golden Calf as an alternative to G-d. Rather, the Calf was an alternative to Moses; it was to serve as the knew intermediary between the Jewish nation and G-d.

The Dass Zekainim quotes a verse from Psalms (Chapter 106 Verse 20) and explains it's meaning. "They exchanged their glory for the likeness of an ox who eats grass." This is in reference to the Jewish nation exchanging Moses, their glory, the leader who did numerous miracles and uncalculating acts of devotion, for an ox.

It seems that Israel 's rebellion was due to the fact that they were easily convinced by Satan that Moses was dead because he was not appreciated, he was easily exchanged. This lack of appreciation caused the Jewish nation to ultimately sin with the Golden Calf.

Appreciation is not just an honorable character trait to have, it is also a mindset where if we appreciate what we have it is not easily exchanged. The lack of full appreciation for Moses was the downfall of the Jewish nation.