Moses pleads with God: "Please show me Your glory." (Exodus 33:18) What does he mean by "Your glory"? Is it that he is sure God exists, but needs to know that He really is glorious? "Your glory" indicates something much

"Show me Your essence" is what Moses is asking.

deeper.


"Show me Your essence" is what Moses is asking. How does God respond? "You cannot see Me, but I will let you see My effect on nature."


It has been said that this is like someone who sees steps in the snow. By following the steps and discovering their characteristics, you can see something of the walker who has been there, but the walker him- or herself you will never see.


So, when the challenge comes - "Show me that there is a God" - our answer has to be: "Look and I will show You where God has been, what He has done, the way He has changed the world because of His presence."


When someone says, "What has God ever done for me?" you can possibly follow Rashi by indicating the spiritual rewards that God has bestowed on the individuals who found grace in His sight, but it may be better to point to the gifts God has given to humanity as a whole. Some are gifts that show themselves in every generation: some are manifest at particular times.


When the Torah says at the beginning of Genesis (3:8) that Adam and Eve perceived the voice of the Lord "walking in the garden l'ru'ach hayom" - "in the cool of the day" - it is possible to understand "l'ru'ach hayom" as "in the spirit of the day"; i.e., according to the nature of the moment.


God and Gold
The story of the Golden Calf is full of lessons for later generations. Let us look into the comment of Reb Yitzchak of Slonim.


Bothered by the question of where the Israelites got the gold to make the calf, the commentators all remind us that the people had left Egypt laden with gold and jewelery from the Egyptians, modest compensation for their generations of enslavement in Egypt. Reb Yitzchak found it all very fascinating and very strange.


"The generation of the desert," he remarked, "was prepared to give up its silver and gold to make a god. How different is our generation. In our age, people are anxious to give up God in order to make silver and gold."


Aaron is a Puzzle
The hardest thing to understand in the Golden Calf narrative is the involvement of Aaron. He was known as a fine human being, devoted to his brother Moses, dedicated too to the service of God. Yet, he was prepared to give it all away to placate the people who clamoured for a deity they could see, feel and touch. Never mind that it would be an idol and that Aaron would be false to all that he believed in.


Jewish commentary does its very best to extricate Aaron from trouble. These are some of its suggestions.


Worried that Moses was away for too long, he tried to play for time in the hope that his brother would be back and handle the situation before any real harm was done. Believing that the women would refuse to give up their jewelery, he felt the Golden Calf would never happen. When the jewelery did come good, he said he would build

Jewish commentary does its very best to extricate Aaron from trouble.

the altar himself, thinking that this would be a good delaying tactic. In the end, when nothing seemed to have worked, he put off the celebrations for a further day, still living in hope that Moses would return any minute.


Had he been Moses and not himself, Aaron would have thundered, "No! No! No golden calf! No idolatry! No sin!" But Aaron was a man of peace - apparently peace at any price.


Peace is a supreme ideal, but sometimes the price can be too high. We should never forget Chamberlain and the shame he brought back from Munich.