Independence day[1]
וירא העם כי-בשש משה לרדת מן-ההר ויקהל העם על-אהרן ויאמרו אליו קום עשה-לנו אלהים אשר ילכו לפנינו כי-זה משה האיש אשר העלנו מארץ מצרים לא ידענו מה-היה לו
The people saw that Moshe tarried from descending the mountain, and the nation congregated upon Aharon, and they said to him: “Get up and make for us gods that will go before us, for this man Moshe, who took us out of Egypt, we don’t know what happened to him”[2]
The sin of the Golden Calf is considered one of the worst mistakes of the Jewish people in our history. Forty days after the National Revelation at Mount Sinai, where every Jew heard G-d Himself speak, they resorted to making and worshipping an idol. How could this have happened? What was the cause root of their mistake? Yes, they thought something happened to Moshe, and were looking for some sort of replacement. But, was it something deeper?