“Where Does Uncertainty Lead?!,” Rabbi Elaine Zecher’s Shabbat Awakenings
March 6, 2026 | 17 Adar 5786
Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings, a weekly reflection as we move toward Shabbat. You can also listen to it as a podcast.
Specificity leads to direction and certainty. Without it, confusion ensues.
In this week’s Torah portion, Ki Tisa, God provided details, but just to Moses. Only God and Moses had been together up on the mountain. God instructed Moses regarding the building of the Mishkan, the traveling sanctuary. The first step would be to designate the most appropriate person to lead the project:
See, I have singled out by name Bezalel, son of Uri son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah.
I have endowed him with a divine spirit of skill, ability, and knowledge in every kind of craft; to make designs for work in gold, silver, and copper, to cut stones for setting and to carve wood—to work in every kind of craft… and I have also granted skill to all who are skillful, that they may make everything that I have commanded you: (Exodus 31:2-6)
The job description and Bezalel’s qualifications matched perfectly. God articulated exactly what should be done without deviation. Bezalel and those who would assist had all the qualifications necessary. God and Moses should feel secure that this building project would turn out exactly as commanded. Leadership would make the difference.
Yet, down below, at the foot of the mountain, leadership was lacking and uncertainty bred fear and doubt. The commentator, Rashi, attributed their behavior to the evil inclination that made them perceive darkness and a cloudy fog like chaos that deceived the people into thinking Moses had died.
Moses had told the people he would return on the 40th day the Talmud (Shabbat 89a) reminds us, yet he had still not appeared.
When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, the people gathered against Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us a god who shall go before us, for we do not know what has happened to Moses — the man who brought us from the land of Egypt.”
Aaron said to them, “Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” …This he took from them and cast in a mold and made it into a molten calf. And they exclaimed, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt!”
When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron announced:
“Tomorrow shall be a festival of GOD!” (Exodus 32:1-4)
It may seem that Aaron led them, but really, the people led Aaron. Their uncertainty caused mayhem. They forgot their past. Fear directed them. They felt lost, leaderless, and lacking self-control.
After witnessing how God challenged Pharaoh and redeemed them with an outstretched arm and extraordinary discipline (Exodus 6:5), they arrived at the miraculous moment at the sea as it opened to allow them to pass through on dry land into freedom, the people ignored it all to meld their gold into a god.
Moses came down from the mountain and smashed the tablets inscribed by God. Their instruction, the Torah, lay in pieces. Eventually, Moses would return up the mountain to receive a replacement set of tablets.
As the Israelites traveled in the wilderness, they carried the ark with both sets of tablets. The Talmud (Bava Batra 14b) explained that the second tables and the shattered fragments of the first set were placed in the ark. But, why?
Perhaps, it is an eternal reminder of what happens when we let uncertainty lead us into moments of mayhem. When the world feels like it is in disarray, we may feel like we lose our way, but we do not need to succumb to it. And though it may seem like everyone wants to build an idol, we still have Torah as our moral compass to guide us, even in these most uncertain times.
Shabbat Shalom! שבת שלום
I welcome your thoughts and experiences here.
Rabbi Elaine Zecher