The Ford Edsel was introduced in 1957 by the Ford Motor Company as the centerpiece of an ambitious expansion plan. In the early 1950s, Ford conducted extensive market research and concluded there was a profitable gap between its Ford and Mercury lines. The new marque, named after Edsel Ford, the son of Henry Ford, was meant to compete directly with mid-priced offerings from General Motors and Chrysler. Backed by a massive advertising campaign that built suspense around a car simply called “the E-car,” the Edsel debuted with bold styling, most notably its vertical grille, and several technical features such as the Teletouch push-button transmission mounted in the steering wheel hub.
Despite the buildup, the Edsel’s launch was troubled. Quality control issues plagued early production, pricing overlapped confusingly with other Ford models, and by the time it reached showrooms the U.S. economy had slipped into recession. Many buyers found its styling polarizing rather than inspiring, and sales fell far short of projections. After only three model years, Ford discontinued the Edsel in 1960, absorbing losses estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars. In retrospect, the Edsel became one of the most famous commercial failures in automotive history, often cited as a case study in overconfidence, misreading consumer demand, and the risks of large-scale product bets.
One of the most famous failures in Jewish history is known as the episode of the Golden Calf, which we hear about in this week’s reading known as Ki Tisa (Exodus 30-34).
The reading continues the narrative from the previous week, detailing the preparations of the Tabernacle and the consecration of the Kohens.
Ki Tisa opens with the command that when the children of Israel are counted, each man shall give a half shekel as an offering, so that there will be no plague among them when they are counted. The rich shouldn’t give more and the poor shouldn’t give less. The silver will be used for the Tent of Meeting. God then commands Moses to make a basin of copper with a copper base for washing, to be placed between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, so that Aaron and his sons wash their hands and feet before serving. Moses is instructed regarding the anointing oil, compounded from choice spices, with which the Tent, the Ark, the table, the menorah, the altars, and the Kohens are to be anointed and sanctified. He’s warned that it must not be duplicated for personal use. Instructions are also given for the incense, blended from specified ingredients, to be placed before the Ark in the Tent of Meeting, and likewise it shouldn’t be made for private enjoyment.
God then names Betzalel son of Uri of the tribe of Judah, and filled with the spirit of God in wisdom, understanding, and knowledge, to perform the craftsmanship required for the Tabernacle and its vessels. Oholiab son of Ahisamach of the tribe of Dan is appointed with him. They’re charged with making all that’s been commanded. The children of Israel are commanded to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a sign between God and them, for in six days God made heaven and earth and on the seventh day He ceased and rested. God gives Moses the two tablets of the Law, tablets of stone written with the finger of God.
All great until now.
However, when the people see that Moses delays in descending from the mountain, they get anxious. They gather around Aaron and ask him to make them a god to go before them. Aaron tells them to remove the gold earrings from their wives, sons, and daughters and bring them. He fashions the gold with a tool and makes it into a molten calf – what we popularly call “The Golden Calf.” The people say that this is their god who brought them up from the land of Egypt. Aaron builds an altar before it and proclaims a festival to God tomorrow. The next day the people offer burnt offerings and peace offerings, sit to eat and drink, and rise to revel.
God tells Moses to go down, for the people have corrupted themselves and turned aside quickly from the way commanded. He tells Moses to leave Him, that His anger may burn against them, destoying the nation of Israel and that He will make a new, great nation from Moses. Moses pleads before God, asking why His anger should burn against His people whom He brought out of Egypt. He asks that the Egyptians not say that He brought Israel out of Egypt with intent to then destroy Israel in the desert. He recalls the oath sworn to Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. God relents.
Moses descends the mountain with the two tablets in his hand, tablets written on both sides. As he approaches the camp, Joshua hears the sound of the people and says there is a sound of war in the camp. Moses replies that it is not the sound of victory nor defeat but of singing. When he sees the Golden Calf and the dancing, his anger burns and he casts the tablets from his hands and shatters them at the foot of the mountain. He takes the calf, burns it with fire, grinds it to powder, scatters it on the water, and makes the children of Israel drink it. Moses confronts Aaron, who explains that the people were set on evil and that he cast the gold into the fire and this calf came out.
Moses stands at the gate of the camp and calls, “Whoever is with God, come to me.” All the sons of Levi gather to him. He commands them to go through the camp and slay each man his brother, companion, and neighbor. The sons of Levi do as commanded and about three thousand men fall that day. Moses tells them they have been consecrated to God. The next day Moses tells the people they have committed a great sin and that he will go back up the mountain to God to seek atonement. He returns to God and confesses the sin of the people, asking that they be forgiven, and if not that he be erased from the book written by God. God replies that whoever has sinned will be erased.
Moses is successful in interceding on behalf of Israel and spares Israel from being destroyed. The irony is that only 40 days after the revelation at Mount Sinai, where they heard the Ten Commandments from the voice of God, which included don’t make idols, don’t worship other gods, they do exactly that at the foot of Mount Sinai!
God then tells Moses to depart the mountain and lead the people to the land promised to the patriarchs, and that an angel will go before them, but He will not go in their midst lest He consume them. The people mourn when they hear this and remove their ornaments. Moses takes the Tent and pitches it outside the camp, calling it the Tent of Meeting. Whoever seeks God goes out to the Tent. When Moses goes out, the pillar of cloud descends and stands at the entrance while God speaks with Moses “face to face,” as a man speaks with his friend (which conceptually can be challenging but seems to indicate likely the highest form of human communication with God). Joshua remains in the Tent.
Moses asks God to show him His ways so that he may know Him and find favor. He asks that God’s presence go with them. God says His presence will go and He will give rest (again, unclear what that means in practice). Moses replies that if His presence does not go with them, they should not be brought up from there. He asks to see the God’s glory. The Lord says He will make His goodness pass before him and proclaim the Name of God, but that no man may see His face and live (though a few verses earlier it says that’s exactly what Moses did – it seems we’re talking about some deep stuff and Rabbinic commentators have various explanations and interpretations. God places Moses in a cleft of the rock, covers him with His hand as He passes by, and then removes His hand so that Moses sees His back.
God commands Moses to carve two new tablets of stone like the first and to come up the mountain in the morning. Moses ascends with the tablets. God descends in the cloud, stands with him there, and proclaims the Name of God, declaring His attributes of mercy and truth. (These 13 attributes of God that Moses names are a fundamental portion of the Yom Kippur liturgy. It’s a powerful and apparently effective formula for requesting divine mercy – see Exodus 34:6-7). Moses bows and asks that God go in their midst and pardon their iniquity. God makes a covenant, promising wonders and commanding that they not make covenants with the inhabitants of the land. They are to destroy their altars and not bow to other gods. Laws are repeated concerning the festivals, the redemption of the firstborn, the Sabbath, the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Passover/Pesach), the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot), and the Feast of Ingathering (Sukkot). They are told not to boil a kid in its mother’s milk, i.e. don’t eat meat with milk.
Moses remains on the mountain forty days and forty nights. He writes upon the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. When Moses descends with the two tablets in his hand, he doesn’t realize that the skin of his face shines because he’s spoken with God. Aaron and the children of Israel see that his face radiates and they fear to come near him. Moses calls to them and speaks to them all that God has commanded. When he finishes speaking, he places a veil over his face.
Whenever he goes to speak with God, he removes the veil until he comes out, and he tells the children of Israel what he’s been commanded. The children of Israel see the radiance of Moses’ face, and Moses returns the veil to his face until he goes in to speak with the Lord. (This seems be the source for the notion of Jew’s having horns. The word in Hebrew for radiant, is “karan,” the root being “keren.” “Keren” also means horn (which “radiates” out). When the Bible was translated to Latin in the 4th century by Jerome, he mistranslated it as “his face was horned” instead of “his face was radiant.” The rest, as they say, is history.)
So ends one of the more dramatic events in the Torah, the Sin of the Golden Calf, and perhaps more importantly, Moses’ intercession and God’s forgiveness.
Next week we return to the actual construction of the Tabernacle which will take us through the end of the Book of Exodus.
