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I have one problem in the reasoning that I see from *Michelle R's post.

Let me get this right..., that those who were on a higher level plane of spirituality considered a vision they saw to be an image of a calf and somehow equate that to be G-d and upon seeing much more of this vision makes them more spiritual then those who saw less of the vision? This makes no sense to me at all. That would mean that the sin of the golden calf would be upon those whom you say saw more of the image since they saw the image and attributed that image of a calf to G-d, making them actually less spiritual in nature to the ones you describe as being less spiritual who are actually being more spiritual. Am I confusing anyone?

The reason I say this, is because the more you transgress the more you are reduced in k'dusha and if you are reduced from levels in k'dusha you reduce yourself from the source of k'dusha and the violation was already premeditated in the mind but the source of transgression was in the heart so it is not ilogical to conclude that those who commited the sin of avoda zora were actually devoid of any spirituality because they were puting their faith on a physical being hence forfitting any spirituality.

**conclusion .

What I want to know is, why is it made out to be so complexed? Why not just say, that they (the children of Israel) were very insecure of themselves for having been left alone by Moishe and needed G-d to lead them since they thought Moishe had died on the Mountain and the S'atan caused them to go astray creating this emotion of insecurity within them, which subsequently causes them to create for themselves this golden calf which is one of many dieties that mitztrayim worshiped, adopting this bad habbit from their place of origin in mitzrayim *after their exodus?

@edit ---Flying H-- Thank you for your thumbs up.

edit# 2 ---Michelle R.---Quckly you find yourself in a defensive mode and lash out to me with insults, instead of debating the cause. I have'nt misunderstood you at all! If that is what you want to lead people to think that's fine by me but now you are calling them stupid as well, since you think they are not capable of realizing the truth. Just so you'll know, your quote is not hidden from view (if I may) let me quote you below.

Quote: "So it would seem logical that the people in the desert at the time of the giving of the Torah would see the same image as the two prophets later saw, if this is the projected image of G-d. *THOSE ON A HIGH SPIRITUAL PLANE SAW MORE OF THE IMAGE, THOSE ON THE LOWEST SAW THE LEAST, the very bottom of the image, the calves feet. Their conclusion, from their perspective, when they were told that this is the image of G-d, could only be that G-d was a calf. Hence, the worship of the calf as G-d."

Continuation---I have no problem with the notion of the reason behind why the calf and why not another creature. FYI, I didn't comdemn your husbands "entire" reasoning or the "entire idea" as you have put it, if you would not have mis-quoted ME you wouldn't have been responding to me about the calf but about what do YOU consider to be a SPIRITUAL PERSON. To me it is certainly not an idol worshiper. As I previously stated: "to me they are devoid of any spirituality what so ever". This was the message I was arousing everyone else including you to respond too but instead recieved a clear apprehension to your intellectualism. If you notice, my opening comment is, "I have (one) problem in the reasoning" I did not imply the whole message. Oh, and another thing your closing comment towards me states that I bring a mistaken idea and interestingly enough it is a very unique story taken out of Rashi's commentary are you then saying that he has brought a mistaken idea too? Clearly it is you and not I who has misunderstood.

((Your turn.))

My husband is a rabbi - this is his interpretation, which I love:

In retelling the story of the giving of the Torah (at the end of Parshat Mishpatim) we are told that the leaders of the nation "saw" G-d and they ate and drank. The rabbis of the Gemara state that they were not the only ones who had this experience; every person there had some vision of G-d, with the more righteous "seeing" more of the image and the less righteous seeing less.

The question that needs to be answered is what image did they see? The answer to this can be found at the beginning of the books of Yeshayahu and Yechezkel (Isaiah and Ezekiel), when each of these prophets saw what is described as the image of G-d. Not that G-d has any form, but when G-d wants to represent that He is "moving," He projects an image for people to see.

The image is called Merkava, or "The Chariot." There is a chair with the image of a person sitting in it, held up by a sheet of sapphire, suspended on the wings of 4 creatures, each of which has 6 wings and four faces (so that they never have to turn but simple go straight in whatever direction they are guided). These creatures also have legs and feet, straight feet, like calves' feet (that's how they are described in the Prophets).

So it would seem logical that the people in the desert at the time of the giving of the Torah would see the same image as the two prophets later saw, if this is the projected image of G-d. Those on a high spiritual plne saw more of the image, those on the lowest saw the least, the very bottom of the image, the calves feet. Their conclusion, from their perspective, when they were told that this is the image of G-d, could only be that G-d was a calf. Hence, the worship of the calf as G-d.

I can read Hebrew (self taught) but I don't have Hebrew script on my computer. Do Hebrew names just show up like that even when you type it in english?

Anyway, to answer your question, I have no idea why they'd want to worship a calf. Maybe because it's young and were aware that they were getting old? But why a baby cow? I have not a clue...

But, I know there is a prophecy concerning a red heifer... there is a correlation to that and the golden calf, but I never understood quite what it was.

Here is a link:

http://www.moreshetyisrael.org/2005/03/shabbat-par...

*Edit: It is quite interesting.

מֹשֶׁה, wow, that's a cool... word thingy, I have to learn Hebrew. Anyway, why did they worship a calf, out of all the other species from the animal kingdom they could represent in solid gold. WELL, calf was generally believed to be a sacred animal during the ancient times, kind of like people in India, where they still believe cows are sacred. I'll have to look up more, I don't really know these kind of historical things.

puzzling.

I guess they didn't like ...whoever... and would do anything to get out of that damn desert...much as we still do today.

yeah, the calf is random, but I guess they left the cattle behind in their rush to get the ehll out of egypt, and had no meat....did you know Native Americans could summon deer and buffalo?

Non lo so. Perche tu stai scrivendo in una lingua altra?

If you want to say Moses/Moshe, say it. Most people here can't read Hebrew, and writing in a language other than that of the board you're on is a violation of the terms of service of Y!Answers.

Why not?