Ekev/Ki Tissa – A Stiff Necked People

Please note that this d’var Torah was written for Parashat Ekev (at Sha’arei Orah in Bala Cynwyd, PA), but is cross-listed under Ki Tissa due to the similar phrase “stiff necked” appearing at Ex. 32:9 and 33:3.  The midrash sited below is directly related to Ex. 32:9.

A printable version of this d’var Torah is available here.

Note: Translations are my own.

Today we read Moshe’s retelling of the golden calf incident.  Moshe reminds us of God’s analysis of the Israelite people based on the incident:

וַיֹּאמֶר ה’ אֵלַי לֵאמֹר רָאִיתִי אֶת הָעָם הַזֶּה וְהִנֵּה עַם קְשֵׁה עֹרֶף הוּא:

And the LORD spoke to me, saying, “I have observed this nation and behold it is a stiff-necked people.”[1]

The episode begs the question: if the Israelites were so stubborn, in a way that led them to a serious violation of God’s Torah almost as soon as they received it, why were they chosen to receive the Torah in the first place?  The Talmud offers an interesting perspective.  Rabbi Meir taught:

מפני מה נתנה תורה לישראל – מפני שהן עזין.

Why was the Torah given to Israel?  Because they are strong-willed.[2]

An anonymous teaching strengthens this message by telling us that the enigmatic phrase in Deuteronomy 23:2, “מִימִינוֹ אֵשׁ דָּת לָמוֹ” which for these purposes we will translate as “on God’s right a law of fire for them,” means that the Israelite will is like fire such that if they were not given the Torah no nation could have stood up to the Israelite people.[3]

In Shemoth Rabbah, we have similar teaching in which Rabbi Meir is critical about the Israelites

עם קשה עורף הוא, אמר ר’ יהודה בן פולויה בשם רבי מאיר ראוים הן להערף,

“And behold it is a stiff-necked people.”  Rabbi Yehudah ben Peluyah taught in the name of Rabbi Meir they were worthy of beheading (i.e. of removing their necks).[4]

While we won’t focus directly on this, this teaching suggests that the Israelites were chosen to receive Torah not due to a positive trait but rather because without Torah Israel would be downright dangerous.

In Shemoth Rabbah, however, the Midrash offers a more generous interpretation of the Israelites’ stubborn nature:

אמר ר’ יצחק בר רדיפא בשם ר’ אמי אתה סבור שהוא לגנאי ואינו אלא לשבחן או יהודי או צלוב, א”ר אבין עד עכשיו קורין את ישראל בחוצה לארץ האומה של קשה עורף.

Rabbi Yitzchak bar Redifah said in the name of Rabbi Ami: You think that the description of Israel as “stiff-necked”[5] is critical, but in fact it their praise! [For they say] “Either a Jew or hanged!”  Rabbi Avin said, “Until this day they call Israelites in the diaspora “the stiff-necked people.”[6]

To Rabbi Meir, the Israelites’ resolute character made them a danger to society and almost worthy of execution.  However, ultimately, God decided that the Israelite קשה עורף was not a disease to be cured but a characteristic to be channeled toward good through the Torah.  Rabbi Ami and Rabbi Avin tell us that generations later it was precisely the Israelite stubbornness of character that helped perpetuate Torah as the Israelites refused to capitulate to those who demanded they surrender their faith and those conditions that made abiding by their faith so challenging.

The truth is that a strong will can be a dangerous thing when it is held by one with mistaken beliefs or problematic impulses.  At the same time, it is an essential characteristic for those who have proper values and a positive inclination.  A key challenge we all face is when to passionately fight for what we believe and when we need to reconsider the rightness of our cause.  It’s never easy to tell the difference.  But I think that we can find some guidance in Rashi’s brief commentary explaining why Rabbi Meir believed that the Torah would temper the Israelites’ dangerous nature.  Rashi explains:

ונתנה להם תורה שיעסקו בה, והיא מתשת כחם ומכנעת לבם.

And so the Torah was given to them to study intensely, because it weakens their strength and humbles their heart.[7]

Rashi tells us that it is not only the content of the Torah but the fact that Jews would have to study the Torah that would temper their strong-willed nature and teach them humility.  The very fact that God asks us to be guided by divine decree guides us toward the realization that we can’t always discern on our own what is good and just and therefore that we need to look outside ourselves for guidance between right and wrong.  This was a very different concept than what was presented by other legal treatises in the Ancient Near East, which until the Torah all showed the gods empowering the human ruler to create the laws.[8]  Second, the fact that we are taught the necessity of regular study and contemplation of Torah – וְהָגִיתָ בּוֹ יוֹמָם וָלַיְלָה meditate upon it day and night[9] – forces us to constantly consider different perspectives, to recognize the possibility that our current understanding might be wrong, and to acknowledge our responsibility to constantly improve our understanding of what God asks of us.  I might add that the rabbinic aphorism that the Torah has 70 faces teaches that even if we get something “right” there are still 69 other perspectives that have some elements of truth that we can incorporate into our beliefs.

For better or worse, every human being is, in one way or another, a person of קשה עורף, a stiff-necked nature.  Our responsibility is to temper that stubbornness through studying external sources for understanding between right and wrong, considering other perspectives, and being open to change our views.  At the same time, we need to be prepared to call our stubbornness to arms in defense of that which is good, just, and righteous.

I’ll close with a prayer fashioned on Reinhold Niebuhr’s Serenity Prayer:

God, grant us the strength act resolutely in furtherance of our inclinations and beliefs that are good, right, and just in Your eyes;

Humility to reconsider our attitudes and prejudices when we stray from Your guidance;

And wisdom to know the difference.

[1] Deut. 13:13.

[2] BT Betzah 25b.

[3] Id.  “דתיהם של אלו אש, שאלמלא (לא) נתנה תורה לישראל אין כל אומה ולשון יכולין לעמוד בפניהם.”

[4] Exodus Rabbah Ki Tissa Chapter 42:9.

[5] Lit. “Do you think that this”.

[6] Id.

[7] Rashi on BT Betzah 25b s.v. שהן עזין.

[8] Jeffrey Tigay, JPS Tanakh, introduction to Deuteronomy Chapter 5.

[9] Joshua 1:8.