No Excuses....We are Responsible for Our Actions

The story of the Golden Calf is one that most of us learned as children attending religious school.  Perhaps it seemed at that time that the Children of Israel were ungrateful for the liberation from bondage if they could so easily participate in the creation of an idol to be worshipped while Moses was on Mt. Sinai receiving the tablets of law.  Perhaps what was most surprising was that Aaron, Moses’ own brother, had participated in the creation of the golden calf. It’s true that the people went to Aaron and angrily demanded that he make them a golden calf because they didn’t know what had become of Moses.

Yet, when Aaron was asked what had transpired he offered a lame excuse.  “I said to them, whoever has any gold, let them break it off, and I cast it into the fire and out came this calf.” If Aaron had been a child, we would have countered his explanation with the statement, “Give me a break…. Golden calves just don’t create themselves.” Obviously, Aaron made a choice and it turned out to be a very poor choice.  The lesson might be that even if you make a bad choice, you should take responsibility for your actions.

If you’ve watched the news lately, there has been the story of a legal case which has tried to argue that individuals aren’t responsible for their actions.  I’m sure you’ve heard the term affluenza which alludes to the fact that many individuals are being raised in homes in which they are over-indulged and as a result are not considered to be responsible for their actions no matter how much pain and suffering those actions bring others.  The case I’m referring to actually negates a basic Jewish concept,  “Adam, mu’ad l’olam….Mankind is always responsible for its actions.” From a Jewish perspective, whether you are awake or asleep, sober or inebriated, whether you act intentionally or unintentionally, when something results from your actions or words you are to be held accountable for them. Why are we considered responsible?  We are considered to be warned ones and it is our responsibility to improve our character so we do not harm others.

Have you ever gone into a store and seen a sign that says you break it, you pay for it?  It doesn’t matter whether you intended to break an item or not, the liability lies with the one who causes the breakage.  I remember being in a candle shop in Sfat with my son, Charlie, and two oldest granddaughters.  We cautioned the girls that they were not to touch the very beautiful and intricate candles because if one of the wax items broke, even unintentionally, they would have to pay for it and many of the wax creations were in the hundreds of dollars!  Even had the candles been worth only several dollars, the responsibility would have been the same.  On that day, we watched a middle-aged woman walk up to an elaborate wax design, pick it up, and drop it albeit unintentionally.  She put it back on the shelf in its broken state and thought no one would hold her accountable.  She found out otherwise and was upset with those who reported her actions to the store owner.

Now back to the golden calf incident. Although we can say that bad things that result from human action do not happen by themselves, we can also say that the good that results from human actions do not happen by themselves.  The choices we make in life matter.  Adam muad l’olam.  We humans are responsible for our actions.

Shabbat Shalom.