The timeline of our parsha is a little confusing, so the first thing we need to do is to sort things in the correct order. On the 6th of Sivan was Matan Torah, following which Moshe went up to Har Sinai to receive the luchot. 40 days later, on the 17th of Tammuz, Am Yisrael sinned with the eigel. Moshe returned and broke the first luchot. Moshe and the Levi’im dealt with the sinners and then Moshe went back up to plead with G-d for mercy. G-d forgave Am Yisrael and Moshe wrote the second luchot. According to Rashi, the day after Yom Kippur (11 Tishrei), Moshe returned with the second luchot and this was when parashat Vayakhel took place.
The first thing Moshe does after returning with the second luchot, on 11 Tishrei, is to congregate the entire Am Yisrael in a Hakhel ceremony, the men, the women, the infants … everyone. What is the purpose of this Hakhel?
As opposed to their perfect unity at Matan Torah, during the sin of the eigel, Am Yisrael were divided. Chazal say that in addition to the central eigel, each tribe (except for Levi) made their own individual eigel. The first order of the day was to restore unity in Am Yisrael, to the way it was at Har Sinai. Moshe accomplished this by doing Hakhel, requiring everyone to be present, men, women, children, even infants – exactly as it was at Matan Torah.
The question is why the women had to be present? The women took no part in the sin of the eigel (Kohelet 7:28). The reason Aharon told the sinners to bring golden earrings is because he knew that the women would not part so easily with their jewelry. It was not that they coveted the gold – they simply wanted no part in the eigel. The men had to literally tear the earrings out of their wives’ ears by force (Pirkei d’Rebi Eliezer 45). Just like the women took no part in the eigel, they took no part in the sin of the spies. For this reason, all the women who left Egypt (except for Miriam and the females in Korach’s rebellion) entered Eretz Yisrael, while all the adult men who left Egypt died in the forty years in the desert (except for Yehoshua and Kalev).
Similarly, the infants took no part in the eigel. Rashi on the pasuk (Shemot 32:6) says that part of the sin (Le’tzachek) was murder and adultery. It is patently obvious that a one-year-old baby could not possibly participate in these nefarious activities, so why did the babies have to present at this Hakhel?
The first answer is that this Hakhel was a reset. After G-d forgave Am Yisrael with the eigel, Moshe wanted to do a reset and re-enact the reality of Am Yisrael at Matan Torah. Just like at Matan Torah – each and every neshama was present, so too here – Moshe wanted to recreate that reality.
However, it goes beyond that. The women had to be there and also the babies, not simply because that was how it was at Matan Torah, but for another reason. Neither the women or the babies were complicit in the sin of the eigel, they didn’t have anything to atone for – it was the men.
The reason is because men act differently in the presence of women. Sometimes they behave better when women are present, they maintain more decorum – because they don’t want to look stupid. Sometimes the presence of women does the opposite. In Shirat Hayam, Miriam and the women didn’t sing and dance in the presence of the men because in that scenario their presence was detrimental, so they separated from the men to sing and dance.
However, the presence of a woman is not always a failsafe against a man behaving badly. Sometimes the woman behaves worse than the man! To ensure that someone behaves themselves – you make them bring their kids along.
The Gemara (Chagiga 3a) asks “Why are you commanded to bring infants to Hakhel?” The answer is “To reward those who bring them.” Chazal say that if the fathers and mothers and their older children are all required to be at Hakhel, who is going to stay home to babysit? The parents will have no choice but to shlep the babies along too. Since they are bringing them anyway, G-d commands us to bring them and in that way, it is a mitzvah and we get rewarded for it.
When Am Yisrael sinned with the eigel (the men in Am Yisrael), what do you think would have happened if their wives had been present while they were going wild! It is a good chance that they would not have gone so far off the deep end – but it is not a certainty. One thing is for sure, if the person(s) who killed Chur had their kids with them at the time, it is a certainty that Chur would not have been killed and the sin of the eigel would not have happened. Had Am Yisrael included their wives and children in the eigel episode, it would have ended differently. If Am Yisrael would have brought the kids along they would have been rewarded that they were saved from one of the most catastrophic sins that has ever beset our nation.
This is what Moshe is trying to teach us in parashat Vayakhel, in the ceremony of Hakhel – if you want to prevent sin, preserve unity and receive reward – when you congregate, bring the family along with you!
Parashat HaShavua Trivia Question: Why did Hashem command Moshe to appoint Betzalel (from the tribe of Yehuda) and also Oholiav (from the tribe of Dan)? Wasn’t Betzalel enough?
Answer to Last Week’s Trivia Question: What caused a golden calf to emerge from the fire? There are two opinions. The first said that amongst the Erev Rav were two Egyptian sorcerers, Yanus and Yamburus, who conjured up the eigel with sorcery. The second says that baby Micha, who Moshe had rescued from being cemented into the foundations of an Egyptian building, took the parchment with Hashem’s full name, that Moshe used to raise Yosef’s coffin, and cast it into the fire.
