MY THOUGHTS ON PARSHAT EIKEV

In parshat Eikev we read:

“It was at the end of forty days and forty nights that Hashem gave me the two stone Tablets, the Tablets of the covenant. Then Hashem said to me, “Arise, descend quickly from here, for the people that you took out of Egypt has become corrupt: they have strayed quickly from the way that |I commanded them: they have made themselves a molten image”

Hashem said to me, saying, “I have seen this people, and behold! It is a stiff-necked people. Release Me, and I shall destroy them and erase their name from under the heavens, and I shall make you a mightier, more numerous nation than they!”

Our sages say that it was only the erev rav who committed idolatry with the golden calf and a small percentage of the Jews from the tribe of Shimon. So why was Hashem so angry? Angry enough to wipe out the entire Jewish people. Every single Jew except Moshe! Was no one innocent? No. No one was innocent because even those who didn’t participate stood by did nothing to stop it.

...there were Jews, few though they were, who were guilty of idolatry. The rest of the people did not resist the Eirev Rav or the Jewish worshippers. this constituted either sidlent acquiescence or lack of faith, which was a condemnation of the nation as a whole. (Ki Tisa 32:7-10)

Aharon had exposed the shame of the people, for not only the sinners were at fault, but those whose failure to repond had made it possible. This revealed the ignominy of the nation, for they had been disloyal to God and Moshe. (Commentary on Ki Tisa 32:25)

Only after Moshe completely destroyed the golden calf, as our sages said
For as long as the sin was still in existence, it came under the category of “the warped which cannot be repaired”(Koheles 1:15;seeChaggigah9)

and fasted and prayed for 40 days and 40 nights, did Hashem show mercy and only those who were guilty of outright idolatry died.

We can see how severely Hashem views idolatry or the pretense of it.

Moshe stood at the gateway of the camp, and said, "Whoever is for Hashem, join me!"

Moshe asked the Jews to make a decision and stop straddling the fence. Their response showed the depth of their spiritual fall, for only the Levites stepped forward: though the rest of the people were loyal to G-d, they would not dedicate themselves uncompromisingly to His service.(Commentary on Ki Tisa 32:26)

There are many Jews who do not “cling” to the goyim but they see their neighbors hosting xians, bringing them on tours to their communities and accepting donations (bribes) from them and they disapprove but do nothing and say nothing. There is no sitting on the fence when it comes to Am Yisrael you have to choose a side. If you aren’t on the side of Hashem and Torah you are on the side of evil. When some of Am Yisrael sin we are all held responsible and we are all punished. We have a mitzvah to rebuke our brother and an obligation to remove the evil from within our midst.

From here emerges the fundamental contrast between the thinking of G-d and the alien culture of the nations and the assimilationists among our own people. In G-d's Torah, tolerance toward evil is inappropriate and impossible. There does not exist any concept of coexistence between good and evil. Quite the contrary , an oft repeated decree and command is this: "Destroy the evil from your midst! Destroy evil from Israel!"(Deut. 13:6;17:7,12;19:19;21:21;22:21-22,24;24:7). Time and time again, G-d commands us regarding the need to separate between good and evil, so as to eradicate the evil from our midst.(Or HaRa'ayon)