Comentario sobre Exodo 32:24

ואמר להם AND I SAID UNTO THEM one single thing, — simply, “Who has any gold?” — but they hastened and broke it off from themselves and gave it to me.

?ואומר להן למי זהב, I was assuming or hoping that there would not be any raw gold handy to be used to make into any kind of jewelry.

ויצא העגל הזה. It emerged as a finished product. Compare Proverbs 25,4 ויצא לצורף כלי, “the silversmith produces a vessel.” Or, Isaiah 54,16 ומוציא כלי למעשהו.

One thing. . . [Rashi knows this] because otherwise, the whole sin would be Aharon’s. I.e., Aharon did not say, “Remove them,” but just said, “Who has gold?” and they hurriedly removed [their gold ornaments].

ויצא העגל הזה, “and this calf emerged (from the crucible)” Apparently, when Aaron used his graving tool the gold was inside some sort of mould, and it emerged all at once (not as molten gold.) According to some opinions, Aaron had thrown in a golden sheet that had been used to transport Joseph’s coffin, Joseph had been referred to by Yaakov in his final blessings as an ox so that somehow this sheet responded to the call; “arise ox!” (Tanchuma section 19 on our portion)

ויצא העגל הזה, “this calf emerged;” it came out complete. We find a similar wording in Proverbs 25,4: ויצא לצורף כסף, “and it emerged for the silversmith as a silver vessel.” Aaron threw into the crucible assorted pieces of golden jewelry, and what emerged from the crucible was a fully formed golden calf.

ואשלכהו באש AND I CAST IT INTO THE FIRE, and I did not know that this (i. e. this living) calf would come out, ויצא — BUT IT DID COME OUT.

התפרקו ויתנו לי, but against my expectations they removed golden jewelry and donated it for this purpose.

I did not know that this calf would come out. . . I.e., this calf came out without my forming it with an engraver’s tool. ]Rashi knows this] because otherwise, why did Aharon say, “And this calf emerged”? If he threw it in the fire and shaped it into a calf with an engraving tool, obviously this calf would come out. Re”m writes: Scripture testifies that Aharon said, “Remove the rings of your wives” (v. 2), and that “he formed it with an engraving tool” (v. 4). If so, how could Aharon say, “I said one thing to them”? And how could he say, “I threw it into the fire,” intimating that it emerged by itself, when in fact he took the gold and “formed it with an engraving tool and made it into a molten calf” (ibid)? It seems [the answer is:] He said a lie because he feared Moshe. But this is difficult [to say], for how could Aharon, Hashem’s holy one, say a lie? See Nachalas Yaakov.

ואשליכהו באש, I tried to delay matters, throwing the gold into the fire, as is, without making any of the customary preparations performed by goldsmiths, activities which preheat the gold so it can cast properly to be fashioned into the desired shapes.

ויצא העגל הזה. This happened spontaneously, without my having done anything once I had thrown the gold into the crucible. The people did not wait until I had performed any action on my own. When we read in verse four ויעשהו עגל מסכה, the Torah did not refer to Aaron having made the cast calf, but it referred to whoever it was who interfered and shaped the gold. We have a similar construction in Leviticus 3,8 וסמך את ידו, “he will place his hand firmly,” where the subject is not Aaron but whoever owns the animal that is about to be slaughtered as a sacrifice. The same applies to the word ושחט in that same context. It is not a specific person, but the priest who performs the duty in the Temple on that particular day. When we read in verse 35 אשר עשו את העגל אשר עשה אהרן, the meaning of this line is “the people made the calf in which Aaron had participated to some extent.” They had shaped it, whereas Aaron had only taken raw gold and thrown it into the fire. [When reading our author’s commentary it becomes clear why the Talmud in Kidushin 49 forbade translating these parts of the Torah into Aramaic during public readings, as the people who need the translation due to their failure to understand the original Hebrew would be apt to misunderstand Aaron’s part in this disaster. Ed.]