וַיֹּ֤אמֶר אֲלֵהֶם֙ אַהֲרֹ֔ן פָּֽרְקוּ֙ נִזְמֵ֣י הַזָּהָ֔ב אֲשֶׁר֙ בְּאָזְנֵ֣י נְשֵׁיכֶ֔ם בְּנֵיכֶ֖ם וּבְנֹתֵיכֶ֑ם וְהָבִ֖יאוּ אֵלָֽי׃
Aaron leur répondit: "Détachez les pendants d’or qui sont aux oreilles de vos femmes, de vos fils et de vos filles et me les apportez."
Rashi
rending it to pieces Heb. פרק, an expression of (Exod. 32:2): “Break off (פרקו) the golden rings.”
Rabbeinu Bahya
The women were the first to respond; this is why the Torah records (verse 22) “the men came following the women, etc.” When the men arrived with their gifts they found that their women had already preceded them. It is a remarkable tribute to the Jewish women who had not been willing to give their men their jewelry to help in the making of the golden calf but who now volunteered their most precious possessions with alacrity (compare Exodus 32, 2 and 3, and Tanchuma on Ki Tissa 19).
When the Torah had described the donations for the making of the golden calf which, according to Aaron (32,3), should have been given by the women and the girls, the Torah did not report any of the women giving up their jewelry for such a project. This is why the Torah reports the men as divesting themselves of their own jewelry instead (in that verse). Solomon alluded to this when he wrote in Kohelet 7,28: אדם אחד מאלף מצאתי ואשה בכל אלה לא מצאתי, “I have found one man in a thousand, but I have not even found one woman amongst these,” (who contributed to אלה, the word used when the Israelites were told to look upon that calf as a deity).
When the Torah had described the donations for the making of the golden calf which, according to Aaron (32,3), should have been given by the women and the girls, the Torah did not report any of the women giving up their jewelry for such a project. This is why the Torah reports the men as divesting themselves of their own jewelry instead (in that verse). Solomon alluded to this when he wrote in Kohelet 7,28: אדם אחד מאלף מצאתי ואשה בכל אלה לא מצאתי, “I have found one man in a thousand, but I have not even found one woman amongst these,” (who contributed to אלה, the word used when the Israelites were told to look upon that calf as a deity).
Da'at Zekenim
ויבואו האנשים על הנשים, “and the men came to the women intending to deny them to offer their jewelry such as חח ונזם nose rings and ear rings; however the women were quite anxious to donate even these pieces of jewelry, seeing that it was for holy purpose. This is why the Torah gives them special credit for their general attitude in verse 26: וכל הנשים אשר נשא לבם אותנה, “and all the women whose heart stirred them, etc.” According to our sages, this is the reason why they were given a holiday each Rosh Chodesh by being allowed to treat it as a sort of holiday, not having to perform tedious activities. This was also in recognition of the fact that they had refused to part with any of their jewelry during the episode of the golden calf. (Compare Exodus 32,2, as interpreted by Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer in chapter 45). According to our author, they were given off on the first day of the month of Nissan during that year, as that was the day when the Tabernacle was put up. Subsequently, every Rosh Chodesh became a semi-holiday for the women.