WHO IS FOR GOD?

Ordinarily, when we come to Parshat Ki Tissa, we immediately focus on the dramatic story of the Golden Calf—the moment when the Jewish people, only weeks after receiving the Torah at Sinai, fell into one of the greatest spiritual failures in our history.

But I want to begin somewhere else entirely. I want to start with a different parsha, and a remarkable story that took place much earlier in the Torah. The story I want to share with you takes place in Parshat Vayishlach.

After Dina, the daughter of Yaakov, is violated by Shechem the son of Chamor, two of Yaakov’s sons take matters into their own hands. Shimon and Levi deceive the people of the city of Shechem, convincing them to circumcise themselves as a condition for intermarriage. And while the men of the city are weak and recovering from the circumcision, Shimon and Levi enter the city and kill them all.

It is a shocking episode, and when Yaakov hears what his sons have done, he is totally horrified. He rebukes them immediately: עֲכַרְתֶּם אֹתִי לְהַבְאִישֵׁנִי בְּיֹשֵׁב הָאָרֶץ – “You have brought trouble onto me, making me odious among the inhabitants of the land.” (Gen. 34:30)

Shimon and Levi respond defiantly: הַכְזוֹנָה יַעֲשֶׂה אֶת אֲחוֹתֵנוּ – “Should our sister be treated like a prostitute?” Yaakov doesn’t answer them then, but the story does not end there.

At the very end of Yaakov’s life, in Parshat Vayechi, when Yaakov gathers his sons to give them their final blessings, he returns to this incident. And this time the rebuke is even harsher. שִׁמְעוֹן וְלֵוִי אַחִים

כְּלֵי חָמָס מְכֵרֹתֵיהֶם – “Shimon and Levi are brothers—tools of violence are their trade.” (Gen. 49:5)

He continues: בִּקְהָלָם אַל תֵּחַד כְּבֹדִי בְּסֹדָם אַל תָּבֹא נַפְשִׁי – “My soul will not enter their counsel; my honor shall not be joined with their assembly.”

And then comes the extraordinary conclusion:

אָרוּר אַפָּם כִּי עָז
וְעֶבְרָתָם כִּי קָשָׁתָה
אֲחַלְּקֵם בְּיַעֲקֹב
וַאֲפִיצֵם בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל

“Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce; and their wrath, for it is harsh.

I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.”

Yaakov is not just criticizing the act of violence. According to the Ramban, Yaakov’s real objection was “Apam” – the uncontrolled anger that motivated the violence. Violence that is unleashed without restraint—even when responding to injustice—is dangerous.

But here is what makes this episode so fascinating. Yaakov condemns Shimon and Levi together. They acted together. So they are criticized together.

And Yaakov predicts the same fate for both of them: “I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.” Both tribes are doomed to failure within the Jewish national collective. They will never succeed at anything because they are emotionally unstable. Period.

And yet, when we look at Jewish history, something remarkable happens. The destinies of these two tribes could not have been more different. The tribe of Levi becomes the tribe of Kohanim and Leviyim, guardians of the Beit HaMikdash, teachers of Torah – spiritual leaders for the Jewish people.

The tribe of Shimon, by contrast, fades almost entirely from the Jewish national story. Ultimately, its territory is absorbed into the tribe of Yehuda, and Shimon is no more.

So we have to ask a simple question. If Shimon and Levi began in exactly the same place, and if they were both condemned equally by Yaakov Avinu, why did their futures diverge so dramatically?

The answer lies in Parshat Ki Tissa – I told you I’d come back to Ki Tissa, so here we are. But before we get into the heart of it, let me share a remarkable story involving the Chofetz Chaim and Rav Shimon Schwab, later the rabbi of Breuer’s shul in Washington Heights, but at the time a 21-year-old yeshiva student from Frankfurt, studying at Mir Yeshiva.

In 1930, Rav Schwab spent a weekend with in Radun, where the Chofetz Chaim – then aged 92 – lived. During his time in Radun, Rav Schwab was introduced to the Chofetz Chaim, and during their conversation the Chofetz Chaim suddenly asked him, “Tell me, are you a Kohen, a Levi, or a Yisrael?”

Rav Schwab replied that he was a Yisrael. The Chofetz Chaim smiled and said, “You know what the difference between you and me is?” Rav Schwab shook his head, a bit puzzled by the question.

The Chofetz Chaim continued. “Soon,” he said, “the Beit HaMikdash will be rebuilt. Everyone will rush to Jerusalem for the first time in generations. People will crowd the gates trying to enter the courtyard of the Temple compound on Har Habayit. But there will be guards at the entrance asking each person a question: Are you a Kohen, a Levi, or a Yisrael?”

“Only the Kohanim will be allowed inside to perform the Temple service. I will go in. Because I am a kohen. But you, together with all the other Yisraelim, will remain outside.”

Then the Chofetz Chaim said something extraordinary. “And do you know why that will happen? Because of something that occurred thousands of years ago. When Moshe Rabbeinu came down from Mount Sinai and saw the Golden Calf, he cried out: מִי לַה׳ אֵלָי –‘Whoever is for God—join me!’”

“And do you know what happened?” the Chofetz Chaim asked. “Only one tribe came forward. Do you know which tribe that was? It was the tribe of Levi.”

“My great-great-grandfather came and joined Moshe Rabbeinu,” said the Chofetz Chaim. “But your great-great-grandfather stayed where he was. Because my grandfather stood up, I will one day serve in the Beit HaMikdash. Because yours did not, you will remain outside.”

The Chofetz Chaim noticed how taken aback Rav Schwab was by what he’d told him. So he quickly added: “I am not telling you this to make you feel bad. Chas vesholom! I am telling you this because I want to teach you something. Every person at some point in their life hears that call—‘Mi L’Hashem elai.’ I just want you to know: when you hear that call, make sure you stand up and do the right thing. Because that moment could very well echo for generations.”

The Chofetz Chaim was describing a moment that changed Jewish history. That moment took place in Parshat Ki Tissa, so let’s return to the parsha. When Moshe descends from Sinai and sees the Golden Calf, the situation is catastrophic. The covenant between God and Israel is hanging by a thread.

So Moshe shouts out as loud as he can: מִי לַה׳ אֵלָי – “Whoever is for God—join me!” And the Torah tells us something astonishing: וַיֵּאָסְפוּ אֵלָיו כָּל בְּנֵי לֵוִי – “All the sons of Levi gathered around him.” (Ex. 32:26) Not some of them. All of them.

The Sforno explains that no one from Shevet Levi had participated in the Golden Calf when everyone was being recruited by those making it. And then, when Moshe issued the call, they responded immediately. It was an abdsolutely amazing moment.

Moshe then tells them: מִלְאוּ יֶדְכֶם הַיּוֹם לַה׳ – “Today you have consecrated yourselves to God.” From that moment on, the tribe of Levi was elevated to a unique role in Jewish life.

But the deeper point is this: the tribe of Levi did something extraordinary. They corrected their past.

At Shechem, Levi’s defining characteristic was unbridled, uncontrolled, impulsive zeal—which inevitably resulted in horrific violence. At the Golden Calf that same impulsiveness was controlled, and they held back – and then, the zeal was redirected and transformed.

The Meshech Chochma explains that the tribe of Levi possessed a powerful intensity of spirit. At Shechem that intensity was destructive.

But at the Golden Calf it was channeled toward defending God’s honor and preserving the covenant. The same fire that once caused disaster became the source of holiness.

Yaakov’s words—“I will scatter them in Israel”—were transformed from a curse into a blessing. The Leviyim would indeed be scattered throughout the land—but as teachers of Torah, spiritual guides for the Jewish people.

But what about Shimon? What happened to the tribe of Shimon? Because Levi had a partner at Shechem. Shimon. They acted together. They were rebuked together. They were cursed together.

But when their moment of moral crisis arrived, the tribe of Shimon did not rise to the occasion. In Parshat Balak we encounter the shocking story of Zimri and Cozbi. In the midst of a devastating moral collapse among the Jewish people, a Jewish leader brazenly engages with a Midianite princess in full view of everyone there.

And the Torah identifies him clearly: נְשִׂיא בֵּית אָב לַשִּׁמְעֹנִי זִמְרִי בֶּן סָלוּא. Zimri, says the pasuk, was the prince of the tribe of Shimon. And at precisely the moment when leadership and moral courage were needed, instead of displaying restraint, and loyalty to God, the tribe of Shimon produced the leader of the rebellion.

And who stepped forward to stop the catastrophe? Pinchas. Pinchas the grandson of Ahron HaKohen—Pinchas the descendant of Levi. Once again, when a crisis demanded clarity and a tough decision, the tribe of Levi responded.

That is why the histories of these two tribes diverged. Levi transformed their past. Shimon remained trapped in their past.

And that is what the Chofetz Chaim meant. Every person in life encounters moments that define them. Moments when a voice calls out: מִי לַה׳ אֵלָי – Who is for Hashem?

Sometimes that call comes quietly. Sometimes it comes in the form of a moral challenge, a moment when it would be easier to remain silent, to follow the crowd, to avoid standing up.

But those moments matter, and the repercussions of the choice you make could reverberate for generations. The tribe of Levi answered that call—and their response reshaped Jewish history for thousands of years, and it continues to impact Jewish life to this day.

May we all have the courage, when our moment arrives, to stand up and answer the call: מִי לַה׳ אֵלָי – the choice we make at that moment will make all the difference.

(Based on a Parsha Shiur by Rav Yissocher Frand)

Image: Rav Shimon Schwab z”l with Rabbi Pini Dunner’s grandfather, Rav Yosef Zvi Dunner z”l, in New York in the early 1980s.