Golden Calf of the Talmud

Updated

Shabbath 17a

 

"And another? — When one vintages [grapes] for the vat [ to manufacture wine], Shammai maintains: It is made fit (to become unclean]; while Hillel ruled, It is not made fit.  Said Hillel to Shammai: Why must one vintage [grapes] in purity, yet not gather [olives] in purity?  If you provoke me, he replied, I will decree uncleanness in the case of olive gathering too. A sword was planted in the Beth Hamidrash and it was proclaimed, 'He who would enter, let him enter, but he who would depart, let him not depart!'  And on that day Hillel sat submissive before Shammai, like one of the disciples,  and it was as grievous to Israel  as the day when the [golden] calf was made. Now, Shammai and Hillel enacted [this measure], but they would not accept it from them; but their disciples came  and enacted it, and it was accepted from them."

The Talmud states that in the wars between Shammai and Hillel, Shammai imposed by sword his own decrees, i.e. new laws were promulgated, and that this was similar to the incident of the Golden calf.   It states in a previous Mishnah that on one day Shammai passed 18 such decrees!

The Talmud is implying that the method of the enactments, i.e. by force and by going against Hillel, who was the gentler of the 2, was what the offense was. However, in Freudian psychology, this is what we would call a parapraxis – or a slip, on part of the authors of the Talmud.   The Karaites and Sadducees would agree with this statement, but extend it to the entire “oral law”.  The imposition of all rabbinic decrees was done by force, whether against the Kohanim in the Temple, or the people of Israel.  Thus, the imposition of rabbinical enactments was in its entirety akin to the golden calf – and had a very similar effect, i.e. the destruction of the Temple and exile of the nation of Israel.

Quite apart from the  violation of adding to the Torah, the Jerusalem Talmud [Y. Shabbat 1:4 [3c].expands on this incident saying that it turned into a place of slaughter:

"That day was as wretched for Israel as the day which the [golden] calf was
made. It was taught in the name of Rabbi Yehoshua Oniya: The students of
Beit Shammai stood below them and they began to slaughter the students of Beit Hillel. It was taught: Six of them ascended and the others stood over them with swords and lances."
  
This was intra-Pharisee violence,  after having already poured their violence on the true guardians of the Torah, the  Kohanim.

Upon further analysis, we see the kind of decision making that went on amongst these rabbis. "Said Hillel to Shammai: Why must one vintage [grapes] in purity, yet not gather [olives] in purity?  If you provoke me, he replied, I will decree uncleanness in the case of olive gathering too."

Hillel is challenging Shammai on logical consistency, and so Shammai threatens to add further restrictions to Olives as well. The threat is based on "if you provoke me". So the rabbinic additions were done in jest or in posturing power plays, with no basis in Torah. This was even within the Pharisee spectrum, not to mention the violence they did to the Sadducees and their justifications for adding to the Law.