When recounting the sin of the golden calf, the Torah tells us vayikach miyadam vayatzar oso becheret (35:22), that Aharon took all the gold and wrapped it in a cloth. Why was Aharon concerned about their being leftover gold? Aharon wanted to make sure that there would be no remnant – that there would be no excess gold to be found anywhere. Why? What was Aharon worried about? I heard from my father, Rav Yitzchok Fingerer shlita that the Metzias Yitzchok says something so incredible. He says that Aharon took all the remaining gold and put it away so that not one person would find a piece of gold and make his own golden calf. Aharon wanted there to be only one golden calf. The reason for that is that a sin is bad, but a lack of unity is even worse. The Metzias Yitzchok says that unified and united people can get beyond sin. They have a merit to protect them and shield them. However, people who are sinning, people who are splintered will never be able to be salvaged.
This is such an incredible lesson to us. Sometimes we point fingers. We all make judgments that maybe we shouldn’t have made. We must remember the power of unity. Unity can save and protect. Try to make sure that you’re united with your family, that you’re united with your neighbors and your community. When we are united, we stand but when we are divided, we fall!
The Yalkut Shimoni brings down a parable of a frail, elderly man who was about to die. He called together his sons and they saw that he was holding a bundle of reeds. He told them, “Sons, look at this bundle of reeds. I want one of you to try to break this bundle of reeds.” Each son in turn took the bundle of reeds and whacked it and whacked it, but it would not break. The feeble, elderly father asked, “Can you not do it?” The sons looked at their father incredulously and asked, “What do you mean? Can you do it?” The father replied, “Sure, I can do it.” They stared at their father in amazement, and he took the bundle of reeds, separated it, pulled out one reed, and snapped it in two. One by one, he broke all sixty reeds that had been in the bundle. Then the father said, “See, I just destroyed the bundle; I broke the bundle of reeds.”
The lesson, said the father to his sons, is that like this bundle of reeds when you are all united, you are impervious to destruction. Nobody can hurt you. Nobody can break you. There is no sorrow, there is no pain. However, when you think you are an individual, when you think you are on your own, then you are just one reed, and anybody can crack you. Anybody can break you. Anybody can destroy you. We all know that we are going through very challenging times. We must reach out to our fellow brothers and sisters with love! We must have achdus, we have to have unity. We have to live a life of harmony! We have to stay united because if we are divided then we will fall.
