Moshe stood at the gate of the camp and said, “Whoever is for Hashem, come to me.” All of the sons of Levi gathered around him. (Shemos 32:26)

This past week, I was talking with my friend, Jack Levy, and he shared with me an amazing insight regarding the Brooklyn Bridge. The Brooklyn Bridge was built in 1883 and goes between the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Nowadays, on an average day, 150,000 cars travel on this bridge. It is certainly an important part of New York City. Mr. Levy pointed out to me that everyone who built this great bridge today is dead. Not a single one of them is alive anymore, but the Brooklyn Bridge still stands! Mr. Levy learned a deep lesson from this: what we do in our lives will survive longer than we do. We are in this world for short time, but during this short time, we can build something that will last many, many years after we do.

In this week’s parsha, we have the extremely sad episode of one of the worst sins ever committed in the history of the world: the Golden Calf. The Gemara in Sanhedrin tells us there is no calamity in the world that does not contain some measure of payment for the Golden Calf. The crime of the Golden Calf was so serious that thousands of years later, we still are being effected by it! These people did not leave something desirable behind for the future generations.

On the other hand, there is one very positive thing a certain group of people who lived during that generation left behind. Usually, the first two aliyos are a normal length, but in this week’s parsha, the first two aliyos take up half of the parsha. The reason is so no one is embarrassed. The episode of the Golden Calf is in the first two aliyos, and the first two aliyos are given to men from the tribe of Levi. The tribe of Levi grew to greatness in this week’s parsha and left a great legacy for their offspring. Moshe asked, “Whoever is for Hashem, come to me.” All of the tribe of Levi came running. At that moment, Hashem decided that the priests will come from the tribe of Levi and from that moment forward, they were given a special place in Judaism. This one act is the reason why the children from Levi are still honored today!

No one is here for ever. Everyone will die someday. But we can all leave something behind that will effect others. The acts we do can stand as a merit for many, many generations.

Good Shabbos!
-yes
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