 | I rarely engage with artificial intelligence, but recently I asked ChatGPT to depict the "Golden Calf of modern society." This image was ChatGPT's response. For Persia in the Purim story we commemorate this week, the Golden Calf was Haman, the xenophobic prime minister. For our spiritual ancestors in Exodus days, it was literally a Golden Calf – a repudiation of the Ten Commandments. This week's confluence of the two has much to teach us. |
By Rabbi David Evan Markus
Ki Tisa 5785 (2025)
I rarely engage with artificial intelligence: the environmental drain is substantial, and AI is full of societal risks. Yet even so, precisely so, I figured that now – amidst so much societal turbulence – was the time to give ChatGPT an assignment:
"Depict the Golden Calf of modern society."
The image above was ChatGPT's response. It took 15 whole seconds.
In secular life, this societal moment evokes grandiosity, tribalism, materialism and assertions of absolute power. In Jewish spiritual life, this week brings Purim, Judaism's upside-down holiday of humor and farce to shrink the emotional power of antisemitism and genocidal hate. In the Torah cycle, we're in Parashat Ki Tisa, the portion of the Golden Calf.
And it's no accident.
We know the Golden Calf's surface story. As Moses remained on Mount Sinai for 40 days, the people grew restive. Fearing for what became of Moses, they lost faith in God and promises of liberation just fulfilled for them. They demanded that Moses' brother Aaron build them a 'god'. He did (I'll explore that in SoulSpa on March 15), and the people said: "This is your god, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt!” (Exodus 32:4).
The Golden Calf – our spiritual ancestors' total repudiation of the Ten Commandments and with it the God of their liberation. The Golden Calf – a manifestation of backwardness and herd mentality. The Golden Calf – an unloving metallic relic borne of fear.
Images of that Biblical moment are burned into Western consciousness as the stuff of art, farce and social critique.
Ki Tisa 5785 (2025)
I rarely engage with artificial intelligence: the environmental drain is substantial, and AI is full of societal risks. Yet even so, precisely so, I figured that now – amidst so much societal turbulence – was the time to give ChatGPT an assignment:
"Depict the Golden Calf of modern society."
The image above was ChatGPT's response. It took 15 whole seconds.
In secular life, this societal moment evokes grandiosity, tribalism, materialism and assertions of absolute power. In Jewish spiritual life, this week brings Purim, Judaism's upside-down holiday of humor and farce to shrink the emotional power of antisemitism and genocidal hate. In the Torah cycle, we're in Parashat Ki Tisa, the portion of the Golden Calf.
And it's no accident.
We know the Golden Calf's surface story. As Moses remained on Mount Sinai for 40 days, the people grew restive. Fearing for what became of Moses, they lost faith in God and promises of liberation just fulfilled for them. They demanded that Moses' brother Aaron build them a 'god'. He did (I'll explore that in SoulSpa on March 15), and the people said: "This is your god, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt!” (Exodus 32:4).
The Golden Calf – our spiritual ancestors' total repudiation of the Ten Commandments and with it the God of their liberation. The Golden Calf – a manifestation of backwardness and herd mentality. The Golden Calf – an unloving metallic relic borne of fear.
Images of that Biblical moment are burned into Western consciousness as the stuff of art, farce and social critique.
| | Why? Because the human penchant for misplaced devotion and idolatry continues. Purim arises from a narcissistic leader who insisted that he be venerated and lashed out with genocidal hate against all Jews when one wouldn't bend the knee (Esther 3:1-7). Over and over again we see gaudy excess, mindless tribalism, totalitarianism and corruption still abiding in our world. |
The Golden Calf has come full circle, as it often does – perhaps even in our own lives. Maybe we venerate technology, wealth, status, social standing, ideology, raw power or even our own rightness. If any of these (or anything else, or anyone else) is an object of our veneration, then it is to those that we bend our knee.
Like the original Golden Calf, often the golden calves in society and our own lives arise from fear. Perhaps it's why courage to stand up is such a core Jewish spiritual value. When his people built the Golden Calf, Moses had the courage to face the hoard. Mordekhai had the courage to defy Haman's command to bow. Esther had the courage to face and expose Haman's genocidal plot. Century after century, our ancestors stood up.
How about us? What courage do we need to unbend our knees and stand up to false gods – even ones reigning deep within?
It's time, right now.
Like the original Golden Calf, often the golden calves in society and our own lives arise from fear. Perhaps it's why courage to stand up is such a core Jewish spiritual value. When his people built the Golden Calf, Moses had the courage to face the hoard. Mordekhai had the courage to defy Haman's command to bow. Esther had the courage to face and expose Haman's genocidal plot. Century after century, our ancestors stood up.
How about us? What courage do we need to unbend our knees and stand up to false gods – even ones reigning deep within?
It's time, right now.
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