Replacement Theology

"It’s the Jews": The Erev Rav and the Golden Calf

The incident of the Golden Calf is one of the Torah's worst betrayals. We will explore this shadowy group of saboteurs, known as the Erev Rav, and understand their relevance in our time.

The Hidden Orchard

09 Mar 2025 — 6 min read

The incident of the Golden Calf is one of the Torah's worst betrayals. After witnessing the miracles of the plagues, the splitting of the Sea, and the revelation at Sinai—where G_D entered into a covenant with the Jewish people—a group among the Israelites fell headlong into the worship of a physical idol.

Though the number of people involved was a small fraction of the total, the Torah imparts several important lessons.

In sermons, the Jewish people—as a whole—often take the brunt of the blame for this incident, but the Torah mentions a group called the "Erev Rav", a Mixed multitude. According to many commentators, the Erev Rav (עֵרֶב רַב) were the central figures in this particular rebellion.

While the people awaited Moses's return, the Erev Rav manipulated their growing fears and insecurities, creating a context for a Golden Calf statue. But this was too well-timed to be happenstance.

As is often the case, the mixed multitude succeeded in subverting a pivotal moment for the nation of Israel—and the world—the receiving of the first set of tablets from Sinai¹. This almost led to the annihilation of the Jewish people altogether - a common by-product of the Erev Rav.

We will explore this shadowy group of saboteurs and understand their relevance in our time.

The Erev Rav

In the literal sense of the Torah, the mixed multitude refers to a group of various people of various nations who followed Moses out of Egypt (Exodus 12:3). Perhaps opportunistic, it is believed they had improper motives as they left Egypt with the Israelites.

However, as we look at this group from a Sod (secret) interpretation, they take on a different identity. In the Kabbalah, the Erev Rav can also include Jewish people, specifically those disloyal to the Torah and the ways of G_D.

As in the Golden Calf incident, these are people who continually lead Israel away from their covenantal responsibilities and cause a misalignment with their mission and the Creator.

The Erev Rav have inverted motives and are deeply oppositional to the mission of Israel. What makes them so problematic is that they come from the same spiritual root as the Jewish people, serving as a powerful counterforce to the potential good of the nation.

Holiness and Its Shadow:

There is an important principle that when something has a potential for the heights of holiness, it naturally possesses a commensurate potential for the lowest of evil.

We see this reflected through the potential of Nuclear technology, AI, the internet, and other modern innovations. This is also true of our faculties of thought, speech², intimacy, and the human ability to worship. What can be used for incredible good can also be abused to the worst degree.

This duality is not unique to Jews—it’s a universal human condition—but it is magnified in a people tasked with such a lofty mission. When one possesses an inclination for good (yetzer hatov), their evil (yetzer hara)³ is equally strong.

So too the calling on the nation of Israel. As a "kingdom of priests and a holy nation," the inverse is within the realm of potential. But worse than simply subverting the Jewish people's spiritual mission, the Erev Rav have an uncanny ability to stir up antisemitism and hatred against the Jewish people through their actions.

We should also not be surprised to see these figures in high-profile places in society.

Before the coming of Messiah, a majority of our leaders will act like Erev Rav. - The Secret of the Erev Rav, Page. 41

The results of their actions are widespread: anti-Jewish sentiment on one hand, and a degree of Gevurah, spiritual judgment upon the world at scale.

Erev Rav Traits

In the tradition, the spiritual Erev Rav are often identified by their traits—behaviors that run counter to the ways of G_D. According to the Vilna Gaon⁴, they are:

People who create strife and abuse speech, engaging in Lashon Hara
Sexually promiscuous or lustful people who chase physicality
People who pretend to be upright but take advantage of others
Those who seek honor and making a name for themselves
Those who pursue money

Those who are among the Erev Rav have a deep problem of the soul. When someone who is supposed to represent G_D behaves in this way, it is a sin known as Chillul Hashem (Desecration of the Name) that occurs, and it is devastating.

"It's the Jews."

This idea resonates today when we confront the reality of high-profile, wealthy individuals with Jewish lineage whose horrific crimes against humanity spark international anger.

While anger at these actions is warranted, history has often magnified the sins of a few individuals to condemn an entire people. The statement “it’s the Jews” has been levied across time, gaining volume in our era and amplifying blame on the modern State of Israel and even local Jewish communities.

These ideas are finding unchallenged acceptance on both sides of the political spectrum, licensing antisemitism, and creating dissonance and silence from public institutions and universities who should condemn it.

Responsibility and Redemption

But this is a distortion of both logic and theology. We should remember that in the aftermath of the Golden Calf, G_D did not abandon the Jewish people. Moses intercedes, the covenant is renewed, and the nation moves forward.

The Erev Rav have always been a challenge to overcome, but nothing Israel cannot overcome. Similarly, the crimes of individuals, no matter how heinous, do not speak for the Jewish people (or any people for that matter). To suggest otherwise is intellectual laziness or willful bigotry. It selectively ignores the millions of Jews who live lives of quiet integrity, charity, and devotion to G_D’s will.

The Kabbalistic perspective does not absolve us of responsibility; in fact, it democratizes responsibility to all of us. We are reminded that all of us are capable of great good and great evil. We must actively choose the former.

The Erev Rav represents another dimension to the supernatural forces of evil⁵ that we must resist. We must guard against those who distort our purpose, and subvert our mission—whether through idolatry in the desert or corruption in the modern world.

The math of “it’s the Jews” may seem compelling to some, but it fails to account for the infinite potential for holiness that remains our truest calling.