We all know that with the חטא העגל - the sun of the golden calf, Bnei Yisrael fell and made a grave error.
The commentaries all agree that the Jewish People obviously believed in G-d. They’d just seen all the miracles. There was no question about that. It’s just that they thought they needed a middleman. The Satan, by showing Bneh Israel a false vision, fooled them into thinking Moshe was dead. Thus, they assumed they needed something to act as a middle man between them and G-d. They didn’t realize the true relationship that we have with Hashem, that we don’t need a middle man.
In 1987 Rabbi Yaakov Hillel, mekubal, wrote a book called:תמים תהיה
Be Simple {and Pure with Hashem} it was later put out in English with the title “Faith and Folly”. Thr goal was to dispel the notion that one needs to seek alternative means such as “Kabbala”, palm readers, etc. to tell the future. He says many of these are things are actually forbidden from the Torah such as witchcraft, and furthermore, it’s not the correct approach to our relationship with Hashem. At the time the book came out, every single rabbi of the generation wrote a Haskama/approbation for the Sefer, when Rabbi Hillel was a much younger rabbi.
Rav Wolbe, who was my Mashgiach in yeshiva many years ago, wrote a haskama as well. Because he was a Baal Mussar, Rav Wolbe’s haskama took a slightly different approach, stressing the correct way to reach Hashem as opposed to stressing the sins that may be involved.
He wrote: Sons and daughters if you need a favor from your father, do you go to some magician to plead on your behalf? Of course not. You ask your father directly.
Moshe Rabbenu writes:
מִי־ג֣וֹי גָּד֔וֹל אֲשֶׁר־ ל֥וֹ אֱלֹקים קְרֹבִ֣ים אֵלָ֑יו כַּה אֱלוקינוּ בְּכָּל־קָרְאֵ֖נוּ אֵלָֽיו׃
Who is like the Jewish People, they we can call out to Hashem and He answers us?
Ramban writes that when Moshe asked G-d what to tell Bnei Yisrael, what is Your name?, Hashem said " אה-יה אשר אה-יה I will be that I will be"
Which means: you don’t need to know My name. You don’t need a deep type of understanding. All you need to know is that I will be there through all their difficulties and when they call out to Me I’ll answer.
This is הראיה הגדולה שיש אלוקים בישראל
That’s the greatest proof of Hashem’s existence.
קְרֹבִ֣ים אֵלָ֑יו בְּכָּל־קָרְאֵ֖נוּ אליו.
If you have a problem, He will answer you.
Therefore, Rav Wolbe says, don’t take a questionable back door approach. Pray to Hashem from the depths of your heart with tears.
He goes on with some rebuke for the rabbis: it would be nice if the great rabbis told the people seeking salvations not to look for charms or tricks, but to pray a warm prayer and that Hashem would take care of them.
Rav Hillel was my neighbor in Israel. I once showed him a certain kamieh (special protective amulet). He inspected it and said even the angels of destruction couldn’t decipher it ( i.e. it was pure gibberish). He is a mekubal and he was able to see through the phoniness.
Rav Hillel uses a play on words, when he calls us an “עם סגולה”, which literally translates to “chosen nation” but he means it to say we are a nation of segulot- of amulets. We often look for the tricks: 40 ladies, 40 this, 40 that. If a rabbi told us to stand on our heads we’d try that.
Pray to G-d, says Rav Hillel, that’s the way to get things. That’s the lesson of Ki Tisa. Jewish people deal with G-d directly. Of course we can get berachot and sometimes there’s room for additional things.
But we shouldn’t miss the point. Skip the middleman. Pray to Hashem. Deal direct.