Ki Tissa: Sin is Real

"Sin" makes us squirm.  The word itself makes people uncomfortable.  Perhaps that is why we hear - and say- the word so infrequently.  If someone uses the word "sin" in general conversation the reaction is either to label them a "fundamentalist Bible thumper" or smirk.
While sin may be forgiven (the good part) it is by definition wrong, it is evil (the hard part).  It is difficult to get comfortable with such dichotomies.
Most folks would rather dismiss evil as "misplaced " or "misguided" or plain bad judgment.  That is why we will often hear people like Hitler described as "sick."  When someone is sick there is a cure.  It is in a sense, forgivable because there is a remedy.  Sometimes it can be made better by drugs or psychotherapy.  Evil, on the other hand, implicitly holds that there are no mitigating circumstances or meaningful excuses.
We have developed a certain sophistication which allows us to avoid calling anything sinful.
I have heard that Eskimos have many different words for snow; as many as seventy, I have been told.  Makes sense.  If snow is such an integral part of their lives they have to recognize what different sorts of snow mean and how it can be used.
In English there are not many words for sin (transgression is one that Jews often use.  It sounds cleaner, somehow, doesn't it?)  The lack of synonyms for sin points to our discomfort with the word and idea.  In Hebrew there are several words for sin.  One means a conscious sin.  Another denotes an unwitting sin.  And yet another is a sin where we tried to do the right thing but it came out wrong.   There are more.
Way back in the beginning of time, there is a portrayal of sin, poised and ready to sink its teeth into the flesh of humanity (take a look at Genesis 4:7).  In Judaism there is no such thing as "original sin;" there is only the potential to cause evil.  In no other life form that we know is there that potential.  There is no morality in nature, only in people.  So we learn from his passage that sin does not exist until it is realized by a person.
The Parasha, Ki Tissa, correlates God's commands (mitzvot) with the possibility of rejecting them. "Oh, this people have sinned.  They have sinned a great sin." (32:32).  These are Moses' words as he asked for forgiveness for the evil committed by the Israelites.

Let's be clear: God establishes categories of good (mitzvot) and evil (sin).  Ignoring the mitzvot is wrong and leads to sin.  Humanity has always had a hard time admitting that, because the zeitgeist of every era pushes us to make excuses for sin with any number of sophisticated psychological devices.
In the Talmud, Rav Sheshet occasionally fasted for his sins.  After he completed his self-imposed fast he would pray, "Master of all words, when the Holy Temple existed and we sinned we used to bring a korban (sacrifice).  Its flesh and blood would be our forgiveness.  Now we have no Temple.  It lies in ashes.  We have no korban to bring to You.  So, may it be Your will that my flesh and blood which has resisted food be a korban before You."
What Rav Sheshet understood was that we become better people when we acknowledge and own the pain, suffering and evil we have introduced to the world.  Only then can we rise above it.

The finest people I have met in my life are the ones who take their actions seriously and feel personal pain when they have sinned.  These are the people I choose to be around for they continue to strive for goodness and wholeness.
I once asked a group of children in Hebrew School if it was legal to drive at 56 miles per hour.  They were unanimous in their response, "Yes."  I went on to tell them while they might not be ticketed for driving one mile an hour over the speed limit, the police still have the right to issue a ticket for breaking the law.  Children learn at an early age to excuse bad behavior through rationalization rather than taking personal responsibility.  I know where they got it from.
Inasmuch as we believe there is goodness we must also believe in its opposite.
Reb Menachem Mendel said, "To fear punishment is nothing.  What we must fear is sin."