President's Day passed just a couple of days ago. (It should be called President's week with the vacation schedule at local schools.) Besides the long weekend and the blowout sales, this time should allow us to reflect upon our country and its leadership (especially during an election year).

As a child, I remember the awe of travel to Washington, D.C. - especially seeing the monuments to our founding fathers and great leaders. It seemed like an amusement park, but instead of rides, there were huge statues and odd docents lecturing on US history. With some study of world religions, I began to appreciate that Washington, D.C. was constructed in a classic style with great temples in the Greek and Roman Style. Yet, instead of gods at the centers of these temples, the new republic had installed statues to its great men.

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We often come close to worshipping these heroes with our holidays in their honor and the mythic tales of their exploits. In witnessing the pomp of a presidential campaign, we can see the cloth from which these legends are sown. We grant our presidents enormous power. We look to them for more than just effective stewardship - we seek inspiration and deliverance. We make them demigods not just with the power we grant them but with the reverence we show them - sometimes even in their lifetime - think Roosevelt.

Our Torah portion describes the sin of the Golden Calf. Most people take this as outright idolatry, but Nachmanides explains that the Jewish people were not looking to replace God. If you examine the verses closely you will notice that they instead look for a placement for Moses. The people ask Aaron for a leader who will ''walk before us'' (Exodus 32:1). Nachmanides explanation is most often taken to mitigate the failure of our people, but it also tells us something frightening about Moses and the risks of charismatic leadership. Moses and a golden calf could be interchanged as far as the people were concerned. (they don't even stop to mourn his supposed disappearance).

We are meant to seek out God on our own. We must be careful of the men and women in whom we place our trust (be they politicians or religious leaders) - not investing them with powers or faith beyond their abilities and positions. Our destiny is in God's hands - not in the hands of men of flesh like ourselves.