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Yehuda haKohen relays:

The Hebrew worldview associates Yosef with cattle. In Moshe’s brakhot to the different tribes at the end of Sefer D’varim, we see Yosef likened to a shor – a bull. Our Sages teach that when Moshe raised Yosef’s sarcophagus from the bottom of the Nile, he had written the words “aleh shor” – “arise bull” on a metal plate and then cast that plate into the river. Yosef’s body then rose to the surface and Moshe was able to fulfill the nation’s oath to bring it with us out of Egypt.

The Midrash Tanḥuma teaches that someone retrieved this metal plate and brought it to Sinai. When the people demanded that Aharon construct a new god to replace Moshe, Aharon collected their gold and began to melt it down. Then this man threw the metal plate with the words “aleh shor” into the fire and the Golden Calf emerged.

Who was this man who inherited the golden plate and caused the golden calf to emerge? What was his name?

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His name was Michah, per Midrash Tanchuma, cited by Rashi to Shemos 32:4:

There are some who say that Micah the idolator mentioned in Judges ch. 17, was there, who had been drawn forth from the foundations of a building in Egypt where he was nearly crushed. He had in his possession a “supernatural name” (שם) and a plate upon which Moses had written: “Come up, ox, come up, ox!” in order to raise the coffin of Joseph who is compared to an ox (cf. Deuteronomy 33:17) out of the Nile, and he cast it (the plate) into the melting pot and the calf (the young ox) came out (ויצא העגל הזה) (Midrash Tanchuma, Ki Tisa 19).

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  • There is an extra detail. He was a child and Moshe complained to God that innocent children were being killed. God explained that he arranged for those with wicked souls to be the ones who are killed but Moshe insisted that God save the child. The child would then hang out with Moshe and observed him raise the coffin. Commented Sep 17 at 10:59
  • 🐍🐂 Dan v'Yosef
    – הראל
    Commented Sep 20 at 5:51
  • So Micah is ben Dan or ben Ephraim ... or?
    – הראל
    Commented Oct 9 at 4:54
  • Rashi says that some people say he was Delilah's son (he's returning the 🐺 silver that he stole from her, his mother) ... and that they're wrong: sefaria.org/…
    – הראל
    Commented Oct 9 at 19:03
  • (He did use to call her "MOM" ... which I found to be astoundingly strange)
    – הראל
    Commented Oct 13 at 9:03

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