The Tribe of Levi Did Not Worship the Calf

(Exodus 32:26-27) "Moses stood at the gate of the camp and said, Whoever is for the LORD, to me!" Rav Chisda said: the tribe of Levi did not worship idols, as it is said, "Moses stood at the gate of the camp..." They raised an objection to him from the verse "who said of his father and mother, I have not seen him" (Deuteronomy 33:9): "his father" means his mother's father from Israel; "his brother" means his brother from his mother; "his sons" means his daughter's sons from Israel [implying Levites had Israelite relatives who did sin]. A wise woman asked Rabbi Eliezer: since all were equal in the matter of the calf, why was their death not equal? He said to her: a woman has no wisdom except at the spindle, as it is said, "and every woman wise of heart spun with her hands" (Exodus 35:25). It was stated: Rav and Levi differed. One said: whoever sacrificed and burned incense died by the sword; whoever embraced and kissed the calf died by plague; whoever rejoiced in his heart died by dropsy. The other said: where there were witnesses and warning, by the sword; where there were neither witnesses nor warning, by dropsy; where there were witnesses without warning, by the plague. "Whoever is for the LORD, to me": who would not wish to be a member of the king's household? Rather, Moses said: whoever did not give a ring to the calf, let him come to me. Immediately, "and all the sons of Levi gathered to him."