91快播

Kept By Shabbat

Mar 6, 2026 By Amy Kalmanofsky | Commentary | Ki Tissa

Ahad Ha鈥檃m famously said: 鈥淢ore than Jews have kept Shabbat, Shabbat has kept the Jews.鈥� Pretty remarkable coming from the founder of cultural Zionism!

Parashat Ki Tissa either supports or challenges Ha鈥檃m鈥檚 words. This week鈥檚 parashah relates one of the lowest moments in Israel鈥檚 story鈥攖he sin of the golden calf鈥攊n which Israel dances before a god of their own making. Coming down Mount Sinai with the stone tablets inscribed by God鈥檚 finger (Exod. 31:18), Moses sees Israel鈥檚 frenzy and smashes the tablets. Moses spends the rest of the parashah picking up the pieces and working to restore Israel鈥檚 relationship with God. The parashah ends with God giving a new set of tablets to Moses. The holy covenant between God and Israel is restored.

Anina Dassa – Senior Sermon (鈥�25)

Mar 12, 2025 By 91快播 Senior Sermon | Commentary | Senior Sermon | Ki Tissa

Ki Tissa

The Day Is Short, but Our Story Is Long

Mar 14, 2025 By Yael Landman | Commentary | Ki Tissa | Purim

Within the book of Exodus, certain details link the golden calf story with the account of revelation at Sinai. Mount Sinai is the site of the Israelites forming a covenant with God, but it is also the site of them violating that covenant. It鈥檚 where God tells Moses to go up and receive the stone tablets, and where Moses carries down those tablets before he witnesses the Israelites partying and hurls the tablets to the ground. The word kol (which we might translate 鈥渟ound,鈥� 鈥渘oise,鈥� or 鈥渢hunder鈥�) recurs in the context of God鈥檚 revelation, only to recur in the account of the golden calf with respect to the Israelites鈥� ill-advised festivities. In these ways, the golden calf story is inextricably connected to the initial moment of revelation and lawgiving at Sinai, even as it threatens to destroy that covenantal foundation.

Ilana Sandberg – Senior Sermon (’24)

Feb 29, 2024 By 91快播 Senior Sermon | Commentary | Senior Sermon | Ki Tissa

Ilana Sandberg shares her senior sermon for Parshat Ki Tissa

The Desperate (and Comprehensible) Project of the Golden Calf

Mar 1, 2024 By Ilana Sandberg | Commentary | Ki Tissa

After the Israelites鈥� exodus from Egypt, the Torah focuses on the project of how they could ensure God鈥檚 immanence, or retained presence, within their world. God instructs the Israelites to build the Mishkan, or Tabernacle, and establishes the sacrificial system to insure God鈥檚 continued presence. The episode of the Golden Calf seems like a grave error in this process that demands interpretation. Why would the people violate the second commandment they had just received and turn to idolatry?

When Is Humility Not a Virtue?

Mar 10, 2023 By Walter Herzberg | Commentary | Ki Tissa | Shabbat Parah

Moses鈥檚 actions are puzzling and confront us with two related questions: On the one hand, why did Moses need to place the veil on his face? And on the other, why did Moses remove the veil when going before God and when relaying God鈥檚 words to the people鈥攐nly to replace it as described above? Biblical commentators offer some fascinating insights.

On Needing Certainty Now

Feb 18, 2022 By Yitz Landes | Commentary | Ki Tissa

Imagine, for a moment, that you are an Israelite at the foot of Har Sinai. Over the past few weeks, your life has been turned upside down: you have witnessed mind-boggling miracles, you have been freed from slavery, and you have been brought out into the wilderness, to the bottom of Har Sinai. Too scared to go up the mountain (Exod. 19:18, 23), you and your fellow Israelites remain camped out below as Moses goes up and down, eventually staying up on top as God teaches him and prepares the Tablets. You know that you are going somewhere that you should consider home鈥攖o be sure, a place that you have never seen鈥攁nd you know that many of your practices must change.

The Path to Justice

Mar 5, 2021 By Rachel Kahn-Troster | Commentary | Ki Tissa

I鈥檝e been a human rights activist for more than a decade, beginning my work by organizing the Jewish community to speak out against torture. One of the first things I learned鈥攁 theme that resurfaces across many of the campaigns for human rights that I have been part of鈥攊s that when people act out of fear, when their sense of safety and security is challenged, they make unfortunate choices.