Moments of Intimacy with God
Mar 14, 2009 By Marc Wolf | Commentary | Ki Tissa | Purim
The unknown can be frightening. This week in particular, beyond the unknowns of the economic crisis that grips the world, we encounter insecurity in the Purim story, with God’s hand seemingly absent from directing the narrative. There is an uncertainty that the unknown breeds; we feel it deep within ourselves and struggle to overcome ambiguity through a search for assurance. What is and remains true is that the lesson of the day is consistent with the lesson of history鈥攏one of us is immune from the insecurity of the unknown. Even Moshe.
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Continuing Our Ancestors鈥� Debate with God
Mar 9, 2007 By Stephen P. Garfinkel | Commentary | Ki Tissa
Location, location, location! That’s not only a mantra in real estate but is also, as we shall see, an essential component in understanding some key elements of Ki Tissa, this week’s Torah reading.
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Listening: The Cornerstone of Leadership
Feb 23, 2008 By Charles Savenor | Commentary | Ki Tissa
In this week鈥檚 Torah portion, Ki Tissa, the Children of Israel stand at a crossroads between faith and fear, commitment and rebellion.
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The Voice From the Burning Bush
Mar 10, 2012 By Abigail Treu | Commentary | Text Study | Ki Tissa
Moses heard God’s voice as his own; each of us hears God’s voice as our own, hearing what we need to hear from the thunderous words of revelation that are each of ours and yet so difficult to discern.
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Moses As Prophetic Psychologist
Feb 12, 2014 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Ki Tissa
The notorious centerpiece of Parashat Ki Tissa is the episode of the Golden Calf.
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The Dangers of Sacred Space
Mar 5, 2010 By Benjamin D. Sommer | Commentary | Ki Tissa
For more than a month during this time of year, we read about the mishkan, the Tabernacle, also called the ohel mo’ed, or Tent of Meeting. Parashiyot T’rumah and T’tzavveh, which we read the past two weeks, contain what amount to blueprints in prose format. These readings describe exactly how the Children of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai should construct the mishkan.
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The Arab Spring and Ancient Israel
Feb 19, 2011 By Stephen P. Garfinkel | Commentary | Ki Tissa
What an amazing juxtaposition! The (near) miraculous events in Egypt that we witnessed on news broadcasts over the past week coincide with Parashat Ki Tissa, the Torah reading for this Shabbat. The circumstances of the two are wildly different, yet the fundamental human concerns in each setting overlap to an extraordinary degree.
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The Art of Torah
Feb 27, 2013 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Ki Tissa
Too often, the arts are underappreciated in the Jewish community.
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