The Voice From the Burning Bush

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

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

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

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

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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Living with the Divine Spirit

Living with the Divine Spirit

Mar 10, 2012 By Abigail Treu | Commentary | Ki Tissa

How to blame the Israelites for the Golden Calf episode, when it seems that all they want to do is create something holy? 

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Arts and Crafts: Commentary on Parashat Ki Tissa

Arts and Crafts: Commentary on Parashat Ki Tissa

Feb 11, 2014 By Alan Cooper | Commentary | Ki Tissa

There are aspects of the Bible’s account of the construction of the Tabernacle in the wilderness that seem incredible; so much so that early critical commentators tended to reject its historical accuracy out of hand.

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Shattered Tablets

Shattered Tablets

Mar 6, 2015 By Daniel Heschel Silberbusch | Commentary | Ki Tissa

What fascinates me about this moment in the Torah (Ex. 32:15-19) is what we forget because we too well remember how the story ends.

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