21: Ki Tisa
Welcome to TLDR Torah: a synopsis of the weekly parsha based on Robert Alter’s translation, plus a question to spur your Shabbat dinner (or any!) conversation.
Parsha Ki Tisa (Exodus 30:11-34:35)
TLDR:
Strap in! Ki Tisa takes a break from architectural designs and returns to Moses on Mount Sinai, the golden calf, and chaos.
But first, Moses takes a census! Rather than counting people (bad luck), each man 20 and older pays a half-shekel. Welcome to the regressive poll tax.
Moses receives instructions for the washing station and anointing oil for the Tabernacle. God singles out two master craftsman who will build everything. After God reminds the people about Sabbath, he hands the tablets to Moses.
Back at camp, the people get nervous that Moses hasn’t returned. They propose making gods in his place. Aaron, without questioning, takes their gold rings and makes a golden calf. Short on memory, the people declare that these gods (oddly, the calf is singular) took them from Egypt. Aaron builds an Alter, and the people eat, drink, and “play.”
God tells Moses to return, and that he wants to kill the people. Moses reasons with God but when he heads down and see the calf and the people dancing, he smashes the tablets. Moses burns, grounds, and mixes the calf into water. Then has the people drink it.
Chaos ensues. The Levites rally behind Moses, and kill three thousand people. God sends a plague to punish them too.
The camp returns to day-to-day routine. Moses would enter the tent and speak with God. There’s an anthropomorphic episode in which Moses asks to see God, and God passes by so Moses could see his back but not face.
Moses carves two new tablets, and goes up Mount Sinai alone. He and God make a covenant. God emphasizes that they should not make idols.
Moses returns with his face glowing, so much so that he has to cover his face in front of the people.
Question:
Fun fact. The two tablets are double sided. It wasn’t a clean five and five division on each side.
A philosophical question pops up every few sentences (why did Moses’ face glow? what is God’s back? did God forgive the people or not?), but taking a step back, consider the idiom “seeing is believing.” Moses knew the people had sinned before he returned to them (God told him) but became enraged only when he saw the people dancing himself. Conversely, the people wanted to see a God in the golden calf. Are the pillar of cloud and Moses’ glowing face not manifestations of God and sacredness designed for the people to see? How different is the pillar of cloud from the calf? The cherubim on the Ark (thanks @Noam)? What is the categorical difference between the various images used in Judaism and the calf?