Kol Ramah

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Ki Tissa [Exodus 30:11-34:35] features the episode of the Golden Calf, one of the great sins of the Exodus generation. In the rabbinic imagination, it is paired with the sin of the spies, bracketing the 3-week period of mourning introduced by the 17th of Tammuz and culminating with the 9th of Av. The sin itself is not so easy to understand, in part because of the curious use of the word Elohim, here used to refer to pagan gods, with the plural verb; when Elohim refers to God, the verb is always in the singular. The sin sets in motion a number of events, including the removal of the Tent of Meeting to outside the camp and God’s revelation in private to Moses. The passage, including chapter 34, is so rich, we hardly had time to take note of the opening passage which we will read again as the maftir for Shabbat Sheqalim, the first of the 4 special shabbatot preceding Passover, next week. or the other details concerning the