Ki Tissa

[63] In the seventh reading, Moses stayed with God 40 days and 40 nights, ate no bread, drank no water, and wrote down on the tablets the terms of the covenant.

Deuteronomy 5:12–15 commands that one observe the Sabbath day, keep it holy, and not do any manner of work or cause anyone under one’s control to work—so that one’s subordinates might also rest—and remember that the Israelites were servants in the land of Egypt, and God brought them out with a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm.

Similarly, in 1 Kings 12:28, Jeroboam told the people of his golden calves, "You have gone up long enough to Jerusalem; behold your gods, O Israel, that brought you up out of the land of Egypt."

"[104] Exodus 12:5–6, Leviticus 23:5, and Numbers 9:3 and 5, and 28:16 direct "Passover" to take place on the evening of the fourteenth of Aviv (Nisan in the Hebrew calendar after the Babylonian captivity).

The parashah is discussed in these early nonrabbinic sources:[131] Josephus taught that when the Israelites brought together the materials with great diligence, Moses set architects over the works by the command of God.

[132] 1 Maccabees 2:27–38 told how in the second century BCE, many followers of the pious Jewish priest Mattathias rebelled against the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes.

Rabbi Isaac taught that we cannot appoint a leader over a community without first consulting the people, as Exodus 35:30 says: "And Moses said to the children of Israel: 'See, the Lord has called by name Bezalel, the son of Uri.'"

And thus Rabbi Tanḥum bar Hanilai concluded that it was in reference to Aaron's decision-making in this incident that Psalm 10:3 can be read to mean, "He who praises one who makes a compromise blasphemes God.

Moses, however, saved both himself and his generation when they were condemned to destruction after the sin of the Golden Calf, as Exodus 32:14 reports, "And the Lord repented of the evil that He said He would do to His people."

The men of the Great Assembly thus concluded that Nehemiah 9:18 demonstrates that in addition to making the Golden Calf, on that occasion the Israelites also uttered reproaches and blasphemy.

Rav Aha bar Jacob said that no nation or tongue would have had any power over Israel, as one can read the word "carved" (חָרוּת‎, charut) in Exodus 32:16 as "freedom" (חֵרוּת‎, cheirut).

The cords of death compassed me, and the straits of the netherworld got hold upon me," and on their behalf David composed the conclusion of Psalm 116:6, "I was brought low and He saved me.

But as soon as the Israelites committed the sin of the Golden Calf, 1.2 million destroying angels descended and removed the crowns, as it is said in Exodus 33:6, "And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments from mount Horeb.

Rabbi Jacob ben Dostai said that it is about three miles from Lod to Ono, and once he rose up early in the morning and waded all that way up to his ankles in fig honey.

Rabbi Ishmael replied by reading to Ben Damah Joshua 1:8, "This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate therein day and night."

Rav Idit answered that indeed Metatron has no authority to forgive sins, and the Israelites would not accept him even as a messenger, for Exodus 33:15 reports that Moses told God, "If Your Presence does not go with me, do not carry us up from here.

Rabban Joḥanan ben Zakkai compared it to the case of a king who took a wife and paid for the paper for the marriage contract, the scribe, and the wedding dress.

Rabbi Eleazar asked how it could be simultaneously true that, in the words of Psalm 62:13, "to You, O Lord, belongs mercy," and "for You render to every man according to his work."

The Torah answered that the man whom God sought to create would be limited in days and full of anger, and would come into the power of sin.

"[219] The parashah is discussed in these medieval Jewish sources:[220] Rashi reported an interpretation by Rabbi Moshe ha-Darshan that since the Levites were submitted in atonement for the firstborn who had practiced idolatry when they worshipped the Golden Calf (in Exodus 32), and Psalm 106:28 calls idol worship "sacrifices to the dead," and in Numbers 12:12 Moses called one afflicted with tzaraat "as one dead," and Leviticus 14:8 required those afflicted with tzaraat to shave, therefore God required the Levites to shave as well.

And he identified as creative Attributes those derived from God's effect on the world, such as making poor and rich, lifting up or casting down, "merciful and compassionate," "jealous and revengeful," "strong and almighty," and the like.

[236] In 1950, the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of Conservative Judaism ruled: "Refraining from the use of a motor vehicle is an important aid in the maintenance of the Sabbath spirit of repose.

The expression evoked a general sense of the bounty of the land and suggested an ecological richness exhibited in a number of ways, not just with milk and honey.

[238] Everett Fox noted that "glory" (כְּבוֹד‎, kevod) and "stubbornness" (כָּבֵד לֵב‎, kaved lev) are leading words throughout the book of Exodus that give it a sense of unity.

Similarly, taught the Chofetz Chaim, the 13 Attributes, while given to Jews to be recited as a prayer, are fundamentally guidelines for how to walk in God's ways.

[244] Julius Wellhausen conceived of early Israelite religion as linked to nature's annual cycle and believed that Scripture only later connected the festivals to historical events like the Exodus from Egypt.

James Kugel reported that modern scholars generally agreed that Passover reflects two originally separate holidays arising out of the annual harvest cycle.

[263] Some Jews refer to the inscription on the two tablets of stone reported in Exodus 32:15 as they study Pirkei Avot chapter 5 on a Sabbath between Passover and Rosh Hashanah.

And again, Jews cite God's characteristic of "steadfast lovingkindness (rav chesed)" in Exodus 34:6 in the Kedushah D'Sidra section of the Minchah service for Shabbat.

And the custom of the Ari, accepted in most but not all communities, is to recite them after removing the Torah from the Ark on Passover, Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Hoshana Rabbah.