IN A NUTSHELL
Ki Tisa begins with the final details of the Mishkan (the portable Temple). Each person donated a half-shekel to pay for the materials used to build the Mishkan, and the coins were also used to count the people (the Torah forbids the counting of people directly, so instead the coins were counted). This is called a census.
We then read one of the most dramatic stories in the Torah. Moshe is at the top of Mount Sinai receiving the tablets from God for forty days. The people panic, fearing he is late back and may never return. Desperate for a way to connect to God, they make a Golden Calf as their go-between. God tells Moshe to go down the mountain to see the people, and Moshe goes down with the two tablets and finds them dancing before the Golden Calf. Furiously, he throws the tablets to the ground and they smash into pieces. Then he climbs back up the mountain to beg God to forgive them. Eventually, God accepts Moshe’s plea, and Moshe gets a second set of tablets. The parasha ends with a description of Moshe, his face shining with light from his encounter with God, as he returns to the people.
QUESTION TO PONDER
Why do you think Hashem forgave the people for this terrible sin?