פָּרָשַׁת כִּי תִשָּׂא

Parshat Ki Tisa tells of the half-shekel, the golden calf, and the forgiveness that gave Yisrael the second luchot. It opens with the last commands for the Mishkan: the half-shekel each man gives when the people are counted (Parshat Shekalim); the copper laver where the kohanim wash; the anointing oil and the incense, holy and never to be copied; Betzalel and Oholiav, filled with wisdom to build it all; and Shabbat as the eternal sign between Hashem and Yisrael. Then Hashem gives Moshe the two luchot, written with the finger of G-d.

Below, at the foot of the mountain, the people seeing Moshe's return to them delayed, press Aharon to make them a god; he casts their gold into a calf, and they worship it. Hashem tells Moshe to go down and offers to destroy the nation and begin again from him; Moshe pleads for them and Hashem relents. Moshe comes down, sees the calf and the dancing, and shatters the luchot; he burns the calf, and the Levites kill three thousand. He returns to Hashem and asks for forgiveness or to be erased from His book. Hashem says He will send an angel but will not go among the people Himself; the people mourn, and Moshe pitches his tent outside the camp, where Hashem speaks with him face to face. Moshe refuses to go on without Hashem's presence and asks to see His glory; Hashem passes before him in the cleft of the rock. On the second tablets Hashem proclaims the Thirteen Attributes of mercy — Hashem, Hashem, merciful and gracious, slow to anger — renews the covenant, and Moshe stays another forty days. He comes down with a shining face and covers it with a veil. The fast-day reading is 32:11–14 and 34:1–10; Shabbat Chol HaMoed reads 33:12–34:26.