Parsha talk Ki Tissa Purim 2025 5785

Parashat Ki Tissa [Exodus 30:11-34:35] is perhaps best known for the episode of the Golden Calf and the repairs entailed by that grievous sin. Our conversation focused on the לוחות, generally understood as the stone tablets on which were incised the Ten Commandments. We discussed the significance of the material, stone, as compared with papyrus in Egypt and parchment in Israel; the stone seems to reflect the Babylonian preference for clay tablets. What did these tablets look like? Did they, or how did they, function in ancient Israelite society?
We also took some time to discuss an aspect of Megillat Esther, since Purim is Thursday night and Friday [March 13-14]. In particular, the last verse of chapter 8, where it is recorded “And many of the people of the land professed to be Jews, for the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them.” What does it mean to be מתיהדים, [mityahadim, in which one can see the root yehudi (Jew)], “to profess to be Jews”?
We remain ever mindful of the remaining hostages, dead and alive, in Gaza, and the moral and spiritual imperative to bring them home to their families, as well as of the soldiers who defend Israel as members of the Israel Defense Forces.
Shabbat Shalom.