page_title: Ki Tissa
section_title: Modern
hierarchical_section_title: Ki Tissa / Further reading / Modern
caption_attribution_description: Mary Doria Russell
context_page_description: Ki Tisa, Ki Tissa, Ki Thissa, or Ki Sisa is the 21st weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the ninth in the Book of Exodus. The parashah tells of building the Tabernacle, the incident of the Golden calf, the request of Moses for God to reveal God's Attributes, and how Moses became radiant.
  The parashah constitutes Exodus 30:11–34:35. The parashah is the longest of the weekly Torah portions in the book of Exodus, and is made up of 7,424 Hebrew letters, 2,002 Hebrew words, 139 verses, and 245 lines in a Torah scroll.
  Jews read it on the 21st Sabbath after Simchat Torah, in the Hebrew month of Adar, corresponding to February or March in the secular calendar. Jews also read the first part of the parashah, Exodus 30:11–16, regarding the half-shekel head tax, as the maftir Torah reading on the special Sabbath Shabbat Shekalim. Jews also read parts of the parashah addressing the intercession of Moses and God's mercy, Exodus 32:11–14 and 34:1–10, as the Torah readings on the fast days of the Tenth of Tevet, the Fast of Esther, the Seventeenth of Tammuz, and the Fast of Gedaliah, and for the afternoon prayer service on Tisha B'Av.
context_section_description: Isaac Abravanel. Commentary on the Torah. Italy, between 1492–1509. In, e.g., Abarbanel: Selected Commentaries on the Torah: Volume 2: Shemos/Exodus. Translated and annotated by Israel Lazar, pages 369–403. Brooklyn: CreateSpace, 2015.
  Abraham Saba. Ẓeror ha-Mor (Bundle of Myrrh). Fez, Morocco, circa 1500. In, e.g., Tzror Hamor: Torah Commentary by Rabbi Avraham Sabba. Translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk, volume 3, pages 1147–220. Jerusalem, Lambda Publishers, 2008.
  Niccolò Machiavelli. The Prince, chapter 6. Florence, Italy, 1532.
  Obadiah ben Jacob Sforno. Commentary on the Torah. Venice, 1567. In, e.g., Sforno: Commentary on the Torah. Translation and explanatory notes by Raphael Pelcovitz, pages 444–73. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 1997.
  Moses Cordovero (the Ramak). Tomer Devorah (The Palm Tree of Deborah). Venice, 1588. In, e.g., Moshe Cordevero. The Palm Tree of Devorah. Translated by Moshe Miller. Southfield, Michigan: Targum Press, 1993. (advocating the imitation of God through the acquisition of the Divine Attributes of Exodus 34:6–7).
  Moshe Alshich. Commentary on the Torah. Safed, circa 1593. In, e.g., Moshe Alshich. Midrash of Rabbi Moshe Alshich on the Torah. Translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk, volume 2, pages 563–606. New York, Lambda Publishers, 2000.
  Shlomo Ephraim Luntschitz. Kli Yakar. Lublin, 1602. In, e.g., Kli Yakar: Shemos. Translated by Elihu Levine, volume 2, pages 273–344. Southfield, Michigan: Targum Press/Feldheim Publishers, 2007.
  Avraham Yehoshua Heschel. Commentaries on the Torah. Cracow, Poland, mid 17th century. Compiled as Chanukat HaTorah. Edited by Chanoch Henoch Erzohn. Piotrkow, Poland, 1900. In Avraham Yehoshua Heschel. Chanukas HaTorah: Mystical Insights of Rav Avraham Yehoshua Heschel on Chumash. Translated by Avraham Peretz Friedman, pages 191–98. Southfield, Michigan: Targum Press/Feldheim Publishers, 2004.
  Thomas Hobbes. Leviathan, 1:12; 3:34, 36, 40; 4:45; Review & Conclusion. England, 1651. Reprint edited by C. B. Macpherson, pages 181, 431, 437–38, 460–61, 503–04, 672, 676–77, 723. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Classics, 1982.
  Chaim ibn Attar. Ohr ha-Chaim. Venice, 1742. In Chayim ben Attar. Or Hachayim: Commentary on the Torah. Translated by Eliyahu Munk, volume 2, pages 814–93. Brooklyn: Lambda Publishers, 1999.
  Yaakov Culi and Yitzchak Magriso. Me'am Lo'ez. Constantinople, 1746. In Jacob Culi and Yitzchak Magriso. The Torah Anthology: Me'am Lo'ez. Translated by Aryeh Kaplan, volume 9, pages 267–355. Jerusalem: Moznaim Publishing, 1990. And Yitzchak Magriso. The Torah Anthology: Me'am Lo'ez. Translated by Aryeh Kaplan, volume 10, pages 3–174. Jerusalem: Moznaim Publishing, 1991.
  Moses Mendelssohn. Jerusalem, § 2. Berlin, 1783. In Jerusalem: Or on Religious Power and Judaism. Translated by Allan Arkush; introduction and commentary by Alexander Altmann, pages 120, 122–23, 129. Hanover, N.H.: Brandeis University Press, 1983.
  Nachman of Breslov. Teachings. Bratslav, Ukraine, before 1811. In Rebbe Nachman's Torah: Breslov Insights into the Weekly Torah Reading: Exodus-Leviticus. Compiled by Chaim Kramer; edited by Y. Hall, pages 232–81. Jerusalem: Breslov Research Institute, 2011.
  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow The Jewish Cemetery at Newport. Boston, 1854. In Harold Bloom. American Religious Poems, pages 80–81. New York: Library of America, 2006.
  George Eliot. Adam Bede, chapters 30, 50. Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1859. Reprinted, e.g., edited by Carol A. Martin, pages 297, 440. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. (referring to the Haftarah's account in 1 Kings 18:19–40, Dinah writes Seth: "to seek a greater blessing elsewhere would be like laying a false offering on the altar and expecting the fire from heaven to kindle it." Echoing the report of Exodus 32:19 that "Moses' anger waxed hot," Dinah tells Adam, "even the man Moses, the meekest of men, was wrathful sometimes.").
  Shlomo Ganzfried. Kitzur Shulchon Oruch, ch. 140. Hungary, 1864. Translated by Eliyahu Touger, volume 2, page 587. New York: Moznaim Publishing, 1991.
  Samson Raphael Hirsc
caption: Russell
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