Parsha Ki Tisa Discussion Questions

As we read from the Book of Shmot, every week we will be posting discussion questions that we hope families will use to discuss the Torah portion over Shabbat.

This week’s discussion questions were developed by this past summer’s Machon campers, when they were in Shoafim.   We encourage you to post any of your family’s answers to the questions in the comments section below.

Parsha Ki Tisa Discussion Questions

Developed by Ilan Hirschfield, Sarah Binney, Shai Yona and Adina Heisler

• Why do you think only earrings were used to make the golden calf?  Do you think it is because the people had failed to listen to the word of God?
• The Israelites probably knew that making the golden calf was wrong and not what Moshe would have wanted.  Have you ever done something knowing it was wrong?  What do you think they were feeling when Moshe came down and saw them?
• Aaron, Moshe’s brother, had helped Moshe get Israelites out of Egypt.  How do you think Aaron’s assistance in building the golden calf may have affected his relationship with Moshe?
• Why does God use “Your” and “You” when talking to Moshe about B’nei Yisrael and the sin they just committed?  What might it have been like for Moshe, as a leader, to take the Israelites sin upon himself?
• God seems to have expressed many intense emotions throughout this parsha.  What does it mean that we view God as a just and compassionate God, if we read of an angry and mad God in Ki Tissa?