Ki Tissa: The Golden Calf and the ache of separation

Moses climbed the mountain to receive the tablets. He carries no provisions, no visible sign of return. Day after day the people wait. No Moses. No voice from the peak. Only silence and the smoldering summit. In their minds the unthinkable takes shape: the man who brought them out of Egypt, who split the sea, who spoke face to face with God—he is gone. Perhaps swallowed by the fire. Perhaps dead. [Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel]