Parashat Ki Tisa continues with discussion about the building of the Mishkan, (the Tabernacle). The portion begins with instructions for taking a census of the people. Each Israelite adult over the age of twenty must contribute half a shekel, to be used in support of the worship in the Mishkan. Next, there is description of the additional holy implements that need to be created. God then identifies Bezalel, a man endowed with "divine spirit of skill," as the chief artisan and architect of the Mishkan. Before construction actually begins, God reminds Moses to tell the people about the importance of maintaining Shabbat. At the conclusion of this passage, God gives Moses the original set of the two Tablets, which are inscribed directly by God, and Moses returns to the people.
The Torah's focus then switches down the mountain to the people, and jumps back a bit in time. The people, upset at Moses's delay up on the mountain, approach Aaron to make them an idol, and Aaron complies by creating a molten calf for the people to worship. Both God and Moses become angry with the people, and, upon his return, Moses smashes the Tablets and, together with the Levites, resumes control of the people, resulting in 3,000 being put to death. God threatens to wipe out the people, but, despite his anger and words of rebuke, Moses prays on the people's behalf, and God relents. Moses then returns up the mountain and beseeches God to reaffirm the Covenant. Moses (not God this time!) carves a new second set of Tablets, and before he returns, he is treated to a viewing of the Divine Presence. The portion ends with God reaffirming the Covenant, along with all its ritual and ethical implications.
