TORAH READING FOR SHABBAT OF ḤOL HAMO’ED וַיֹּֽאמֶר מֹשֶׁה Moses said. The Israelites had made a golden calf, one of their most grievous sins in the wilderness. Moses had interceded with God on their behalf, descended, smashed the tablets, reprimanded the people, and punished the wrongdoers. Now Moses ascends the mountain to plead on their behalf again. He asks three things of God, first that His presence, not just an angel, should go with the people; second, that God “let him know His ways” so that he can understand the nature of divine justice; and third that God should reaffirm that Israel is indeed His people – that He has not distanced Himself from them.

וְרָאִֽיתָ אֶת־אֲחֹרָי וּפָנַי לֹא יֵרָאוּ You shall see My back, but My face may not be seen. A metaphorical way of saying that only in retrospect do we see the presence of God in events. We live life forward but understand it only backward.

פְּסָל־לְךָ֛ שְׁנֵֽי־לֻחֹ֥ת אֲבָנִ֖ים Carve out two stone tablets. The first tablets, entirely the work of God, were broken. The second, the work of God but with the participation of man, endured. So it is in the life of the spirit. The Divine Presence rests securely in this world only when we do something to create space for it. עֲוֹ֣ן אָב֗וֹת עַל־בָּנִים֙ Visit the punishment of fathers’ sins upon their children. According to the Talmud (Berakhot 7a), only when the children repeat the sins of the fathers. וַיֹּ֗אמֶר הִנֵּ֣ה אָֽנֹכִי֘ כֹּרֵ֣ת בְּרִית֒ He said: Behold, I will forge a covenant. God renews the covenant in response to Moses’ prayer. שְׁמָ֨ר־לְךָ֔... בַּֽחֲלֵ֥ב אִמּֽוֹ Keep what I command you...in its mother's milk The prohibition of idolatry and anything that might lead to it, followed by an account of the three pilgrimage festivals. These are essential terms of the covenant. The prohibition of idolatry follows from Israel’s exclusive covenant of loyalty with God. The festivals testify to God’s presence in Israel’s history. לֹא־תְבַשֵּׁל גְּדִי בַּחֲלֵב אִמּוֹ Do not cook a kid in its mother’s milk. The origin of the prohibition against mixing meat and milk. Maimonides infers from its association with the festivals that this was an idolatrous practice associated with pagan festivities (Guide for the Perplexed 3:48). The biblical imagination is predicated on clear boundaries. The pagan imagination often celebrated the blurring of boundaries: man-god, man-beast, androgyny, and other hybrids.