KI TISSA (March 2026)
In Ki Tissa, our Torah portion of the week. We meet our ancestors at a moment of deep uncertainty. Moses has been gone longer than anyone expected. The people don’t know what’s happening on the mountain, and they don’t know what comes next. Their fear builds, and in that fear they reach for something—anything—that feels solid. The Golden Calf isn’t about idolatry in the philosophical sense. It’s about panic. It’s about the human impulse to grab hold of something tangible when the world feels unstable.
And Gd’s response is remarkable. Instead of giving up on the people, Gd teaches Moses the Thirteen Attributes of Compassion: a Gd who is patient, gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in kindness. At the very moment when the people are at their worst, Gd models what it looks like to stay grounded, to stay compassionate, to stay committed to a relationship. Moses becomes the bridge—standing between Gd and the people, insisting that compassion must guide the way forward.
This week, it feels very close to our own world. We are watching events unfold in Iran that are frightening, destabilizing, and heartbreaking. Civilians are living with fear in the streets. Families are trying to navigate daily life in a landscape that shifts from hour to hour. And the uncertainty—the not knowing what tomorrow will bring—echoes the emotional world of our ancestors waiting at the base of the mountain.
We also hold in our hearts the men and women serving in uniform—American forces and Israeli forces—who are operating in dangerous, unpredictable conditions. Their families wait for news, hoping for safety, praying for return. They, too, are living in that Ki Tissa space: a space where fear is real, where the stakes are high, and where the need for compassion and moral clarity is urgent.
As leaders of this community, Ki Tissa asks something of us. It asks us not to respond to fear with panic or with easy answers. It asks us to be like Moses—to stand in the breach, to hold fast to compassion, to insist on the dignity of every human being caught in the crosscurrents of history. It asks us to remember that leadership is not about having certainty. Leadership is about steadiness. It’s about humility. It’s about the courage to keep our hearts open even when the world feels closed.
So we offer this prayer:
May the One who makes peace in the high heavens bring peace to the streets of Iran. May all civilians be protected. May those who are living with fear find shelter and strength. May the Holy One guard the men and women serving in the U.S. and Israeli militaries, returning them safely to their homes. May those who are wounded find healing, those who mourn find comfort, and those who lead find wisdom. And may we, in our work tonight and in the days ahead, be guided by compassion, clarity, and courage—never by fear, never by despair, but always by the enduring light of our tradition.
Title Photo by Vlad Kiselov on Unsplash