The Torah Portion

And the Lord said to Moses?

"Behold, I make a covenant: before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been wrought in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord, for it is a fearful thing that I am doing with you." Exodus 34:10
And the scripture says: "If You deal thus with me, kill me, I pray You, out of hand, if I have found favor in Your sight; and let me not see my wretchedness." Numbers 11:15; Moses' plea to God during the wanderings in the desert

In the Midrash?

In the Midrashoriginal: "Midrash"; an ancient rabbinic method of interpreting the Bible through stories and homilies, Rabbi Levi said: At the hour that the Holy One, Blessed be He, said to Moses, "Behold, I make a covenant," Moses said before Him: "Master of the Universe! Is everything You are destined to give me being given as a gift?" The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to him: "No, rather I make a covenant." Moses said before Him: "Master of the Universe, if You make a covenant, why do You say to me, 'kill me, I pray You, out of hand'?" The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to him: "Moses, by your life, I have sworn an oath to you that I will not leave you until I show you everything that I created during the six days of Creation."

Verse?

"Observe that which I command you this day: behold, I drive out before you the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be for a snare in the midst of you. But you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and you shall cut down their Asherim. For you shall bow down to no other god; for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God." Exodus 34:11-14; commandments regarding the conquest of Canaan and the rejection of idolatry

Commentary?

Rashioriginal: "Rashi"; the acronym for Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (1040–1105), the preeminent medieval commentator, of blessed memory, explained: "Take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant"—if you make a covenant with them, it will become a snare for you. "But you shall break down their altars"—it is a commandment upon you to shatter their altars. "For you shall bow down to no other god"—that you should not perform idol worship. "For the Lord, whose name is Jealous"—He is zealous to exact punishment from those who worship idols.

Further there?

"Lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go astray after their gods, and sacrifice to their gods, and one call you and you eat of his sacrifice. And you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters go astray after their gods, and make your sons go astray after their gods. You shall make for yourself no molten gods." Exodus 34:15-17

Ramban?

And the Rambanoriginal: "Ramban"; the acronym for Rabbi Moshe ben Nahman (1194–1270), a leading Sephardic scholar and mystic, of blessed memory, wrote: The reason for "You shall make for yourself no molten gods" is that after He warned against idolatry in general, He returned and warned against the "molten god" original: "Massekhah"; cast metal statues specifically. This is because it is made with great effort and extraordinary craftsmanship, and people thought it possessed more power than other types of carved idols.

Verse?

"The feast of unleavened bread shall you keep. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib; for in the month Abib you came out from Egypt. All that opens the womb is Mine; and all your cattle that is male, the firstlings of ox and sheep. And the firstling of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb; and if you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. All the first-born of your sons you shall redeem. And none shall appear before Me empty." Exodus 34:18-20; regarding Passover and the sanctity of the firstborn

Midrash?

In the Midrash, Rabbi Isaac said: Why is the section of the firstborn juxtaposed with the section of the pilgrimage festivals? To tell you that anyone who does not go up for the pilgrimage The three annual festivals—Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot—when Israelites traveled to the Temple in Jerusalem is as if he worships idols; and anyone who goes up for the pilgrimage is as if he fulfills the commandment of the firstborn.

Verse?

"Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest. And you shall observe the feast of weeks, even of the first-fruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the turn of the year. Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel." Exodus 34:21-23; regarding the Sabbath and the three festivals

Commentary?

Rashi, of blessed memory, explained: "In plowing time and in harvest you shall rest"—why was this said? Has it not already been stated, "Six days you shall work, and on the seventh day you shall rest"? Rather, it comes to teach about the plowing of the eve of the seventh year The Sabbatical year or Shemitah that enters into the seventh year, and about the harvest of the seventh year that extends into the conclusion of the seventh year.

Further there?

"For I will cast out nations before you, and enlarge your borders; neither shall any man desire your land, when you go up to appear before the Lord your God three times in the year. You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left until the morning. The first of the first-fruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of the Lord your God. You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk." Exodus 34:24-26

Midrash?

In the Midrash, Rabbi Levi said: At the hour that the Holy One, Blessed be He, said to Moses, "You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk," Moses said before Him: "Master of the Universe, is there a kid in its mother's milk?" The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to him: "Moses, by your life, Israel is destined to sin with the Calf and say, 'These are your gods, O Israel,' and I will say to them: 'You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk.'" The Midrash creates a wordplay or conceptual link between the Golden Calf and the prohibition of mixing meat and milk