a survey

[cellio]

If you are so inclined, I'm curious about your response to the following (replies initially screened; will unscreen and explain Wednesday):

Without looking, summarize what happened at Mount Sinai according to the torah, starting with God beginning to speak and ending with the golden calf. I'm looking for up to a few sentences, not detailed essays. (You can skip the building of the calf.)

If you like, please also say how you identify religiously (or that you don't).

Edit: Comments no longer initially screened. Also, there was one comment that the poster asked me to keep screened, which I thought I had done, but it's gone now. If I screwed that up, I apologize!

Comments

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

B'nei Yisrael are brought to the foot of Har Sinai and they wait there while Moshe goes up onto the mountain. He's up there for 40 days (during which (a) he's given the Aseret ha dibrot and (b) the people wait for him at the foot of the mountain). After (according to the midrash) the people have counted 40 days but it hasn't actually been 40 days, some (but not all) of the people begin to think Moshe is not coming back. They start collecting gold from the women to melt down to build the golden calf. The calf is built (against Aharon's exhortations not to do so), and then Moshe comes down from the mountain. He sees the calf and breaks the tablets that have on them the Aseret ha dibrot.

(this is all very broad strokes; I haven't read this parsha since last year, and it's coming up again in not horribly long)

(and I self-identify as Modern Orthodox)