Why does Moses smash them?
Table for Five: Tetzaveh
In partnership with the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles
Edited by Nina Litvak & Salvador Litvak, the Accidental Talmudist
When He had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses the two tablets of the testimony, stone tablets, written with the finger of God. Ex. 31:18
Bracha Goetz, Author of 43 Jewish Children’s Books
The only time God ever spoke in public – and it was to a crowd of approximately two million of us – it turned out to be too much for us to handle such a cosmic force. After hearing the first two divine instructions, we begged Moses to hear the rest of the Torah privately with God instead of directly in our presence on Mount Sinai.
When I first learned about this as a young adult, it was also explained to me that if other religions could make a claim of God speaking to a crowd publicly ever since then, they definitely would have. But they couldn’t. Because it’s just not possible to fabricate a public event like that, with so many witnesses that would need to corroborate such a phenomenal occurrence.
Learning about how extraordinary this historical happening was actually had a big impact on getting me interested in studying more about my own heritage, which I did not know much about at that time.
So after Moses’ subsequent exclusive study session with God, Moses was given two tablets of stone inscribed by God with ten core instructions for living a life of joyful gratitude to bring back down to us! And we learn they were engraved on two stones instead of one so that it is conducive to reading them both vertically and horizontally. There are two fascinating groups of five instructions, but discovering what connects each instruction with its counterpart across on the other tablet is also amazingly elucidating!
Benjamin Elterman, Screenwriter, Essayist, Speechwriter at Mitzvahspeeches.com
The original Tablets were living miracles. The Midrash says that they were made of sapphire. The engraving pierced through the stone completely, meaning some of the letters remained in place suspended. Also the words could be read from any direction no matter where the tablets faced. The most astounding miracle? Not only could the whole Torah (written and oral) be derived from these Ten Commandments, if you learned a Torah principle from the Tablets, that idea would never be forgotten. If we ever had a smoking gun piece of evidence that God exists, these Tablets would have been it.
Yet not only did Moses shatter them, Rashi praises Moses at the end of the Torah for doing it. Why? The Midrash says that just before receiving these Tablets, Moses had studied with God for 40 days in Heaven to learn the whole Torah. But his mind was unable to retain anything that he learned despite his intensive study. Because of his determination and diligence, God gifted him not only the knowledge, but the exceptionally miraculous Tablets for everyone else. But when Moses saw the Israelites worshiping the golden calf, he realized that a tool that would allow them to remember the Torah laws without effort would be disastrous. Like himself, they would need to constantly refresh their learning with diligent effort if they were to ever overcome their evil inclination.
Rabbi Chaim Singer-Frankes, Multi-Faith Chaplain, Spiritual Care Guide, Kaiser Panorama City
Citing Midrash Rabbah, the 18th century Hassidic master, Avodat Yisrael, emphasizes why there are “*two* tablets of the testimony,” instructing that they are “equivalent to heaven and earth.” Evidently, even the words on stone—because they were written with “the finger of God,”— would be too overwhelming for the People. Unmoderated, God’s presence isn’t just imposing; it can be lethal. For as we learned from Pharaoh’s magicians, unable to replicate the plague in Parashat Va’eira, the handiwork of “the finger of God” is obvious and undeniable. Why then, does Moses smash the tablets soon after our verse? At that moment, he realized both our urgent need for Torah and the sheer futility of revealing it pure and unadulterated.
Who is the physician, knowing her patient well, who prescribes the precise dose to heal instead of devastating? In our tradition, Moses is dubbed “Moshe Rabbeinu,” our teacher, our rabbi. The foundational rabbinic treatise Mishnah Pirkei Avoth records the genealogy of transmission, the earliest generations of a teaching line which endures; “Moses received the Torah at Sinai, transmitted it to Joshua, Joshua to the elders,” and so on. What is being transmitted by Moshe on down, is how to unite heaven and earth in Torah without devastating its human beneficiaries. Inscribing the mitzvoth onto a second set of tablets by his own hand, Moshe preserves the essence of Torah while modulating its blistering truths. Moshe Rabbeinu became God’s first reputable, devoted commentator, the biblical exegete extraordinaire; veritably, a rabbi to all rabbis.
Niva Taylor, Freelance Writer
And he gave to Moshe when He had finished speaking with him on Har Sinai two tablets…” This unusual sentence syntax beckons the reader to unravel a deeper meaning. After all, when we study a text written explicitly by “the finger of G-d,” we understand that no word, nor turn of phrase is ever superfluous or arbitrary. This strange mid-sentence interjection is no exception, hinting, says the Ohr HaChaim, that the entire Torah was somehow discernible on the tablets. Therefore, G-d waited until he had taught Moshe the whole Torah before giving him the luchot.
This gives us some startling information – in the forty days that Moshe stood on Har Sinai, he was able to learn and integrate the entire Torah. How was this humanly possible? Rashi elucidates through another grammatical aberration. The Hebrew word for “when He had finished,” “kekaloto,” is missing a “vav,” rendering its definition “like his bride.” Hashem taught Moshe the Torah, repeatedly reviewing its precepts with him. But it’s only natural for a frail mortal to forget things. In the end, relates Rashi, G-d handed the Torah to Moshe as a gift, just as a bride is gifted to her bridegroom.
True wisdom – the kind that deepens our awareness of G-d’s Providence and Majesty – is an extraordinary spiritual accomplishment requiring tremendous toil. But it’s also a Divine gift. When we genuinely desire and pray to draw close to Hashem and understand His teachings, He endows us with special insight, enabling us to reach previously unattainable heights.
Rabbi Nicole Guzik, Co-Senior Rabbi of Sinai Temple
One of the most common theological questions with which we wrestle: who is in control? God? Mankind? This particular pasuk in the parsha seems to convey it is both.
Rashi explains that the word “eto” (with him) is used to show that while God first articulated words of Torah, subsequently, God and Moses repeated each piece of Jewish law, in tandem. If God wanted Moses to internalize each commandment, Moses alone would have repeated the laws. However, as they spoke in unison, it was as if God was reminding Moses and the Jewish people: in order for the Torah to serve as a guide, we need each other.
The image is powerful. God and Moses, reading verse by verse of Torah like two hevruta, two study partners trying to understand the deeper meaning of the text. Powerful and comforting. An image we are meant to summon as we traverse some of the most difficult times in Jewish history. How many of us have stared up at the heavens and asked, “God, why? Why this? Why now?” And perhaps, like God and Moses pouring over the Torah thousands of years ago, God is asking to sit with us. To comfort each other.
To learn and perhaps discover together, holy secrets of the universe are only revealed when man and God find time for each other.
With thanks to Bracha Goetz, Benjamin Elterman, Rabbi Chaim Singer-Frankes, Niva Taylor, Rabbi Nicole Guzik.
Image: “Moses” by Guercino (detail), c. 1618
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