פרשת כי תשא
This week’s Parsha relates how the Jews reached the culmination of human existence, the receiving of the Ten Commandments and the Torah at Sinai. Unfortunately, during this tremendous spiritual epiphany, the Torah goes on to relate how the עירוב רב decided that Moshe had delayed too much in coming down from the mountain and convinced the Jewish people to begin worshipping the golden calf and committing all sorts of terrible treachery. The Gemorah likens this appalling sin of the Jewish people to a young radiant bride who immediately after her wedding with her beloved husband, goes and has an affair with another man. When Moshe came down from the mountain and saw what was happening, he decided that it was appropriate for him to destroy the Two Tablets that God had personally engraved for the Jewish people at Sinai. The Gemorah explains in Shabbos (88) that this reaction was not one made in haste or due to any weakness on his part, or because of Moshe’s anger with the Jewish people, but rather it was a calculated value judgment that Moshe made, reasoning to himself that if the Jews were capable of such a rebellion against God, they were not fit to keep the Torah.
The Gemorah in Shabbos (87) expounds on this value judgment and says that Moshe considered the law of the Pascal Offering. The law regarding a Pascal Offering is that if a Jew has degenerated to the point where he denies any of the precepts of the Torah, he may not offer it up as a sacrifice. So Moshe reasoned that if regarding this one law, a Jew who is estranged may not engage in it, than certainly when all the Jewish people are estranged from their God in Heaven, they cannot fulfill the entire Torah which constitutes a multitude of laws! Based on this reasoning, Moshe broke the Luchos because he did not feel that the Jews were ready to accept the Torah. Indeed, the Gemora continues to relate that Hashem himself agreed with Moshe’s reaction to the Jewish peoples’ infidelity and commended him for what he did.
The Parsha goes on to say that Moshe prayed fervently to Hashem to not annihilate the Jewish people, and even jeopardized his own place in Jewish history to make sure that Hashem forgave them, and Hashem capitulated and invited Moshe up to Har Sinai again so that he could give him another set of Tablets to bring down to the Jewish people. The Ibn Ezra on this week’s Parsha brings down an explanation which he enigmatically quotes in the name of a “mysterious Torah giant” in which he explains that the second set of tablets were actually greater then the first. His reasoning is that the first set were given during a weekday, whereas the second set of tablets were given on Yom Kippur when Hashem ultimately accepted Moshe’s prayer to forgave the Jewish people. However the Ibn Ezra himself challenges this mysterious Gaon by asserting that the Torah itself testifies that the first set of Tablets were carved by God personally, and therefore must have been greater then the second set which were only etched by Moshe!
Perhaps we could add some fuel to the Ibn Ezra’s challenge of this Gaon by citing the Gemorah in Eruvin (54) which says that had the first set of tablets remained in tact, forgetfulness in Torah would have been non-existent. A person would have learned something once, and it would have remained embedded in his consciousness forever. When one contemplates such an existence, and contrasts it with the pitiful situation today, where the vast majority of what is learned vacates a person’s mind shortly afterward with no remorse, leaving no trace that it was ever even there, and no souvenirs to be remembered by, one can’t help but challenge the assertion of this anonymous Gaon that the second set of tablets were greater then the first set.
On a parallel paradigmatic vein, there is a Tanna Dvei Eliyahu which says that were the first set of tablets to have remained in tact, a person would have learned Torah living a completely comfortable lifestyle. But since they were broken by Moshe, we are condemned to learn Torah out of poverty, difficulty, pain, and sorrow. From this Chazal, one might find it difficult to defend the position that the second tablets were better then the first.
Perhaps we could begin to defend the opinion brought in the Ibn Ezra by bringing the words of the Radbaz which are brought down in the Michtav Meliyahu (Vol. 2 Pg. 27). The Radbaz explains that the primary distinction between the first set of Tablets and the second set was that the first set were given to the Jewish people before they had sinned with the golden calf, and the second set were given after. Before the Jewish people had sinned, their hearts were completely pure after having spent 210 years purging their hearts through complete subjugation. The Radbaz explains beautifully that the Tablets are compared to the heart of Israel. When the heart is pure, whatever is written their will be absorbed instantaneously with no toil and embedded their forever. Unfortunately however, this state could not be maintained after the Jews had sinned with the golden calf. This terrible sin introduced filth and attachment to the worldly pleasures into their hearts, and their hearts were no longer fit to absorb the Torah like they were previously. This explains why Moshe was commanded to actually etch the second set of tablets himself, to demonstrate to the Jewish people that from now on, only with diligent toil could one purify his heart to the point that the Torah would be able to enter. This purification process removes the bonds of steel that a person has with the pleasures of this world, and cleanses him so that the Torah can successfully penetrate his heart.
These powerful words of the Radbaz are reinforced by the Rambam at the end of Hilchos Teshuava. “It is clear and well-known that the Love of God will not be felt in the heart of man until he works at it constantly by abandoning all the pleasures of this world in favor of it”. It is clear from the Rambam that in our present state, the love of God and the Torah will only enter into the heart of one who seeks it out constantly and breaks his connection with the worldly pleasures. The Mesillas Yesharim quotes the Gemorah which says, “Before one prays for his success in learning, he should pray that he does not ingest too much food!”
In conclusion, although it may have been nice to live in the utopia world of the first Tablets, where everything is given as a gift, there are two clear benefits to the world we presently occupy. Firstly, by existing in a world in which a pure heart is a prerequisite in order to acquire the Torah, we are forced to constantly be tweaking our performance and improving our character traits if we want to have any hope at succeeding with the holy Torah. This constant toil on bettering ourselves will demand our full attention and preclude the possibility of us ever coming to sin. And secondly, by living in a world where the Torah is not given to us, but rather we are forced to work in order to obtain and remember it, when a person ultimately does acquire it, it will truly be his and can never be taken away from him. As R’ Yisroel Salanter points out, something which is given as a gift, is not as dear to a person and he will not necessarily fight so hard to protect it. On the other hand, when one has toiled diligently in order to obtain something, he will give his life up in order to protect that thing from becoming lost to him. Similarly, in our present situation, where we are forced to put in great effort in order to acquire the Torah, when we eventually do, it will truly be ours and nobody will be able to take it away from us.
May we all merit to put in the necessary effort to acquire the Torah and make it ours forever!