Weekly Dvar Torah: The Upside of Breaking the Luchos

On the 17th of Tammuz (Fast of Shiva Asar B’Tammuz) we start the three weeks of mourning.

One of the tragedies that befell the Jewish people on that day, was the breaking of the first set of Tablets (Luchos) by Moshe Rabbeinu, when he descended from the mountain and he saw the Jewish people worshipping the golden calf. Eighty days later G-d told Moshe to carve out two new tablets, and G-d engraved on them the Ten Commandments once again, and we got the second set of Luchos.

There’s a well-known adage from the Alter Rebbe that ירידה צורך עלי’ (a decline is for the purpose of an ascent). Therefore, whenever we encounter a decline, such as the breaking of the Luchos with the Ten commandments, what will follow will be an ascent. There will be some benefit from what happens next that we couldn’t get without the breaking of the Luchos.

The first Luchos were of an exceptional lofty level, they were G-dly in every sense. Hashem carved them out of the stone. G-d engraved the letters in such a way that the inscription could be read from all sides of the Luchos. A most amazing miraculous G-dly revelation. The second Luchos were carved out by Moshe, and G-d engraved (wrote) the letters only on the front side. The G-dliness on the Luchos was not revealed.

Rabi Eliezer describes this as follows: What is the meaning of: “And the tablets were the work of G-d, and the writing was the writing of G-d, engraved upon the tablets” (Shemos 32:16)? This teaches us that had the first tablets not been broken, the Torah would never have been forgotten from the Jewish people, as the Torah would have been engraved upon their hearts (Eiruvin 54,a).

As a result of Moshe breaking the Luchos we lost the tremendous G-dly revelation and the benefits of the first Luchos. This was clearly a terrible setback.

Our sages elaborate on the significance of this loss:

Rav Adda, son of Rabbi Chanina, said: “If the Jews had not sinned they would have only the five books of the Torah and the book of Yehoshua alone [without the rest of the Tanach and the Oral Law]” (Nedarim 22, b).

The Midrash goes even further:

When Moshe started feeling bad that he broke the tablets, G-d told him: Do not feel bad about the first tablets, for they only contained the Ten Commandments, however in the second tablets, they will also have Halacha Midrash and Aggadah (Shmos Rabba 46).

This tells us that the breaking of the Luchos is what gave us the entire Oral Law (Torah SheB’al Peh), starting with the Talmud, all the way down to Halachic discussions which continue till today. We would not have any of this if the Jews did not sin and Moshe wouldn’t have broken the first Tablets. That is incredible.

This is what was gained by having a decline which brought about an ascent.

Furthermore, we find something fascinating about the Talmud. The Gemara asks: What is the meaning of the word Bavel (Babylonia)? Rabbi Yocḥanan says, this is a tribute to the Jewish community of Bavel (meaning a mixture) and its Torah scholars: It means that the Talmud is all mixed in with Torah, Mishna, and Talmud. Rabbi Yirmiya says: it says in Eicha (3:6) “He has made me dwell in dark places”, This applies to the Talmud of Bavel, which [is like in the dark because it is] not as clear as the Talmud of Eretz Yisroel (Sanhedrin 24,a).

We learn from our sages, that as a result of the Jews sinning by worshipping the golden calf, and Moshe breaking the first Luchos, we got the Talmud, predominately the Talmud Bavli (Babylonian Talmud), which is all mixed up, and dwells in the dark, and this became the source of our rich heritage. And we know that historically the Bavli rules.

The reason is because: 1) being in the dark brings out the best of the Jewish mind, we have to work hard to find how to see the true light of Torah. 2) since every part of Torah is all mixed into the Talmud we are able to find everything there, and this allows us to use the Jewish genius to sort thing out and make sense of all of this to know the true will of G-d. Hence the manifestation of the brilliant Jewish mind in action, and the enrichment of the Jewish experience by studying Torah and to be a light to the nations.

Now that we understand and we have experienced the benefits of the descent of the breaking of the Luchos, because we merited to study the extra Torah that we received as an ascent. This should enable us to have an understanding and insight, to all the future benefits and the rewards that we will receive after the descent of being in exile for close to 2000 years.

This will happen when Moshiach will come speedily, and he will take us out of this long bitter exile to the full redemption. Then we will truly appreciate the benefits of the decline as it will be followed by the G-dly ascent. ירידה צורך עלי’ = the decline was for the purpose of an ascent. And what an ascent it will be.

Have an ascending Shabbos,
Gut Shabbos

Rabbi Yosef Katzman