Parashat Ekev 5786
Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, Rabbi of the Western Wall and Holy Sites
One of the great tragedies in the history of the Jewish people is the sin of the Golden Calf. After the revelation at Mount Sinai, Moses ascended the mountain to receive the Tablets of the Covenant, upon which the Ten Commandments and the foundations of the Torah were written. However, after forty days, the Israelites were led astray by a deceptive vision presented to them by Satan. They believed that Moses would not return and sought a tangible form of leadership. To this end, they fashioned a golden calf and proclaimed it their god.
When Moses descended from the mountain and saw the people dancing around the calf, he understood how deeply they had been drawn toward idolatry. He threw the Tablets from his hands and shattered them.
After an extended period of prayer and supplication, the Jewish people were given another opportunity. On Rosh Chodesh Elul, Moses once again ascended Mount Sinai, and after forty days – on Yom Kippur – the sin was forgiven, and he descended with the second set of Tablets.
Regarding Moses’ decision to shatter the Tablets, the Torah states in our parasha:
“And I will write on the Tablets the words that were on the first Tablets, which you shattered, and you shall place them in the Ark.”
(Deuteronomy 10:2)
Regarding the words “which you shattered,” our Sages taught:
“The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: ‘Which you shattered’ – your strength for having shattered them. This teaches that the Holy One, blessed be He, approved of his decision to shatter the Tablets.”
(Talmud, Shabbat 87a)
Moses had not been instructed to shatter the Tablets. These were heavenly Tablets that he had brought down from the mountain, and he could have chosen not to give them to the people, or even not to descend with them at all, as God had suggested to him. Nevertheless, he chose to shatter them, and God approved of his action.
Rabbi Meir Simcha of Dvinsk explains (Meshech Chochma, Exodus 32:19) that the sin of the Golden Calf stemmed from the desire to replace Moses with a tangible, physical leader. By shattering the Tablets, Moses taught a fundamental principle: There is no inherent holiness in a physical object, even if it is a set of Tablets written by the finger of God. If the people who use the object are unworthy and do not follow the path of God, the object’s existence itself has no significance. For this, God praised him.
God’s approval is also reflected in the wording of the verse: “which you shattered, and you shall place them in the Ark.” Regarding this, our Sages taught:
“Rab Yosef taught: This teaches that both the Tablets and the fragments of the Tablets were placed in the Ark. From here we learn that a Torah scholar who has forgotten his learning due to circumstances beyond his control must not be treated disrespectfully.”
(Talmud, Menachot 99a)
The Ramban (Shabbat 87a) explains that the very fact that the fragments of the Tablets were placed in the Ark alongside the second Tablets demonstrates that God approved of Moses’ actions. Had the breaking of the Tablets been a sin, there would have been no reason to place their fragments in the Ark of the Covenant, for the principle is that “the accuser cannot become the defender.” The fact that they were preserved there demonstrates that their breaking was acceptable in God’s eyes.
Yet a question still arises. The first Tablets were shattered and can no longer be used. Moreover, our Sages teach that had they not been broken, the Torah would have been engraved upon the Jewish people in such a way that it would never have been forgotten. If so, their shattering also represents a great loss. Why, then, were the fragments preserved in the Holy Ark? What is the significance of fragments that can no longer fulfill their original purpose?
The answer emerges from the words of Rabbi Yosef, who forgot his learning, while his students reminded him of what he had once studied. In the modern world, we often evaluate a person primarily according to their present abilities and practical contributions. However, our Sages teach that a person’s spiritual past and the effort they invested do not disappear, even when circumstances no longer allow them to express those qualities as they once did.
Here we are taught a profound distinction. In the physical world, something that is broken or lost ceases to fulfill its purpose. In the spiritual world, however, true achievements do not disappear. Even when they can no longer be realized in practice, their inner value continues to exist.
So too with the first Tablets. Although they were shattered, they brought about a spiritual reality that was not erased. In the future, when the world reaches its ultimate perfection, the virtues they brought with them will be revealed anew. That is why the fragments of the Tablets were placed alongside the second Tablets – to teach us that even something that appears broken and lost continues to carry meaning and influence.
This is also the message regarding an elderly person who has forgotten their Torah learning. The respect we show such a person does not stem only from what they are capable of doing today, but from who they are, from the journey they have traveled, and from the spiritual world they built throughout their life.
This idea also explains the teaching of our Sages (Jerusalem Talmud, Shekalim 15b) that two Arks accompanied the Jewish people in the wilderness: one contained the Tablets of the Covenant, while the other contained the fragments of the Tablets. It was specifically the Ark containing the fragments that went out with the people to war, teaching that the struggle is also a struggle for the spirit – and for the desire to restore the world to its original state, a world of wholeness without corruption.
Perhaps the message is that in times of trial, it is not enough to remember our successes. The fragments, failures, and crises are also part of our identity. They remind us of our ability to rise again, to repair, and to continue moving forward.
We often wish to leave our crises behind, to conceal them, or to erase them from our memory. The fragments of the Tablets placed in the Ark teach us that the past – even when it is painful and broken – is not something of which to be ashamed. It is an inseparable part of the journey. Those who know how to carry their fragments with them, learn from them, and continue moving forward often discover that these very fragments become a source of resilience, meaning, and success.
