FACEBUKER SHABBOS TABLE TALK
Continuing the Legacy of Rabbi Dovid Winiarz of blessed memory
When recalling the story of the Golden Calf, Moshe recounts that he was coming down with the luchos, the tablets of the covenant, and when he saw the people worshiping the calf, he grabbed the tablets and threw them, breaking them in front of the people.
The question is why Moshe needed to grab them. Wasn’t he holding them?
The commentaries offer several suggestions. One is that the tablets were originally “larger than life,” too big for Moshe to hold. Rather, they rested upon or above his hands. When the Jews sinned, the tablets lost their holiness and shrank.
Others say that Moshe didn’t just turn his hands and let them fall. Rather, he intentionally grabbed them and threw them down with force. One commentator even points out that the luchos rested “upon” his hands, so there was no way for Moshe to turn his hands to grab them if not that Hashem helped him. That’s how we know Hashem agreed to what Moshe did.
Why, in fact, didn’t Moshe simply turn his hands and let them fall? Because he didn’t want anyone to say it was an accident, or maybe even Moshe’s blunder, and Moshe decided to blame the people instead of acknowledging it.
Moshe wanted us to know that we must own up to what we do, and that when we see something wrong, we cannot remain silent. Instead, we must take positive action, even if the matter would turn out the same a moment later without our input. In order to underscore the egregious nature of the act, Moshe could not sit idly by, nor should any of us.
Joy and Downfall in the Parsha
The Parsha tells us, “V’haya, and it shall be,” if you forget Hashem, and follow the ways of the nations, you will surely be destroyed.
The Gemara in Megila (10b) says, “Whenever the word Vayehi appears, it is a term of pain and suffering.” On the contrary, V’haya conveys simcha and joy. Why, then, would the posuk use that introductory word to tell us that if we forget Hashem we will be destroyed?
R' Yisrael of Rizhin suggests that since every mitzvah must be done with joy, the posuk can be read, “’V’haya’ im shachoach,” if you forget the v’haya/joy of serving Hashem, “tishcach es Hashem,” you will forget Hashem, and become like the other nations.
This parses the verse in a readable way, but it is not the normal way of reading it. We’d like to suggest that though the posuk foretells a calamitous end, there is still joy to be found in it.
If, while enjoying the success Hashem sends us, we forget its source and believe that we are the source of our own success, we will begin to follow the path of the nations and be bound to destruction. YET –
When we are cast down from our high perches, and we recognize the lowly place we’ve come to, we will lift our eyes to Hashem to save us as we always do.
In our downfall we will once again recognize Hashem as the source of everything in the world, and therein we find the happy note.
