In the Torah portion of Eikev, Moses recounts the passing of his brother Aaron immediately after recalling the breaking of the tablets containing the Ten Commandments. Our Sages tell us that the incidents are juxtaposed because “the demise of tzadikim (the righteous) is as difficult for G-d as the breaking of the tablets.”
The parallel between the demise of the righteous and the breaking of the tablets is not only that they are both extremely difficult for G-d, but also that tzadikim and the tablets are analogous. How so?
With regard to the first tablets, the Torah states: “The tablets were the work of G-d; their text was written by G-d - engraved upon the tablets.” The tablets thus had two distinct attributes: their very creation was a work of G-d; the text was engraved by G-d.
After the sin of the Golden Calf, “Moses looked at them and saw that the writing had disappeared. He said: 'How can I give the Jewish people the tablets, they are without substance? Rather, I will break them.' “
But even after the writing had disappeared, the tablets were still G-d's work. How could Moses refer to them as being “without substance”?
As indicated in the verse, the text of the tablets was engraved within the tablets themselves. As such, the text became an integral part of the tablets' substance, not something added as ink is added to paper. Hence, the engraving of the text had a profound impact on the actual tablets, the words becoming entirely one with them. In other words, the unity of the tablets and their text was so great that their true essence was displaced by the text engraved within them.
Therefore, once the “writing had disappeared” - although the tablets were still a work of G-d - they were “without substance,” for the true entity was the actual text, with its soul and spirit.
These qualities of the tablets have a parallel within each Jew. Every Jew is a composite of body and soul. The Jew's body is similar to the tablets, which were a work of G-d, for even the body of a Jew possesses tremendous sanctity. The soul that was placed within the body is similar to the Divine writing engraved within the tablets. The unity of body and soul is thus similar to the unity of the writing and the tablets themselves.
As mentioned earlier, the tablets were important unto themselves - “the work of G-d” - even before the writing was engraved, for the tablets preceded the text. Still, once the Ten Commandments were engraved within them they were elevated to such an extent that their totality was the “Divine writing.” So when the writing disappeared, they were considered to be “without substance.”
So too with the Jew. Although his body was created independently of his soul, once the soul is vested in the body, it becomes truly one with the body. The essential aspect of the soul becomes the essential character of the body as well. Thus we say, “The life of the tzadik is not physical life, but spiritual life - belief, awe and love [of G-d].” This then is the similarity between the demise of tzadikim and the breaking of the tablets. With the introduction of an even higher spiritual element - the soul, the Divine writing - both entities undergo a profound change, with spirituality becoming their entire essence.
From The Chassidic Dimension, based on Likutei Sichot, Vol. 14, in honour of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson's yahrzeit on the 20th of Menachem Av.
