By Rabbi Moshe Pogrow
Again and again, the Torah stresses that Moshe spent three periods of forty days and forty nights with Hashem, without eating or drinking: before the giving of the first luchos, after Cheit Ha’eigel, and before the giving of the second luchos. These three periods of preparation, before the two givings of the luchos and before Hashem’s forgiveness, are profoundly significant.
During these days, Moshe's mind focused on the most sublime of all relationships. The forty days that led to the supreme revelation in particular (Shemos 33:12) elevated him to the level appropriate to that revelation. The impact on him is beyond our understanding. We can, however, consider the impact of these periods on the people waiting for their leader.
There was a considerable interval between Matan Torah and the receiving of the luchos. Matan Torah obligated the people to fulfill the Torah, whereas the luchos were intended to transform the people themselves into the Torah’s representatives. The Torah was entrusted to them, for their own sake and the sake of mankind, but this trust was based on the assumption that they would stand firmly on the basis of the Torah.
This was the purpose of the forty days: each individual was to work on his character, internalize what he had heard, strengthen himself in the loyalty expressed by naaseh v’nishma, and resolve to be faithful to the spirit commensurate with kabbalas haluchos. Moshe’s absence should have impelled each individual to become a representative of the Torah in his own right. The smashing of the luchos showed that they failed that first test.
After Cheit Ha’eigel and the execution of the guilty, the people were conscious of their guilt. They removed their ornaments, averting the annihilation they deserved and paving the way for the renewal of their relationship with G-d and the great mission of their future.
But this consciousness was not enough. Momentary remorse is never enough to erase guilt—work on one’s character is required. One needs the help of G-d’s grace, and the miracle of kapparah, which buries past guilt. And for this, too, a period of forty days was granted.
Moshe was promised that the relationship between G-d and the people would be renewed, that he would receive new luchos beside the broken ones. Once again, forty days were assigned. This time, the nation passed the test of separation from Moshe, and worked its way up to a level commensurate with its destiny.
G-d does not change the Torah to accommodate man’s mistakes. There are only two choices: to leave the Torah, or to return to it. Not reform of the Torah but reform of ourselves to meet its standards—that is our task for all time.
Based on the commentary of Rav Shamshon Raphael Hirsch zt”l on Chumash, with permission from the publisher.
