In this week’s parsha learn about how Moshe broke the Luchos. The pasuk writes: “Moshe turned and descended from the mountain, with the two Luchos in his hand, Luchos inscribed on both of their surfaces; they were inscribed on one side and on the other. The Luchos are the work of G-d and the script was the script of G-d, etched on the Luchos” (Shemos 32:15-16). The Torah explains these Luchos. They were the most unique item in all of creation! They were something written by the Hand of G-d.
What does Moshe Rabbeinu do? He takes the Luchos and he breaks them!
The Shemen HaTov (Rabbi Dov Weinberger), makes a very interesting observation. Is this the place to describe the Luchos? The proper place to describe them would have been earlier in the narrative when they were first given to Moshe (Shemos 31:1). Why now — as they are being broken — does the Torah first go into detail describing how unique these Luchos were?
The simple interpretation is that the Torah is emphasizing – DESPITE the fact that the Luchos were so special and so unique, NEVERTHELESS Moshe broke them. The Shemen HaTov gives a different insight, which is a very true commentary about life in general.
We rarely appreciate what we have while we have it. Only when we are about to lose something do we first appreciate what we had. Earlier, when Moshe was first given the Luchos, we thought that they were ours and that we would have them until the end of time. We hardly noticed their special quality. But now when we are about to lose them, we finally begin to appreciate them.
We know this is so true. When we have someone we love and appreciate, it is often not until we are close to losing him or her that we appreciate what he or she was to us all along. If one has ever had the experience of having a child who was very sick and then recovered from an illness, one knows that the kiss he gives that child before they go to sleep at night is a different kiss than he used to give the child before the child got sick. If someone, G-d Forbid, comes close to losing that precious little child, the child becomes even more important to them.
That is the way people are. We only appreciate things in their absence. That is why the pasuk only emphasizes the unique characteristics of the Luchos here, at the time of their destruction.
