Spiritual and Ethical Issues in the Sh'mot Stories: by Dr. Meir Tamari ìTo you belongs righteousness but to us shameî [4] "A time for casting stones and a time for gathering stones" (Kohelet 3:5) - this characterizes events after G-d had granted Moshe's prayer to rescind the annihilation that He considered. Yet Israel had not yet been forgiven, which, as in all cases, individual, national and even of all the nations, required repentance. This requires acknowledgment of the sin and confession, rectifying the error, regret at having committed it and undertaking not to repeat it. Now, before going to obtain G-d's forgive- ness, Moshe set about leading Israel to T'shuva. A time for casting stones: "When Moshe saw the calf and the dances, his anger burnt in him. He threw down the Tablets from his hands, and shattered them at the foot of the mountain" (Sh'mot 32:19). Some would like to argue that this was an act of despair on Moshe's part or that he was so weakened by what he saw that the heavy Luchot of stone simply slipped from his grasp. Alternatively, "although G-d had already told him about the calf, Moshe still took the Luchot down with him on the chance that when they saw the Luchot inscribed by the hand of G-d they would immediately do T'shuva. However, when he saw the dancing and festivities with which Israel worshiped the idol, he shattered them" (S'forno). When the sinner is sorry and downcast at his own actions, there is hope that he will repent and do T'shuva; but their dancing and revelry showed that the idolatry had moved beyond the intellect and the error, to become immoral, sensuous and false. Others teach that it was with great strength and anger at Israel that Moshe broke the Luchot. The concluding words of the whole Torah (D'varim 34:12) are: "'All the strong hand and awesome power that Moshe performed before the eyes of all Israel'; these are the shattering of the Luchot (Shm'ot Rabba 45). This is an act consistent with the passion for truth and justice that Moshe showed from the very beginning. He smote the Egyptian taskmaster beating a defenseless slave, upbraided the two quarrelling Hebrews, and intervened on behalf of the pagan daughters of Yitro and delivered them and their flocks from the molesting shepherds. A time for gathering stones: Even though it may be considered to a terrible act to shatter the Luchot given by G-d, "G-d upheld him, as it is written (Sh'mot 34:1): 'Carve two Tablets and I will write on them the words which were on the first Tablets which you shattered'' (Shabbat 87; Yevamot 62). "There was no difference between the first Luchot and the second except in their external form. In the first Luchot, both the stone material as well as the words were G-d's; then the bodies and souls of Israel were united in holiness and drawn after Him, in simple faith, without the searching of the mind and without questions of the soul - NA'ASEH V'NISHMA. In the second Luchot, while the stone material was carved and made by Moshe, only the words were written by the hand of G-d; so too, the material and bodily aspects of Israel were separated from the spiritual, needing sanctification and spiritual purification to re-unite them. At the first Luchot, the Written Law revealed to them all the halakhot and their methods of implementation, the inner meanings of Torah through Aggada and even the hidden mystical world. With the second Luchot, however, because of their changed spirituality, they now required the hard work of study, the mental search and the constant striving of the Oral Law to achieve this" (Shem Mi- Shmuel). Moshe rebuked Israel, 'You have sinned grievously'; there are 3 things called grievous sin, 'chata'a gedola': idolatry as here, adultery as Yosef said to Potifar's wife, and bloodshed, as Kayin said when he repented killing Hevel " (Midrash Hagadol). But first the evil had to be rectified and the guilty punished. Moshe strode into the camp and all Israel watched as he burnt the platform that they had erected in honor of the Eigel. Then he ground the idol into gold dust and fittingly, forced Israel to drink of it; "only to test them as with the water of a Sotah (Avoda Zara 43b-42a). "The punishments were not meted out equally; although all Israel was party to the sin, their sins were not equal. Those whose acts were identified by witnesses and warned were killed by the swords of the Levites, those who kissed and adored the calf were punished by the plague (verse 35) while those who merely rejoiced in their hearts had to drink the water" (Yoma 66b). There is a tradition to Moshe's actions: Avraham smashed the idols of Terach, Gideon broke down the altar of idolatry, Eliyahu killed the prophets of Baal, and Mattityahu and his sons broke Greek idols and warred against the Jewish Hellenists. Throughout such a pattern, there may not be even a trace of personal interest, self aggrandizement or ulterior motive; any of these would falsify and distort the rebuke or punitive actions, leading to mere zealotry, fanaticism or hatred; "if there is even a hint of personal interest or joy or hatred in his zealousness, the zealot will not be forgiven" (Ha'ameik Davar, Shmot 32:27). "These acts have to be done truly out of zealotry for G-d, therefore we cannot allow just every- one to attack the wrongdoer" (Torah Temima). "So we find that Moshe and all the prophets negated, humbled and sacrificed themselves for the sake of Israel. With David, it is written: 'Behold, I have sinned and transgressed, but this flock what have they done wrong? Let Your hand be set only against me and my father's house' (Shmuel Bet 24:17). With Moshe, it is written: 'and now G-d, if You would forgive their sin! - but if not, blot me out, I pray, erase me now from Your book that You have written'" (Mechilta 21:4). "'When Moshe descended from Har Sinai with the second Luchot the skin of his face shone with the radiance [of the Shechina]: 'when He showed him a glimpse of His glory' [Rashi ](Shmot 34:29.) Since the holiness and spirituality of the first Luchot were greater than that of the second Luchot, we would have expected the radiance to have been on Moshe's face then. However, here in the case of the second Luchot, he sacrificed himself for Israel out of love for them, so the Shechina shone on the skin of his face as a reward" (Shem MiShmuel). [The Parshat Pi-n'chas Homepage]
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