וּמְנָלַן דְּהִסְכִּים הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא עַל יָדוֹ? — שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״אֲשֶׁר שִׁבַּרְתָּ״, וְאָמַר רֵישׁ לָקִישׁ: יִישַׁר כֹּחֲךָ שֶׁשִּׁבַּרְתָּ.אָמַר:
Regarding the tablets, which represented the entire Torah, and Israel at that moment were apostates, as they were worshipping the calf, all the more so are they not worthy of receiving the Torah. And from where do we derive that the Holy One, Blessed be He, agreed with his reasoning? As it is stated: “The first tablets which you broke [asher shibarta]” (Exodus 34:1), and Reish Lakish said: The word asher is an allusion to the phrase: May your strength be true [yishar koḥakha] due to the fact that you broke the tablets.
Fred Ehrman
Rashi’s last comment in the Torah, is in parshat Vezot Habrachah. The verse in Deuteronomy speaks of, “that mighty hand, and in all the awesome power that Moses showed in the sight of all Israel” [Deuteronomy 34:12]. And what act does Rashi choose to show the greatness of Moses? One of the Ten Plagues? The splitting of the Sea of Reeds? Hitting the rock that then brought forth streams of water? No, none of these.
As Moses descends from the top of Mount Sinai carrying the two Tablets of the Covenant, he is confronted with the Israelites dancing around the Golden Calf. In anger, he throws the Tablets down at the foot of the mountain, shattering them. Rashi, quoting from the Talmud [Shabbat 87], tells us that God congratulates Moses for this act of destruction. Rashi’s last words are, “Yeyasher Kochacha Sheshibarta,” yasher koach, congratulations that you shattered them (the Tablets).
The day began, as did all others, in the second grade at Ramaz Academy - with Shacharit. The buzzing of misbehavior started, getting louder and louder with Mr. Gottlieb’s face getting increasingly red. Suddenly Mr. Gottlieb took his siddur, his prayer book, and flung it across to the other side of the room, where it thumped on the floor. A large gasp was heard from all of the class. Hands went up to our mouths. We were all shocked and stunned. The teacher deliberately throwing his siddur, a book that we kissed if we accidently dropped it? There was a deafening silence in the room. Mr. Gottlieb then explained that if we could not respect the prayer service, then the book in which we prayed had also been disrespected. He then said he would give us one more chance. Each of us began to pray and there was not a hint of any further disturbance or distraction. This decorum continued day after day and almost all of us began to concentrate on the prayers.
Dr. Arnie Gotfryd
The Sages relate2 that as Moses approached the scene, the letters flew off, his hands became weak, and the Tablets broke. This was no Charlton Hestonesque temper tantrum throw-the-plate-against-the-wall outburst. Moses, despite his absolute commitment to G‑d and the Torah, knowingly sacrificed Torah truth for Jewish continuity. In response, G‑d cooperated and literally removed the message from the medium. The tzaddik decreed and the One Above fulfilled.3
Rabbi Shalom Schwarz
Through the breaking of the first Tablets the possibility of the second Tablets emerged… We see that the second tablets were created by Moshe , not by God. Psol lecha -- Hew them (for) yourself ( Shmot 34,1) . And Moshe’s face shone when he brought those tablets down... not the first tablets.
The Kotzker Rebbe said that there is nothing more whole than a broken heart. Perhaps the tablets are in the Holy of Holies because only when we face and embrace our shadows are we whole.
Moshe’s heroic act of breaking the Tablets was the catalyst for this realization. The Torah was given to us as imperfect human beings, who 40 days latercould fashion and worship a golden calf. But therein lies the beauty, because we receive the message that no matter where we are or whatever is happening to us, everything is still possible….transformation — teshuva— is always possible. We can find ourselves anew, again and again and even receive a greater light.
The first Tablets were God’s gift to us, the second Tablets are our gift to God.
Rabbi Ariel Root Wolpe
When Moshe broke the tablets at Sinai, the Torah says "asher shibarta," which you shattered. Resh Lakish interprets this to mean that God said, "Yasher Koach Sheshibarta," thanking and congratulating Moshe for breaking the tablets (Shabbat 87a). This teaches us that there are times when the shattering of Torah is actually its foundation, that there are moments when our stories and texts must be broken.
This prompted me to contemplate the tropes in our society that need shattering...
Rav Mordechai Greenberg
This was the mistake of Bnei Yisrael when they created the egel; they thought that there are physical things that have divine powers. Moshe realized that if he were to give them the luchot, they would think that they were inherently holy and divine. They would then simply replace the egel with the luchot. In order to clearly uproot this mistaken belief, Moshe shattered the luchot, demonstrating that even objects that are imprinted by divine action – “And the writing was the writing of God” (Shemot 32:7) – have no inherent value. Hashem concurred with Moshe’s shattering of the luchot; in the words of Chazal, He told Moshe, “Yasher koach sheshibarta,” “ Yasher Koach for breaking them!”
Dr Maurice M. Mizrahi
The Midrash says: When Moses saw that [the Israelites] were doomed, he sought a pretext through which to save them. He said: It is written on the tablets that he who sacrifices to gods will be excommunicated, and so, I will break them and say to the Holy One, blessed be He: Until now they did not know the punishment for idolatry. If they had, they would not have done it. [Tanhuma on Ki Tisa 30]
Chizkuni adds: Moses smashed the tablets in front of the people and said: I did this so as not to make you guilty of transgressing the laws written on these tablets. It was written on them that you are not to have other deities, and you had made a Golden Calf for yourselves!
Dr. Maurice M. Mizrahi
The last phrase in Deuteronomy is: No other prophet has arisen in Israel like Moses, who knew the Lord knew face to face ... and possessed great might and awesome power that he displayed in the sight of all Israel. [Deut. 34:10-12] The Jerusalem Talmud tells us that the phrase “great might” refers to the breaking of the tablets. [Ta’anit Y 4:5] Rashi comments that Moses' heart inspired him to shatter the Tablets before the eyes of all the people. So the Torah ends with an approving account of its own destruction! It was destroyed to preserve it. The Rebbe says: With its closing words the Torah establishes that it sees its own existence as secondary to the existence of the people of Israel. It is seen as one of his greatest acts of leadership. A leader must make his followers feel they are his first concern, not pawns.
וַוַיִּפֶן וַיֵּרֶד משֶׁה, כֵּיוָן שֶׁפִּנָה חַטָּיָה שֶׁלָּהֶם, אָמַר משֶׁה הֲרֵי הָיָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל מִי שֶׁיְבַקֵּשׁ עֲלֵיהֶם, אֲנִי מִי יְבַקֵּשׁ עָלָי, הִתְחִיל מִצְטַעֵר עַל שִׁבּוּר הַלּוּחוֹת, וְאָמַר לוֹ הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא אַל תִּצְטָעֵר בַּלּוּחוֹת הָרִאשׁוֹנוֹת, שֶׁלֹא הָיוּ אֶלָּא עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְּרוֹת לְבָד, וּבַלּוּחוֹת הַשְּׁנִיִּים אֲנִי נוֹתֵן לְךָ שֶׁיְהֵא בָהֶם הֲלָכוֹת מִדְרָשׁ וְאַגָּדוֹת, הֲדָא הוּא דִכְתִיב: וְיַגֶּד לְךָ תַּעֲלֻמוֹת חָכְמָה כִּי כִפְלַיִם לְתוּשִׁיָּה, וְלֹא עוֹד, אֶלָּא שֶׁאַתָּה מְבֻשָֹּׂר שֶׁמָּחַלְתִּי לְךָ עַל חַטָּיָה שֶׁלְּךָ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (איוב יא, ו): וְדַע כִּי יַשֶּׁה לְךָ אֱלוֹהַּ מֵעֲוֹנֶךָ.
Dr. Maurice M. Mizrahi
A major teaching emerged from this episode: Be careful [to continue to respect] an elder who has forgotten his Torah knowledge due to circumstances beyond his control. As we say: Both the tablets of the Covenant and the broken tablets are placed in the Ark. [Berakhot 8b] … One may not behave toward him in a degrading manner. [An elder who forgot his knowledge is like the broken tablets.] [Menachot 99a]