(א) וַיַּ֣רְא הָעָ֔ם כִּֽי־בֹשֵׁ֥שׁ מֹשֶׁ֖ה לָרֶ֣דֶת מִן־הָהָ֑ר וַיִּקָּהֵ֨ל הָעָ֜ם עַֽל־אַהֲרֹ֗ן וַיֹּאמְר֤וּ אֵלָיו֙ ק֣וּם ׀ עֲשֵׂה־לָ֣נוּ אֱלֹהִ֗ים אֲשֶׁ֤ר יֵֽלְכוּ֙ לְפָנֵ֔ינוּ כִּי־זֶ֣ה ׀ מֹשֶׁ֣ה הָאִ֗ישׁ אֲשֶׁ֤ר הֶֽעֱלָ֙נוּ֙ מֵאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרַ֔יִם לֹ֥א יָדַ֖עְנוּ מֶה־הָ֥יָה לֽוֹ׃ (ב) וַיֹּ֤אמֶר אֲלֵהֶם֙ אַהֲרֹ֔ן פָּֽרְקוּ֙ נִזְמֵ֣י הַזָּהָ֔ב אֲשֶׁר֙ בְּאׇזְנֵ֣י נְשֵׁיכֶ֔ם בְּנֵיכֶ֖ם וּבְנֹתֵיכֶ֑ם וְהָבִ֖יאוּ אֵלָֽי׃ (ג) וַיִּתְפָּֽרְקוּ֙ כׇּל־הָעָ֔ם אֶת־נִזְמֵ֥י הַזָּהָ֖ב אֲשֶׁ֣ר בְּאׇזְנֵיהֶ֑ם וַיָּבִ֖יאוּ אֶֽל־אַהֲרֹֽן׃ (ד) וַיִּקַּ֣ח מִיָּדָ֗ם וַיָּ֤צַר אֹתוֹ֙ בַּחֶ֔רֶט וַֽיַּעֲשֵׂ֖הוּ עֵ֣גֶל מַסֵּכָ֑ה וַיֹּ֣אמְר֔וּ אֵ֤לֶּה אֱלֹהֶ֙יךָ֙ יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל אֲשֶׁ֥ר הֶעֱל֖וּךָ מֵאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרָֽיִם׃ (ה) וַיַּ֣רְא אַהֲרֹ֔ן וַיִּ֥בֶן מִזְבֵּ֖חַ לְפָנָ֑יו וַיִּקְרָ֤א אַֽהֲרֹן֙ וַיֹּאמַ֔ר חַ֥ג לַיהֹוָ֖ה מָחָֽר׃ (ו) וַיַּשְׁכִּ֙ימוּ֙ מִֽמׇּחֳרָ֔ת וַיַּעֲל֣וּ עֹלֹ֔ת וַיַּגִּ֖שׁוּ שְׁלָמִ֑ים וַיֵּ֤שֶׁב הָעָם֙ לֶֽאֱכֹ֣ל וְשָׁת֔וֹ וַיָּקֻ֖מוּ לְצַחֵֽק׃ {פ}
(1) When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, the people gathered against Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us a god who shall go before us, for that fellow Moses—the man who brought us from the land of Egypt—we do not know what has happened to him.” (2) Aaron said to them, “[You men,] take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” (3) And all the people took off the gold rings that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. (4) This he took from them and cast in a mold and made it into a molten calf. And they exclaimed, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt!” (5) When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron announced: “Tomorrow shall be a festival of יהוה!” (6) Early next day, the people offered up burnt offerings and brought sacrifices of well-being; they sat down to eat and drink, and then rose to dance.
Rashi on Exodus 32:1
That Moses was so long in coming down. The verb used here, boshesh, ordinarily means "to be ashamed"...The unusual use of thisverb to mean "delay" is also found in the verse explaining that King Eglon's servants "waited a long time" (Judg. 3:25) and when Sisera's mother wondered "Why is his chariot so long in coming?" (Judg. 5:28). When Moses went up the mountain he had told them, "I will be back after 40 days, before noon." They thought that the day he went up the mountain was the first of the 40, but he actually meant 40 full days, including both night and day. The day he went up the mountain did not, of course, include the pervious night, when the day actually began. Since he went up the mountain on the 7th of Sivan, the 40th day works out to be the 17th of Tammuz. On the 16th, Satan came and disturbed the natural order, producing an illusion of darkness and fog and tumult to make the Israelites think "Moses has surely died, and that is why the world is in such a tumult."
Talmud Bavli Shabbat 89a presents a related idea:
Do not read the word in the verse as boshesh; rather, read it as ba’u shesh, six hours have arrived. When Moses ascended on High, he told the Jewish people: In forty days, at the beginning of six hours, I will come.
This Talmud passage goes on to explain that there was a storm towards the end of Moses' journey that was so severe the people lost track of the time. They thought the sixth hour arrived, and Moses had not yet returned. They feared Moses had died, and then thought about creating the golden calf.
Why do you think the Israelites built a golden calf so quickly?
Why were they so susceptible to believe that Moses had died or abandoned them?
To other self-destructive tendencies?
Meshech Chokhmah, Shemot 32:19
When they saw that Moshe delayed (from coming down the mountain) they lost their faith, and sought out a foreign god to use as a conduit for god... and this is why Moshe was enraged: "Do you think that I am important? What holiness is there other than God? To the extent that in my absence you make a calf! Heaven forbid, I am a person just like you, and the Torah does not rely on me, and even if I were not to have come, the Torah would not change.
In this text, why do the Israelites start constructing the idol?
Is that similiar or different from your own conclusions?
Moses' Response
(יז) וָאֶתְפֹּשׂ֙ בִּשְׁנֵ֣י הַלֻּחֹ֔ת וָֽאַשְׁלִכֵ֔ם מֵעַ֖ל שְׁתֵּ֣י יָדָ֑י וָאֲשַׁבְּרֵ֖ם לְעֵינֵיכֶֽם׃
(17) Thereupon I gripped the two tablets and flung them away with both my hands, smashing them before your eyes.
Nevertheless, Moshe did not prevent himself from breaking the tablets for he was enraged upon seeing this evil spectacle, and he could not bear it.
Why did Moses shatter the tablets?
Ramban teaches that Moses was filled with rage. This isn't the only time in the Torah when Moses loses his temper. When the Israelites complain that they are thirsty, Moses angrily strikes a rock while calling the Israelites "rebels." This is one of the reasons we are told that Moses will not enter the Promised Land.
Was Moses' action justified?
Could there be a more justifiable reason that he destroyed the tablets?
Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Human Hilchot Deot 2:3
(3) ...there are certain tendencies which man is forbidden to follow in the middle-way, but must distance himself from extreme to extreme.... One should teach himself not to get angry, even over a matter which befits anger. If one desires to engender awe in his children and his household, or in the public, if he be at the head of a community, even if he desire to get angry at them so as to bring them back to the good way, he should only act angry in their presence so as to reprove them, but his disposition must remain calm within himself, even as a man imitates, who is angry when the time calls forth anger but in reality he is not angry. The sages of yore said: "He who yields to anger is as if he worshiped idolatry". They also said: "Whosoever yields to anger, if he be a wise man his wisdom leaves him, and if he be a prophet his prophecy leaves him."
Do you agree? Why? Why not?
Alan Morinis
This association of anger with idolatry also reveals why anger is such a frightful power. When a person loses his or her temper, he or she becomes overwhelmed and overpowered by the emotion of anger. By allowing that to happen, a person yields authority over their life to the raging emotion, and it is then the power of anger... that the angry person serves.
Rabbi Mari Chernow, "Kaas-The Value of Anger"
Anger, in the right measure, is actually a teacher. It can function like a bright red-flashing indicator light on our emotional dashboard, alerting us to a matter in need of attention. As a signal to our souls, anger can be holy. It can reveal a deep passion or perhaps a wound, a longing or a regret. It can help us clarify and prioritize.... On a societal level, too, anger can indicate that transformative change is necessary. Consider social movements, such as Me Too and Black Lives Matter. The issues at their heart, sexual violence and racial inequality, have long been critical and worthy of our attention. However, they did not gain the national spotlight until anger fueled a sense of urgency.
Was Moses justified in his anger? Was his anger more akin to idolatry or to holiness? What did he accomplish in shattering the tablets?
Other reasons for breaking the tablets
Pireki D'Rebbe Eliezer 45
Moshe took the tablets and went down (the mountain), and the letters were carrying themselves and Moshe... and when the (letters) saw the instruments and the golden calf, they flew off the tablets, and became heavy. Moshe could no longer carry them, so he threw them out of his hands, as it says, "and he broke them under the mountain.”
Midrash Avot DeRabi Natan Chapter 2
He looked at them and saw that the words had flown out of them. He said, “How can I give the Jewish people the tablets with no substance? Rather, I will grab them and break them.”
Midrash Shemot Rabbah 43:1
To what is this compared? To a king who sent someone to betroth a woman through a middleman. She went and acted inappropriately with another man. The innocent middleman, what did he do? He took the ketubah, which the king had given him to betroth her, and tore it. His intention being that it is better she is judged as an unmarried woman than a woman who is married. What Moshe did was the same. When the Jewish people sinned, he took the tablets and broke them, so as to say that if they would have seen their punishment, they would have not sinned.
(א) וַיֹּ֤אמֶר ה' אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה פְּסׇל־לְךָ֛ שְׁנֵֽי־לֻחֹ֥ת אֲבָנִ֖ים כָּרִאשֹׁנִ֑ים וְכָתַבְתִּי֙ עַל־הַלֻּחֹ֔ת אֶ֨ת־הַדְּבָרִ֔ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר הָי֛וּ עַל־הַלֻּחֹ֥ת הָרִאשֹׁנִ֖ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר שִׁבַּֽרְתָּ׃
(1) יהוה said to Moses: “Carve two tablets of stone like the first, and I will inscribe upon the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you shattered.
תַּנֵּי רִבִּי יִשְׁמָעֵאל. הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא אָמַר לוֹ שְֶׁשַׁבְּרֵם. [שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר] וְאֶכְתֹּב֙ עַל־הַלּוּחוֹת אֶ֨ת־הַדְּבָרִ֔ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר הָי֛וּ עַל־הַלּוּחוֹת הָרִֽאשֹׁנִי֖ם אֲשֶׁ֣ר (אושׁר) שִׁיבַּרְתָּ. אָמַר לוֹ. יָפֶה עָשִׂיתָ שֶׁשִּׁיבַּרְתָּ.... רִבִּי יוֹחָנָן בְּשֵׁם רִבִּי יוֹסֵה בַּר אַבַּיי. [הַלּוּחוֹת] הָיוּ מְבַקְּשִׁין לִפְרוֹחַ וְהָיָה מֹשֶׁה תוֹפְשָׂן. [דִּכְתִיב] וָֽאֶתְפּוֹשׂ בִּשְׁנֵי הַלּוּחוֹת. תַּנֵּי בְשֵׁם רִבִּי נְחֶמְיָה. הַכְּתָב עַצְמוֹ פָרַח. רִבִּי עֶזְרָה בְשֵׁם רִבִּי יְהוּדָה בֵּירִבִּי סִימוֹן. הַלּוּחוֹת הָיוּ מַשּׂאוּי אַרְבָּעִים סְאָה וְהַכְּתָב הָיָה סוֹבִלָן. כֵּיוָן שֶׁפָּרַח הַכְּתָב כָּֽבְדוּ עַל יָדָיו שֶׁלְמֹשֶׁה וְנָֽפְלוּ וָנִשְׁתַּבְּרוּ.
Rebbi Ismael stated, the Holy One, praise to Him, told him to break them, [as it is said,] I shall write on the tablets the words which were on the first tablets happily you broke. [Exodus 34:1] He said to him, you did well that you broke.....
Rebbi Joḥanan in the name of Rebbi Yose ben Abbai: the tablets wanted to fly off but Moses held them, [as is written,] I grabbed the two tablets. [Deuteronomy 9:17] It was stated in the name of Rebbi Nehemiah, the writing itself flew off. Rebbi Ezra in the name of Rebbi Jehudah ben Rebbi Simon: The tablets were a load of forty seah but the writing was carrying them. When the writing flew off they were too heavy for Moses’s hands, they fell, and broke.
Talmud Tractate Shabbat 87a
We have learned: Three things Moshe did of his own accord and God agreed to his judgment… He broke the tablets. What was his reasoning? He said, “The Passover Offering which is only one of the 613 mitzvot, the Torah says, ‘any strange person (idol worshiper) should not eat from it;’ the Luchot contain the entire Torah and the Jewish people are transgressors, how much more so [that it should not be given to them]!” How do we know that God agreed with his judgment? For it is written, “(The first tablets) which you have broken” (Shemot 34:1), and Reish Lakish said that the word “asher” (which) can be juxtaposed to mean “Yasher Kochacha (congrats) for having broken it.”
Talmud Tractate Bava Batra 14b
Rav Huna said… the [full] tablets and the broken tablets lay [side by side] in the Aron (Holy Ark).
Was Moses right to break the tablets? Should he have been given a yashar koach?
Are things how they seem?