The “strong hand” refers to Moshe’s receiving the Luchos, Two Tablets, which were of extraordinary weight. “Before the eyes of all Yisrael” alludes to our quintessential leader’s decision to shatter the Luchos before the eyes of the nation – an action which Hashem ratified. Moshe demonstrated his exceptional leadership ability when he shattered the Luchos. Since it is certainly difficult to destroy everything that one works for, it takes a strong leader to make such a consequential decision that will impact the entire nation for all time. For now, the issue is not why/what motivated him to shatter the Luchos, but rather, the fact that he took it upon himself to act decisively and break the Luchos. Hashem thanked him. That is about as great a confirmation as one can get. The fact that the Torah closes with this sentence underscores its lesson: Ha’kol holeich achar ha’chisum; “Everything goes according to the signature/ending.” Sheviras haLuchos, the shattering of the Luchos, was clearly not a happy thing – nothing to be proud of. If anything, it is a condemnation of the nation that just had witnessed the greatest, unprecedented Revelation, yet broke their trust, because, in their minds, Moshe was late in returning from Har Sinai. The fact that the Torah closes with this incident proves its impact, presenting a lesson on how to regard the Torah.
The Ethicists explain that Moshe’s breaking of the Luchos taught us that the Torah is not in Heaven. Moshe Rabbeinu made a decision based on his daas Torah, wisdom gleaned from and honed by the Torah, that the Luchos should be shattered. A nation that was dancing with an idol has no right to the Torah. He made a kal v’chomer. (This literally means, “lenient and strict,” whereby one law is derived from another through a “lenient and strict” logic. If a case that is generally strict has a leniency, a case that is generally lenient should certainly have that leniency.) If concerning Korban Pesach, which is one of the 613 mitzvos, the Torah states that a ben neichar, alienated person (apostate who desecrates Shabbos or denies the validity of any of the Torah’s mitzvos), is not permitted to partake of it – surely the Jews, who (by worshiping the Golden Calf) eschewed the entire Torah, were unfit for the Torah.
Moshe’s decision to shatter the Luchos demonstrated the power of the chachamim, Torah sages, of every generation. By closing the Torah with Moshe’s actions, we learn that Torah She’Baal Peh, Oral Law, is the direct continuation and accessory to Torah She’B’Ksav, Written Law. The Torah is teaching us that, in reality, the Torah does not end. It continues with the chachmei HaTalmud, sages of the Mishnah and Talmud, and all the ensuing commentary on the Written Law. We never complete the Torah; we just move further and deeper, plumbing its depths.
