When Moshe Rabbeinu descended Har Sinai and confronted the sin of the Golden Calf in all its indecorous ignominy, he shattered the Luchos. Chazal teach that this was not an act of impulsivity, but a deliberate and well thought out response. A nation that reveled around a molten idol was not worthy of the Luchos. There is, however, one caveat. Prior to shattering the tablets, the sacred letters ascended Heavenward. Without the letters, the Luchos were no longer worthy of preservation.
Yet, those letters did not vanish. The Tzlach suggests that Hashem gathered and secured them until Moshe fashioned the second Luchos. Then the letters returned. Thus, the second Luchos were the same Torah, but on a medium which Moshe hewed himself.
I think that a powerful insight can be derived herein. The sanctity of the Torah is intrinsic and does not reside in the medium that carries it. Stone may shatter, parchment may wither, and ink may fade. They are but vessels. The letters which are the essence of the Torah are eternal, as Hashem safeguards them against the ravages of time and the impudence of people.
We are the beneficiaries of this eternal transmission. The Torah that we teach our children is the very same Torah that our rebbeim taught us, and generations before us, harkening back to Har Sinai. Its sanctity has not diminished; its truth has not been altered. The only things that have changed are the medium and the method. Each generation has been tasked with transmitting the Torah in a manner most effective for it to be received, understood and internalized. The tools may differ, the presentation embellished to fit the crowd; the language of instruction evolves according to the genre of the student – but the Torah remains immutable. They are the same eternal letters – just on different tablets.
I study with a retired physician bi-weekly. The lessons run the gamut of mussar, halachah , and now, history – specifically the history of the development of Ashkenaz/Germany over the last thousand years. He is amazed that the Rashi we study in Chumash is the very same Tosafist who lived a thousand years ago. In secular science it would be ludicrous to study from the writings and findings of such a person. I explained that the Torah has not changed. In fact, the closer we return to Sinai, the greater its integrity. What changes are its exponents and their methods. Thus, we live with a dual responsibility: to preserve the integrity of the letters; and to elevate and revere the medium through which they are conveyed. When we do so, we are not just studying Torah, we are reliving Maamad Har Sinai.
