Ki Sisa – Page 14 – Peninim on the Torah

“And Moshe was angered, and he cast out from his hands the tablets and he broke them.” (32:19)

At first glance the narrative which deals with Moshe’s breaking the first set of tablets is very puzzling. When Bnei Yisrael made a Golden-Calf, did Moshe have the right to decide that they would forever forfeit their claim to the Torah? Would it not have been more appropriate for Moshe to delay teaching them the Torah until they had repented and mended their ways? Instead, he broke the tablets and subsequently asked Hashem for a second set of tablets. This question may be answered by explaining a deeper understanding of the unique characteristics of the first set of tablets….

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Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In 5751, Ki Sisa

“And in the hearts of all that are wise hearted I have put wisdom.” (31:6)

Regarding this posuk the Talmud states that “Hashem only grants wisdom to those in whom wisdom is already present“. Hashem only uses as an instrument for His Divine wisdom one who already possesses, having developed on his own, the gift of human wisdom. What is the indication that one has developed his gift of human wisdom? Rabbi Chaim Shmuelevitz Zt”l explains that one must be one “who seeks the word of Hashem”. A person must exhibit an unrelenting quest to attain an understanding of Torah in its depth and breadth. He must be diligent in guarding the fruits of the…

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Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In 5751, Ki Sisa

For this man Moshe brought us up out of the land of Egypt we do not know what became of him.” (32:1)

Rashi says: An image of Moshe was shown to them by the Satan as Moshe was being carried in the sky. Rashi explains how the Satan was able to deceive the Jewish people into believing that Moshe had died. The Daas Zekainim states that there were three groups involved in the incident of the Golden Calf. One group intended only to create a leader to replace Moshe but not to make an idol of the calf. A second group accepted the Golden Calf as an idol. The third group consisted of the members of the tribe of Levi,…

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Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In 5751, Ki Sisa

And he made of it a molten calf. Then they said “these are your gods Yisroel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt.” (32:4) – “And on the day when I remember, I will remember their sin against them.” (32:34)

As we read the Torah‘s account of the sin of the Golden Calf, we only wonder in amazement at the rapid transformation of the Jewish people. Having reached the awesome plateau of belief in Hashem which they experienced at Mount Sinai, for them to then fall to such depths of degradation, is astonishing. However, as the commentaries explain, it was the Eirev Rav (mixed multitude) who came with them from Egypt who were actually the perpetrators of this terrible transgression. Those individuals who were involved in the actual sin of making and serving this makeshift idol were punished either by…

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Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In 5751, Ki Sisa

“And Hashem said to Moshe hew out two tablets of stone like the first ones.” (34:1) – “And no man shall go up with you and neither let any man be seen throughout all the mountain.” (34:3)

Says Rashi: “The first tablets were given amidst great pomp and upheaval, therefore the evil eye had power over them (they did not endure and were destroyed when the Jews worshipped the Golden Calf.) There is no finer quality than modesty.” Rashi explains the apparent contrast between the way the first set of tablets was given and the manner in which the second set was given. Thus the second set of tablets which was given in silence in the presence of only one human being endured. To the modern mind the suggestion that because revelation occurred amidst pomp…

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“And Moshe was angered, and he cast out from his hands the tablets and he broke them.” (32:19)

“And in the hearts of all that are wise hearted I have put wisdom.” (31:6)

For this man Moshe brought us up out of the land of Egypt we do not know what became of him.” (32:1)

And he made of it a molten calf. Then they said “these are your gods Yisroel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt.” (32:4) – “And on the day when I remember, I will remember their sin against them.” (32:34)

“And Hashem said to Moshe hew out two tablets of stone like the first ones.” (34:1) – “And no man shall go up with you and neither let any man be seen throughout all the mountain.” (34:3)

YEARS

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