When Moshe came down the mountain and saw the Golden Calf he felt he had no recourse but to smash the Luchos. Was this an act of anger or vengeance or was Moshe’s decision — acknowledged by Hashem Himself — actually a positive end to a shocking episode?

This week’s parshah describes one of the greatest upheavals that took place during Bnei Yisrael’s sojourn in the wilderness an event so traumatic that it became synonymous with every national act of rebellion that would take place until this very day — a sin so great that it evoked an outpouring of Divine wrath that nearly led to the destruction of the Jewish People. It penetrated the most sensitive layers of the national soul becoming the source of all the tribulations that our exile has brought upon us — and we have yet to fully atone for it.
We are referring of course to the sin of the Egel Hazahav the Golden Calf. But we’re so far removed from those times and from that event that it’s difficult for us to judge or even understand what took place. How could it be that a nation that had experienced the Revelation at Sinai just 40 days earlier that had heard the Divine commandment “You shall not have any gods of others in My Presence; you shall not make for yourselves an idol or any image ” could have been capable of crafting a Golden Calf? How was it possible for intelligent people to declare to Aharon “For this man Moshe who took us up out of the land of Egypt — we do not know what has happened to him” (Shemos 32:1) and then to gaze in wonder at the Golden Calf their own handiwork and declare “This is your god Yisrael who took you up from the Land of Egypt” (ibid. v. 4)?
It is particularly difficult to understand the enormous passion and enthusiasm that took hold of the Jewish Nation in committing this sin and even our Sages found its resolution complicated. The Talmud states “Rabi Yehuda bar Pazi said in the name of Rebbe: How can we read this and not be frightened? For a good cause [i.e. when the Jewish People contributed raw materials for the Mishkan] the Torah says ‘every good-hearted soul’ [contributed] but for evil [i.e. for the sin of the Golden Calf] it says ‘The entire nation took off [their jewelry]’” (Talmud Yerushalmi Shekalim 1:1).
Herein lies the most painful contrast. For the construction of the Mishkan only the generous of heart contributed but for the Golden Calf the entire nation was prepared to donate their riches. Were they so far removed from the revelation of truth at Sinai mere weeks before?
If we set aside the wealth of commentaries on this Biblical account — which explain all the psychological and philosophical motivations for the sin of the Golden Calf and how the Jewish People did not actually transgress the sin of idolatry in its raw form — the very fact that such an act was possible should serve as a warning sign. It is an indication that no human being should ever allow himself to be confident in his own self in his faith and in his value system.
“Look at this ” the warning sign of the Golden Calf declares. “Look at what happened to a nation that had just heard the Voice of G-d at Har Sinai a people who had just experienced the miracles of the Exodus from Egypt and the wonders of their sojourn in the wilderness and yet still returned so quickly to their sinful ways. Look at the heart of this nation which was still basking in the Revelation at Sinai yet failed to pass its very first test. Plumb the depths of this incident and you will have divined the secret of human nature. Man is a complicated creature filled with bizarre twists and inner contradictions whose basic nature and essence cannot be changed by isolated occurrences no matter how wondrous they are. The most incredible miraculous events might inspire him temporarily they may ignite his imagination but they will not transform him into a different person. His habits will not improve and his basic conceptions will not change. That can only happen through an extended process of internalizing new values which requires constant tenacious and consistent efforts to educate himself. If man does not do this then his personal desires and hidden drives will overpower any values that he learns.”

A human being is capable of advocating for truth yet may still utter falsehoods without restraint. He might believe in showing love and kindness to others yet may never give up a parking space to someone else desperately searching for a place to leave his car. And a person may constantly speak about Yetzias Mitzrayim but in a moment of weakness and confusion he may find himself bowing to a Golden Calf.
What happened next?
“He cast the Luchos from his hands and shattered them” (Shemos 32:19).
As Moshe descended the mountain he also descended from the level of greatness he had personally achieved. His great stature had come from his people and for their sake; he was now to lose it. As the Gemara tells us Hashem commanded him “Moshe descend from your greatness! I gave you greatness only for the sake of Yisrael; now that Yisrael has sinned why do I need you?” (Berachos 32a).
Indeed Moshe’s high hopes of drawing Bnei Yisrael upward along with him had been shattered. Now instead the people drew him down to their depths.
As he came down the mountain he heard the commotion of the people watching the Golden Calf and dancing joyously around it and he grew enraged. He took the Luchos that he held — the Luchos on which the Ten Commandments had been inscribed the Luchos that bore miraculous print on both front and back the Luchos that had been made by Hashem Himself — and he broke them.
And the Torah goes on to tell us that he broke them “at the bottom of the mountain” — there at the nadir that place to which the people had fallen at Sinai.
But then at the moment that the Luchos broke hope was renewed. It was a hope that emerged from the fragments of the Luchos themselves.
Moshe didn’t cast the Luchos from his hands out of a feeling of despair. This was no expression of defeat. On the contrary it was an act of destruction that would lead to unparalleled building. Those shattered Luchos opened the possibility for the nation to rectify its sin to return to where it belonged.
This was such a resonating truth that Hashem Himself approved of Moshe’s decision to break the Luchos.
Why was this so?
When Moshe saw the Golden Calf in the center of the Jewish People’s camp he understood the reason for their grievous error. Even after leaving Egypt the nation was still ensnared in the trap of valuing the physical for its physicality. They still ascribed value sanctity power and even G-dliness to physical things to superficial symbols without any understanding of the inner spiritual meaning of these icons.
Moshe was afraid that after the turmoil brought about by the Golden Calf had died down the Jewish People would reach a point where they would turn the Luchos themselves into an object of worship. He feared that the Luchos would become dissociated from their true meaning and they would be made into a power in their own right. He feared that the people would view them as an end not just a means of teaching them about the Divinely given Torah.
And so in a bold act of unparalleled daring Moshe shocked the nation by smashing the Luchos before their very eyes. He wanted them to learn once and for all that there is only one absolute value in the world and that is the worship of G-d. There is no absolute truth other than Hashem’s commandments which show man the way guiding him and lifting him above his earthly drives to bring him closer to Hashem.
By breaking the Luchos Moshe showed the Jewish People that no physical object possesses absolute inherent sanctity — whether it is the Luchos crafted by Hashem Himself whether it is a mountaintop of a spring or even some segment of society. All of these things at best merely serve as means to an end. They exist only because they are connected to the Divine Will which guides them on the proper path.
The Luchos were shattered at the bottom of the mountain but with that act the words inscribed on them were saved forever. —