Shabbat Forshpeis
A Taste of Torah in Honor of Shabbat
PARSHAT KI TISA
THE SHATTERING OF THE TABLETS AS A
THEOLOGICAL STATEMENT
FEBRUARY 21-22, 2003 / 20 ADAR I 5763
Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi suggests
that in the sin of the golden calf "the people did not intend to give up their allegiance to God." Rather they wanted to create a physical figure that was representative of God. This was in direct violation of the commandment, which prohibits the making of a graven image. (Exodus 20:4)
Another thought comes to mind. At Sinai, Am Yisrael (the people of Israel) were introduced to the concept of pure monotheism, i.e., a belief in the One God, with no intermediary between the human being and the Almighty. While the role of Moshe (Moses) was that of the prophet of prophets, he was not in any way a divine being.
When Am Yisrael thought Moshe would not descend from Mt. Sinai (Exodus 32:2), they assumed that the model of pure monotheism would be replaced by a system of advanced polytheism, i.e., a belief in a god who would have sub-deities beneath him. Having emerged from Egypt where animals were venerated as gods, Am Yisrael concluded that the golden calf would be an appropriate mini-god.
For this reason, argues Rabbi Meir Simha of Dvinsk (1843-1926) in his Meshekh Hokhmah, Moshe broke the tablets. Moshe feared that if he only destroyed the golden calf and not the tablets as well, perhaps the people would conclude that the tablets were the intermediary sub-deities.
In the words of Rabbi Meir Simha: "There is nothing intrinsically holy in the world, save the Lord Blessed by He, to whom alone reverence, praise and homage is due. Holiness comes into the physical world in response to specific divine commandments, as for example, those calling on us to build Him a house of worship or sacrifice offerings to Him. Now we may understand why Moses, upon perceiving the physical and mental state of the people, promptly broke the tablets. Moses feared the people would deify them as they had done the calf. Had he brought them the tablets intact, they would have substituted them for the calf and not reformed their ways."
The message is clear. Judaism would oppose any centralization on anything but God as the core of ones existence. Thats what the whole of the prohibition against idolatry is all about. Even the tablets can become idolatry if they are inappropriately used to replace God.
While there are certainly holy objects in the physical world, nothing is on the level of the Divine. There is only the One God. As we recite morning and night: "Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One." (Deuteronomy 6:4)
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Avi Weiss
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