Dear NILI Community,
As we enter the month of Tammuz, I can't help feeling like the Seventeenth of Tammuz and the Three Weeks are right around the corner. And while we are not there yet, we can already start to think about cultivating a mindset and habits of growth in preparation—so where do we begin?
While we fast on the Seventeenth of Tammuz to commemorate the breaching of the walls of Jerusalem leading up to the destruction of both the First and Second Temples, the first tragedy we experienced on the Seventeenth of Tammuz dates back to our time in the desert. After miscalculating the date of Moshe's return from receiving the Torah at Har Sinai, Bnei Yisrael devolved into a state of despair and frenzy resulting in their creation of the Golden Calf. When Moshe returns with the luchot to find Bnei Yisrael in the midst of worshiping the Golden Calf, he casts down the luchot and they shatter.
We read about this tragic episode of our people every year on the Seventeenth of Tammuz. But if we look closely at the selected pesukim from the story of Chet HaEgel, it is not the sin that we read about and focus on, but our repentance (Shemot 32:11-14, 34:1-10). Likewise, the Haftarah that we read on the Seventeenth of Tammuz also emphasizes the themes of repentance and redemption (Yeshayahu 55:6-56:8). Instead of reliving the chet, we read about Moshe beseeching Hashem and pleading on behalf of Bnei Yisrael, we read about Hashem's command to Moshe to carve a second set of luchot, we read about Moshe's recitation of Hashem's Thirteen Attributes of Mercy, and we read about Hashem's renewal of the brit, His eternal covenant with the Jewish people.
Our sages teach us that not only were the new set of luchot, carved by Moshe, placed into the aron, but also the broken pieces of the first luchot carved by Hashem (Bava Batra 14a-b). Rabbi Y. Y. Jacobson writes that "The broken tablets, too, possess the light of G-d." This, according to Rabbi Y. Y. Jacobson, teaches us a fundamental truth of Judaism and of life: "From the very turmoil of his or her psychological and spiritual brokenness, a new holiness can be discovered. It is on this note that the Torah chooses to culminate its tribute to Moses' life. The greatest achievement of Moses was his ability to show humanity how we can take our brokenness and turn it into a holy of holies" (theYeshiva.net, "Don't Be Afraid to Visit Your Broken Places: Why Breaking the Tablets Was Moses' Greatest Accomplishment").
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks explains that the two sets of luchot can be distinguished by what in Kabbalah is referred to as itaruta de-l'eylah and itaruta deletata, an "awakening from above" and an "awakening from below." The first set of luchot, written by the hand of God, were characteristic of an "awakening from above," while the second set, written by Moshe, an "awakening from below." While we may think the second luchot were somehow less holy, Rabbi Sacks issues a powerful reminder based on the fact that the first set of luchot were broken, while the second set endured: "In Judaism, the natural is greater than the supernatural in the sense that an "awakening from below" is more powerful in transforming us, and longer-lasting in its effects, than is an "awakening from above." That was why the second Tablets survived intact while the first did not. Divine intervention changes nature, but it is human initiative – our approach to God – that changes us" (Covenant & Conversation). It is up to us now to take initiative and to create the "awakening from below" necessary to change our lives and our communities for the better.
Rabbi Y. Y. Jacobson quotes Ernest Hemingway writing, "The world breaks everyone, and afterwards some are stronger in the broken places." There isn't a single one of us who hasn't felt a brokenness since October 7th. We can't go through the past almost 21 months since the war began and not let it profoundly change who we are. We too must gather our broken pieces and carry them with us into the next chapter of our Jewish story, while growing stronger as a Jewish people.
Chodesh Tammuz tov and continued prayers for Am Yisrael,
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