Hi,

Only in the Torah!

I’m referring to what happens just forty days after the Revelation at Mount Sinai.

You may remember the scene in the movie, “The Ten Commandments”.

(But don’t forget, the Book is better than the movie!)

Moshe comes down from the mountain holding the Tablets.  The Ten Commandments.

And what does he see?

The Jews have made a golden calf.  And are worshiping it!

In what “bible” would you find such an embarrassing story?

A golden calf forty days after G-d spoke to them!

None!  Only the Torah!

Because the Torah is brutally honest!  Tells it the way it was.

And that’s its stamp of truth.

As someone once said, “If the Torah was not written by G-d?

It was written by an Anti Semite!

Because there’s hardly a good word about the Jews in the whole Book”!

… Maybe the stories in the Torah didn’t really happen?

Who would make up a story like this?

… So for thousands of years we’ve been trying to figure this one out.

And you can study it for years.

But not in a minute!

In any case, what does Moshe do when he sees what happened?

He takes G-d’s Tablets and smashes them!

Not something you would do lightly!

… It raises an interesting question.

If you remember when we discussed the Ten Commandments?

One Tablet was about our relationship with G-d.  And the other, with our fellow man.

Which relationship was violated with the Golden calf?

Our relationship with G-d.

So let Moshe smash that Tablet.

Why did he smash both?

They didn’t hurt each other in any way!

… Jewish tradition’s answer?

The two Tablets can’t be separated.

Because why is treating other people with respect so important?

What is the basis for our obligations to other human beings?

G-d!

It’s the fact that every human being is created in the Image of G-d.

And if they broke their relationship with G-d?

They broke their relationship with each other.

All the best,