Because many of us are not able to attend shul in person, the Rabbi has agreed to share his shabbat morning drashah in advance. Here is the first half of it. To read the full drashah, click here and it will take you to what will become a rich archive of all of Rabbi Staller's drashot.
Parshah Ki Tisa
Moshe Rebbeinu– known for his humility, his leadership, and his close relationship with God– is not always known for his patience and cool head. Indeed, it is ultimately Moshe’s more impetuous urges that cost him the grand prize of entering Israel, as a frustrated Moshe resorts to physical violence and hits the water-giving rock that he is supposed to verbally persuade. Given that well-known weakness, it should come as no surprise in this week’s Parashah when Moshe, faced with the frustration and disappointment of the Jewish people’s sin of worshipping the Golden Calf, takes violent and capricious action and smashes the God-given tablets that he had just received. What should be surprising, though, is the reaction he receives. Whereas Moshe is punished harshly for his short fuse by the water-giving rock, here Moshe is praised! Reish Lakish, in Shabbat 87a, imagines God telling Moshe “Yashar Kochachah Al Asheir Shibarta,” good job breaking those tablets! Why is Moshe praised for destroying God’s gift to the world?
Indeed, this surprising reaction and confusion seems to be reflected in different traditions surrounding the two sets of tablets Moshe receives. The Netziv points out that there is a slight difference noted in the Torah between the first and second set and tablets. While God fashions and writes the first set of tablets with the Divine Hand, by the second set of tablets God tells Moses to “fashion for yourself” the tablets the God will write upon. In other words, while the first set of tablets were entirely from God, the second set of tablets were carved out by Moshe, and only then written upon by God.
Yet, while that distinction seems clear in the Torah, what is less clear is its significance. The Ibn Eza points to this difference between the two sets of Luchot as evidence that the initial tablets were actually holier, as they were entirely fashioned by God. And yet, while this seems intuitive– the more Godly something is, the holier it should be– Rav Saadiah Gaon, dealing with the same verses and noting the same differences, comes to the exact opposite conclusion. According to Rav Saadiah Gaon, the second set of tablets were superior in part because they were fashioned by Moshe, and not by God. In other words, the very difference that the Ibn Ezra pinpoints as a weakness in the second Luchot– Moshe’s role in carving them– is what Rav Saadiah Gaon praises about them. But what is Rav Saadiah Gaon even arguing? Ibn Ezra seems obviously correct! The godlier something is, the holier it should be. So why does Rav Saadiah privilege the second man-carved set of stone tablets over the first? ...continued
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