The Tablets Were Broken | Rabbi Haggai Lundin | Beit Midrash

Beit Midrash

Shabbat and Holidays
The Three Weeks
The 17th of Tamuz

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One of the reasons for fasting on Shiva Asar b'Tamuz, beyond the breaching of the walls of Jerusalem, is that on this day "the first set of tablets were broken"; Moses descends from Mount Sinai, sees the golden calf and breaks the Tablets of the Covenant. Despite the tragic event, there is a Midrash that states that in retrospect, this was an advantage: " The Holy One blessed be He said to him: ‘Do not regret the first tablets, as they were only the Ten Commandments alone. But on the second tablets that I am giving you there will be [halakhot], midrash, and aggadot" (Exodus Rabbah 46:1).

In other words, it was precisely the breaking of the first tablets that allowed the forces of the Oral Torah to be manifest. A great disaster that extinguishes the sun, makes it possible to see the light of the stars.

In meetings with groups around the country, I ask people to try to define for themselves benefits that have grown in their lives in the last ten months since the outbreak of the war. The answers amaze me time and time again: from those whose economic or social situation was positively affected by the war; to the previously unimagined resilience that families and couples found within themselves; through the people for whom long reserve service defined for them and their families a connection to something great and meaningful.

We are not asking for the tablets to be broken; we are fasting on Shiva Asar b'Tamuz to atone for this. But in retrospect, out of the pain, the second set of tablets emerge.

The bad will pass
The good will prevail
With God's help.

Have a meaningful fast!

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The 17th of Tamuz