– Q. Dear Rabbi as you mentioned “The very last posuk of the Torah finishes with the words; “Moshe performed before the eyes of all Israel”: Rashi explains that this refers to the incident where Moshe Rabbenu smashed the Luchos, as it is said, “and I shattered them before your eyes” (Deut. 9:17- Shabbos. 87a).
Since those are the very last words of the Torah, the ones that we read on the great siyum on Simchas Torah and we eternally honor and rejoice with. Would it not have been more fitting to choose another more positive, appropriate and magnificent chapter to finish the Torah with, than the pathetic making of the eigel and the subsequent tragic braking of the Luchos?
A. My young grandson Binyomin Gestetner once answered to that question the following: ”What I think the answer is that Moshe’s parting words hinted to the idea that no matter what sins Israel commits Hashem will always let out his anger on objects rather than destroy us.”
I wrote to him back: “Beautiful answer that stresses the principle of the survival and perpetuity of Am Yisroel as the most important parting message.
More yet, there is so much more that is being alluded to here. Another perception deals with the Luchos and the Shivrei Luchos , the broken down pieces of the Luchos, both resting in the Aron of the Mishkan. “
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Yaakov Hirschman, Horav Dovid Pam, Horav Aharon Miller and Horav Chanoch Ehrentreu Shlit'a.
Important Numbers
