B"H
Tuesday, Sivan 12, 5784 / June 18, 2024
Now that we are after the holiday of Shavuot, here are some questions and answers of what happened right after the Giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, 3336 years ago.
Q. How long after the Giving of the Torah did the Jewish people sin with The Golden Calf?
A. Forty days later.
Q. What caused them to make the Golden Calf so soon after the Giving of the Torah?
A. When G-d gave the Torah, He told Moshe to come up to Mount Sinai and be there for forty days and forty nights. Due to a miscalculation, (as the day Moshe ascended the mountain was not supposed to be counted), the people thought that the forty days were up and Moshe was not coming back. They insisted that Aaron make them a replacement for Moshe. Aaron told them to bring their wife’s jewelry, figuring that the women will refuse and thus it will buy him time. Unfortunately, they brought the jewelry faster than he thought. Aaron threw the gold into the fire and out came the Golden Calf. When Moshe came down the next day and saw the Golden Calf, he broke the Tablets.
Q. How many times did Moshe go up Mount Sinai after the Giving of the Torah?
A. He went up three times, each time for a period of forty days. The first time was as mentioned before, which resulted in the breaking of the Tablets. The second time he went up was to pray that G-d forgive the Jewish people and he succeeded. He came down after the forty days with instructions to bring up another set of Tablets. He went back up a third time with the Tablets and G-d inscribed in them the Ten Commandments. He came down forty days later, on Yom Kippur, with The Second Tablets.
Q. What happened with the First Tablets which Moshe broke?
A. Both, the broken Tablets and the Second Tablets were kept in the Holy Ark in the Holy Temple. The room in which the Tablets were kept was the most holy place of the sanctuary – called the “Kodesh Hakadashim” – “The holiest of holies.” Only the High Priest was allowed to enter there on Yom Kippur.
Q. What lesson do our sages learn from the fact that the “broken” tablets were also kept in the ark?
A. Our sages say, the fact that the broken Tablets were kept in the Ark, teaches us that one must be very respectful of a scholar who through no fault of theirs forgot their Torah knowledge.
Q. How was it possible, throughout their forty years travel in the desert, for four people to carry the ark which contained so much gold, plus the two sets of tablets?
A. Our sages say that it was a miracle! It was really the ark which carried its carriers! This teaches us that when one invests time and effort in Torah, which is represented by the Holy Ark, in the end, the Torah elevates and “carries” the one who labors over it!
HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL DAY
UNITED WE STAND WITH OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN CAPTIVITY. MAY THEY ALL BE RELEASED NOW.