There is Nothing More Whole Than Being Broken |
It is well known that the Aseret HaDibrot—the Ten Commandments—were revealed twice: first before the sin of the egel hazahav (the golden calf), when, upon seeing what was happening in the camp, Moshe cast down the tablets and shattered them; and then again after Moshe reconciled God with His people.
One passage in the Talmud records that God approved of Moshe’s breaking of the tablets, while another teaches that the shattered tablets were preserved together with the whole tablets in the Ark of the Covenant (see Bava Batra 14b). While these statements appear contradictory, later sages understood them as complementary, arguing that despite God’s seeming approval of........