Parshas Ki Sisa (Shushan Purim) 5785
- Torah Tavlin
- Mar 13
- 2 min read
והטור הרביעי תרשיש ושהם וישפה משבצים זהב יהיו במלואתם ... (כח-כ)
After witnessing firsthand the מעשה העגל, Moshe Rabbeinu proceeded to throw the לוחות down, shattering them on the mountainside. The word "מידו" is read "מידיו" - his hands, but written "מידו" - his hand. Why was this written so?
R’ Yisrael Salanter zt”l is quoted as saying the following pshat. At first, Moshe Rabbeinu thought to himself that since the חטא העגל only affected בין אדם למקום, it was only necessary to destroy one of the לוחות, the one bearing those מצות. As a result, the posuk writes "מידו" - only one of the לוחות. However, he then decided that one is not enough; he needed to break both, "וישלך מידיו". Because בין אדם למקום is a prerequisite and a critical component to be מקיים the מצות of בין אדם לחבירו properly. Therefore, Moshe felt it was pointless to retain just one side of the לוחות without the other.
Perhaps we can add another machshava. Rabbeinu Yonah zt”l describes that even when people band together intending to commit an עבירה, their mindset is לתאוה יבקש נפרד. They are still divided and not באחדות. Each person has his own agenda and תאוה, and he won’t feel a close unity with the others. Thus, when כלל ישראל sinned, there automatically existed an element of discord among them. As a result even the portion of בין אדם לחבירו was rightly destroyed.
Haman, the Amaleki, the quintessential thorn, the baal lashon hara, told King Achashverosh: "ישנו (מלשון שינה) עם אחד מפזר ומפרד בין העמים". The Jews are “sleeping” (שינה) from the מצות so ממילא they’re spread out and are lacking the protection of אחדות. In this point, he was correct. His spectacular fall from grace, culminating in his stunning demise, occurred after כלל ישראל united as one in prayer and teshuvah. Chazal, therefore, instituted the מצות היום of Mishloach Manos and Matanos La’evyonim to instill in us these ideals ofאחדות and חסד, and being there for one another.
May Hashem eradicate all of our enemies as He did then, and bring us the ישועות we so need, as a unified nation.