Partners

 

Shabbat Chol Moed Sukkot

Ex.33:12–34:26

Ex. 34:1 “The Lord said to Moses: ‘Carve two tablets of stone like the first, and I will inscribe upon the tablets the words which were on the first tablets, which you shattered.’”

 

Sometimes, repetition can lead to new insight. On this Shabbat Chol Moed Sukkot, we read (among other things), that when Moses ascended Mount Sinai for the second time (after smashing the first set at the sight of the Golden Calf). The process was altered.

The first time, we read in Ex. 32:18 “When he finished with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses the two tablets of the Pact, stone tablets inscribed with the finger of God.”

What caught my attention here, for the first time after many readings, was that on the first occasion, God made the Tablets and inscribed them. The second time around, it was Moses who carved the tablets which were subsequently inscribed by God.

Is this an important difference? Indeed, it is. It tells us that we are partners with God in the Covenant. The stones carved by Moses the second time reveal that humans must take action to fulfill our relationship with the Divine. We are participants. It is not enough to merely hope for God’s mercy; we must first take those steps to earn it through acts of kindness, connection, and trust in one another.