Shabbat Chol HaMoed Pesach
Ex. 34:1 “The Lord said to Moses: ‘Carve two tablets of stone like the first, and I will inscribe upon thew tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you shattered.’”
On the Shabbat which takes place during Passover, we omit the regular Torah reading and instead chant a section from the Book of Exodus (33:12-34:26). To set the context, Moses comes down from Mount Sinai and, seeing the Israelites dancing before the Golden Calf, shatters the Tablets on which are inscribed the Ten Commandments. He goes back up the mountain and returns 40 days later with a second set.
As is noted in the Jewish Study Bible, God now prepares to formally restore the covenant by replacing the first set of tablets. The second set differed in that the stones were carved by a man (Moses) and then inscribed by God. The Sforno inferred from this that God did not entirely forgive the people after the matter of the Golden calf, but most commentators focus on the fact that this second set was a joint project between God and Man. Following this train of thought, the Sages inferred that the “oral Law” (which they believed had been transmitted with the written law) was the basis upon which human beings could adapt Jewish law to the needs of humanity.
During the celebration of Passover, we have perhaps one of the most significant Rabbinic additions to Judaism: the Passover seder (which may well have been influenced by the Greek “symposia” taking place during the early Rabbinic period).
The second set of Tablets was a demonstration of the need for human understanding and thought about how we relate to our history, our tradition, and to God.
