Ekev - The Broken Link

B"H

 As usual, full Midrash Tanchuma text is here

Source 1 - Midrash Tanchuma Ekev, Chapter 11 (full text)

אשר שברת. רבי עקיבא ורבי ישמעאל. חד אמר, טול מידי הילך משה אשר שברת. ואחד מהם אומר, יפה עשה. משל למה הדבר דומה. למלך שקדש אשה, אמר לה, לאחר זמן אני משלח לך כתובתיך ביד שושבין. שלח המלך אחר זמן. עד שהוא הולך, מצא אותה שקלקלה עם אחר. מה עשה אותו שושבין. קרע אותה כתובה, אמר מוטב שידון אותה כפנויה, ולא כאשת איש. כך הקדוש ברוך הוא קדש את ישראל, שנאמר, וקדשתם היום ומחר (שמ' יט י). בא משה ליתן להם את התורה, ומצאן שעשו אותו המעשה. מה עשה. שבר את הלוחות, שנאמר, וארא והנה חטאתם לה' אלהיכם, ואתפוש בשני הלוחות ואשליכם מעל שתי ידי ואשברם לעיניכם. אמר רבי ברכיה בשם רבי חלבו משום רבי ישמעאל בר נחמיה, הלוחות ארכן היה ששה טפחים, ורחבן שלשה, והיה משה מחזיק בשנים, והקדוש ברוך הוא בשנים, ושני טפחים ריוח באמצע. וגברו ידיו של משה ואחז בלוחות ושברן, שנאמר, וישלך מידיו (שמו' לב יט). לפיכך אמר ליה הקדוש ברוך הוא, אתה שברת. על מה שברן. על שפרח הכתב מעליהם, ולפיכך שברן. משל למה הדבר דומה. לדואר שהיה מהלך ופרוזדוגיי"א בידו להכנס במדינה, ועבר בתוך הנהר ונפלו הכתבים לתוך המים ונמוחו האותיות. מה עשה אותו הדואר. קרען, שנאמר, וארא והנה חטאתם לה' אלהיכם. מה ראה, ראה האותיות שפרחו. ואף הוא שברן, שנאמר, אשר שברת. אמר לו הקדוש ברוך הוא, אני הכתבתי בתורתי ואמרתי, והשיב את הגזלה אשר גזל או את הפקדון אשר הפקד אתו (ויקר' ה כג). ואתה הפקדון שהיה אצלך השיב אותו. זהו שנאמר, פסל לך שני לוחות אבנים כראשונים. ולא עוד אלא למחר הן עומדין להיות שונים מה שהן למדין ממך. נשתברה חבית, ושברה הסרסור הוא משלו. אתה היית סרסור בינינו לבינו, ושברת לפיכך אתה צריך לשלם. לכך נאמר, פסל לך. אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא, בעולם הזה, על ידי יצר הרע, היו למדין ומשתכחין. אבל לעולם הבא, אני עוקר יצר הרע מכם ואינכם משתכחים, שנאמר, והסרותי את לב האבן מבשרכם ונתתי לכם לב בשר (יחז' לו כו). ולא עוד, אלא שאינכם צריכים לאדם שילמדם שנאמר, ולא ילמדו עוד איש את רעהו ואיש את אחיו לאמר דעו את ה' כי כלם ידעו אותי למקטנם ועד גדולם (ירמיה לא לד). וכן יהי רצון ונאמר אמן]:

One of the challenges of writing this blog is that in some weeks I simply cannot find much interesting to say about the various midrashim. Sometimes this is due to the midrashim themselves being either very esoteric or (apparently) very straightforward with little work required to 'unpack' the midrash's surface meaning. Sometimes this is also due to Life, the Universe and Everything taking up my time (which is also why this blog went dormant for almost a year before picking up again with Devarim).

This week we have both factors combining so that very little time + relatively uninspiring midrashim = very short and superficial posts for both parshat Ekev and parshat Re'eh, with my apologies. Hopefully things will pick up a little after this, although not making many promises re: Shoftim due to the time factor.

Let's go...

 

This week's midrash for parshat Ekev picks up on a seemingly innocent phrase which Moshe repeats from G-d's speaking to him after the episode of the Chet Ha-Egel (Golden Calf), in which G-d agrees to give a second set of tablets to Moshe to replace the first ones which he had broken. The midrash picks up on G-d's mentioning to Moshe the first set of tablets 'which you broke' and, through a dispute between Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Yishmael over whether or not Moshe was right to break the first tablets, explore the relationship between G-d, Israel, Moshe and the Torah and how this was affected by the Chet Ha-Egel.

The midrash can be roughly divided into four sections as follows:

 

Section 1 - parable of a king (G-d) betrothed (through the revelation at Har Sinai) to a woman (Israel) to whom the king promises to send the woman's ketubah (Torah) sealing their marriage. The king sends the ketubah with an escort (Moshe), but while this is en route news comes that the woman had an affair with someone else (the Chet Ha-Egel in which certain elements amongst Israel made and worshipped an idol as a substitute for G-d or Moshe). The escort rips up the ketubah (Moshe destroys the luchot or tablets bearing the Ten Commandments from the Torah) so that the woman is judged for her crime as an unmarried woman rather than as a married woman, who would have faced the more serious charge of adultery. 

Section 2 - parable of a postman (Moshe) who went to deliver royal letters (the Torah) and on the way was passing through a river when the letters fell into the water and the writing was erased (the spiritual quality of the Torah in the tablets is said to have departed when Moshe approached the camp of the B'nei Israel, as symbolised by the letters flying away). The postman therefore ripped up the letters (Moshe destroyed the physical tablets). 

Section 3 - G-d apparently rebukes Moshe by comparing him to someone with whom G-d has left a deposit (the tablets/Torah) and who by Torah law is therefore responsible for returning the item deposited with him - hence G-d's command to Moshe to carve out tablets like the original ones which he had broken. G-d also puts Moshe in the position of an intermediary between G-d and Israel who is responsible for any damage caused to an item going from one to the either (in this case, the tablets).

Section 4 - G-d is cited as saying that in this world Isarel will forget whatever Torah they learn due to the yetzer hara (evil inclination) - but that in the Olam Ha'baah (World to Come) the yetzer hara will be removed and Israel will not only remember all the Torah they learn but will also 'know' both G-d and the Torah without any need to be taught by an intermediary.

So...the midrash sets out a complex web of relationships. G-d and Israel are (in a common motif) envisaged as ideally having a relationship like that of a loyal married couple. In Israel's case, this includes full knowledge and understanding both of the Torah and of G-d without the need for any intermediary. In this model, Moshe is only initially there as an intermediary for the purpose of delivering the Torah to Israel.

However, at the turning point of the Chet HaEgel Israel betrays G-d in such a way that the spiritual power in the Torah - the 'contract' binding G-d and Israel - leaves their presence and makes what Moshe is to deliver no better than blank pages from which the 'writing' - or spiritual meaning - has gone. Moshe, rightly or wrongly, destroys these pages not only to save Israel from being judged even more harshly for its sin but also because without the departed spiritual meaning they are no longer of importance.

Moshe's role as an intermediary now becomes emphasised, with him taking on responsibility for repairing whatever damage he may be seen to have caused through breaking the original tablets. However, the people of Israel's relationship with both G-d and the Torah is no longer as clear and unhindered as before and they will continue to rely on Moshe and future intermediaries for the transmission of the Torah, as well as on learning from each other in order to make up for the lack of clear, permanent 'knowledge' they have lost.

Although the midrash leaves it unresolved as to whether Moshe's act of breaking the tablets was beneficial or not, it does hold out some hope at the end that Israel can once again retain its original status as having full knowledge of G-d and the Torah without the limitations brought on as a result of the Chet Ha-Egel and Moshe's smashing of the tablets.Hopefully by then we can also overcome the limitations of our own understanding of Torah and midrashim and be able to see beyond the superficial level of these (and I have myself in mind as much as anyone else here...).

 

Shavua tov

 

RPT