HAD MOSHE RABBEINU not broken the first tablets, there’d be no talk of war. The second set of tablets that he came down with eighty days later was not merely Kabbalas HaTorah, TAKE 2. It was Kabbalah HaTorah, LEVEL 2. It was the difference between Yaish and Ayin, “something” and “nothing,” because the first set of tablets was the level of Toras Atzilus and Ayin, and the second set was the level of Toras Beriyah and Yaish.
Elul. Once upon a time, it was a word that inspired people, made people “shake in their books.” It meant judgment day was coming, and that got a lot of Jews nervous. I too shake in my boots when I hear “Elul,” but mostly because I anticipate spending many tiring hours in shul and eating too much food. I must have lost something in the translation.
FOR DECADES I have been writing down the issue number of the current week’s Perceptions just as a matter of protocol, and without really comprehending the number.
WE KNOW THAT life is a test from Heaven to see where we stand on the issues of life, but this is one of the few parshios that actually tells us this. Nevertheless, it is easy to forget this, or not know it all, and go through life as things matter less than they do.
WE’VE MOURNED, SO now it is time for consolation. This is part of that consolation, from a little different angle.
