I had ascended the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the Tablets of the Covenant that ה׳ had made with you, and I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights, eating no bread and drinking no water.

Thereupon I gripped the two tablets and flung them away with both my hands, smashing them before your eyes.

I threw myself down before ה׳ —eating no bread and drinking no water forty days and forty nights, as before—because of the great wrong you had committed, doing what displeased and vexed ה׳.

Thereupon יהוה said to me, “Carve out two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to Me on the mountain; and make an ark of wood.

I will inscribe on the tablets the commandments that were on the first tablets that you smashed, and you shall deposit them in the ark.”

I made an ark of acacia wood and carved out two tablets of stone like the first; I took the two tablets with me and went up the mountain.

And Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: What is the meaning of that which is written: “And the people saw that Moses delayed [boshesh] to come down from the mount” (Exodus 32:1)? Do not read the word in the verse as boshesh; rather, read it as ba’u shesh, six hours have arrived. When Moses ascended on High, he told the Jewish people: In forty days, at the beginning of six hours, I will come. After forty days, Satan came and brought confusion to the world by means of a storm, and it was impossible to ascertain the time. Satan said to the Jews: Where is your teacher Moses? They said to him: He ascended on High. He said to them: Six hours have arrived and he has not yet come. Surely he won’t. And they paid him no attention. Satan said to them: Moses died. And they paid him no attention. Ultimately, he showed them an image of his death-bed and an image of Moses’ corpse in a cloud. And that is what the Jewish people said to Aaron: “For this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what has become of him” (Exodus 32:1).

The mishna discusses the five major communal fast days. Five calamitous matters occurred to our forefathers on the seventeenth of Tammuz, and five other disasters happened on the Ninth of Av. On the seventeenth of Tammuz the tablets were broken by Moses when he saw that the Jews had made the golden calf; the daily offering was nullified by the Roman authorities and was never sacrificed again; the city walls of Jerusalem were breached; the general Apostemos publicly burned a Torah scroll; and Manasseh placed an idol in the Sanctuary. On the Ninth of Av it was decreed upon our ancestors that they would all die in the wilderness and not enter Eretz Yisrael; and the Temple was destroyed the first time, in the days of Nebuchadnezzar, and the second time, by the Romans; and Beitar was captured; and the city of Jerusalem was plowed, as a sign that it would never be rebuilt. Not only does one fast on the Ninth of Av, but from when the month of Av begins, one decreases acts of rejoicing.

For on the seventeenth of Tammuz the tablets were broken, on the eighteenth he burnt the calf and punished the offenders, on the nineteenth he ascended the mountain, as it is said (Exodus 32:30) “And it came to pass on the morrow (the day after he had punished the wrongdoers; cf. vv. 26—29), that Moses said unto the people”, [Ye have sinned a great sin and now I will go up to the Lord]”. There he spent forty days and sought mercy for the people, as it is said, (Deuteronomy 9:18) “And I threw myself down before the Lord [as at the first, forty days and forty nights]”. On the first day of the New Moon of Elul it was said to him, (Exodus 34:2) “And be ready in the morning] and go up in the morning unto mount Sinai” — to receive the second tablets. He again spent there the forty days of which it is stated, (Deuteronomy 10:10) “[And I stayed in the mountain, according to the first, days, [forty days and forty nights]”. How were the first forty days passed? In God’s good-will. So, too, the last forty days were passed in God’s good-will — from which you must admit that the intervening forty days were passed in God’s anger. On the tenth of Tishri God became reconciled with Israel in joy and perfect affection and said to Moses: “I have forgiven!” and handed him over the second tablets, whereupon Moses went down and began to command them concerning the work of the Tabernacle (cf. Midrash Tanchuma, Ki Tisa 31; Seder Olam 6; Rashi on Exodus 18:13, Deuteronomy 9:18 and also Taanit 36b). They were occupied in its construction until the first of Nisan and from the time when it was set up God did not converse with him any more except from the tent of meeting.

כי בשש משה [AND WHEN THE PEOPLE SAW] THAT MOSES DELAYED LONG — Understand (בשש as the Targum does, as an expression denoting “lateness”.. Similar are: (Judges 5:28) “[Why is] his chariot so long (בשש) [in coming]?”; (Judges 3:25) “And they waited until it was late (עד בוש)”. For when Moses ascended the mountain he said to them (to the Israelites): at the end of a period of forty days (i. e. on the fortieth day) I shall return during the first six hours of the day (before noon). They thought that the day on which he ascended the mountain (the seventh of Sivan) was to be included in this number (thus — Sivan having 30 days — he was expected back before noon on the sixteenth of Tammuz). In fact, however, he had said to them “after forty days” meaning complete days — forty days, each day together with its night that precedes it — (as is the customary Jewish reckoning; cf. Genesis 1:5: ויהי ערב ויהי בקר). Now, as regards the day of this ascent, its night was not part of it that it can be reckoned as a complete day, for he ascended on the seventh of Sivan early in the morning (cf. Rashi on Exodus 19:3); it follows therefore that the fortieth day really fell on the seventeenth of Tammuz and not as the people had believed on the sixteenth. On the sixteenth of Tammuz Satan came and threw the world into confusion, giving it the appearance of darkness, gloom and disorder that people should say: “Surely Moses is dead, and that is why confusion has come into the world!” He said to them, “Yes, Moses is dead, for six hours (noon) has already come (בשש = ‎בא שש) and he has not returned etc.” — as is related in Treatise Shabbat 89a (cf. Rashi and Tosafot there and Tosafot on Bava Kamma 82a ד"ה כדי). One cannot, however, say that they erred only on account of it being a cloudy day, their mistake consisting in not being able to distinguish between forenoon and afternoon, and that thus they were correct in their supposition that he was to return on the sixteenth of Tammuz; for this assumes that he really returned on the day when they made the calf, but that they were under the impression that noon was past — for, as a matter of fact, Moses did not come down until the following day (the day after they had made the calf), for it is said (v. 6) “And they rose up early in the morrow, and brought up burnt offerings”— and only after wards the Lord said to Moses (v. 7) “Go, go down; for thy people … have corrupted themselves”.

ומשה עלה AND MOSES WENT UP on the second day of the month (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 19:3); for all his ascents to the mountain were made early in the morning, as it is stated (Exodus 34:4) “And Moses rose up early in the morning [and went up unto mount Sinai]” (Shabbat 86b).

§ The mishna taught that Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel said: There were no days as happy for the Jewish people as the fifteenth of Av and as Yom Kippur. The Gemara asks: Granted, Yom Kippur is a day of joy because it has the elements of pardon and forgiveness, and moreover, it is the day on which the last pair of tablets were given.

For on the seventeenth of Tammuz the tablets were broken, on the eighteenth he burnt the calf and punished the offenders, on the nineteenth he ascended the mountain, as it is said (Shemot 32:30) “And it came to pass on the morrow (the day after he had punished the wrongdoers; cf. vv. 26—29), that Moshe said unto the people”, [Ye have sinned a great sin and now I will go up to the Lord]”. There he spent forty days and sought mercy for the people, as it is said, (Devarim 9:18) “And I threw myself down before the Lord [as at the first, forty days and forty nights]”. On the first day of the New Moon of Elul it was said to him, (Shemot 34:2) “And be ready in the morning] and go up in the morning unto mount Sinai” — to receive the second tablets. He again spent there the forty days of which it is stated, (Devarim 10:10) “[And I stayed in the mountain, according to the first, days, [forty days and forty nights]”. How were the first forty days passed? In G-d’s good-will. So, too, the last forty days were passed in G-d’s good-will — from which you must admit that the intervening forty days were passed in G-d’s anger. On the tenth of Tishri G-d became reconciled with Israel in joy and perfect affection and said to Moshe: “I have forgiven!” and handed him over the second tablets, whereupon Moshe went down and began to command them concerning the work of the Tabernacle (cf. Midrash Tanchuma, Ki Tisa 31; Seder Olam 6; Rashi on Shemot 18:13, Devarim 9:18 and also Taanit 36b). They were occupied in its construction until the first of Nisan and from the time when it was set up G-d did not converse with him any more except from the tent of meeting.

On the seventh day after the Ten Commandments Moshe went up on the mountain, as it says "The Presence of the LORD abode on Mount Sinai, and the cloud hid it for six days..." (Shemot 24:16) This was in order for Moshe to purify himself. "On the seventh day He called to Moses from the midst of the cloud." (ibid.) "Moses went inside the cloud and ascended the mountain; and Moses remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights." (Shemot 24:18) On the 17th of Tammuz he came down and shattered the tablets, "The next day Moses said to the people, 'You have been guilty of a great sin. Yet I will now go up to the LORD; perhaps I may win forgiveness for your sin.'” Moshe went back up on the 18th of Tammuz and pleaded for mercy on behalf of Israel, as it is written "When I lay prostrate before the LORD those forty days and forty nights, because the LORD was determined to destroy you," (Devarim 9:25) At that moment, the Holy One once again viewed Israel with favor and said to Moshe to carve new tablets and to come up the mountain once again, as it says "Thereupon the LORD said to me, “Carve out two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to Me on the mountain; and make an ark of wood." (Devarim 10:1) He came down on the 28th of Av and carved the second tablets, as it says "So Moses carved two tablets of stone, like the first, and early in the morning he went up on Mount Sinai..." (Shemot 34:4) He went back up on the 29th of Av and the Torah was repeated to him a second time, as it says "I had stayed on the mountain, as I did the first time, forty days and forty nights; and the LORD heeded me once again: the LORD agreed not to destroy you." (Devarim 10:10) 'As I did the first time,' just as the first was a time of favor, so too the second were a time of favor- we can derive from this that those in the middle were a time of anger. He came down on the 10th of Tishrei, which was Yom Kippur, and announced to them that they had found favor before God (Hamakom), as it says "Pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for Your own!” (Shemot 34:9) Therefore it was established as a fixed day and a remembrance for the generations, as it says "This shall be to you a law for all time: to make atonement for the Israelites for all their sins once a year" (Vayikra 16:34).

...He [Moshe] began to regret that he had broken the tablets, G-d said to him: Do not feel regret about the first tablets, for they only contained the Ten Commandments, however in the second tablets I will give you, that they will contain Halacha, Midrash and Aggadah, as it is written (Job 11): "I will tell you hidden wisdom for it shall be doubly comforting."

And accordingly, how do I realize the meaning of that which is stated: “There was nothing in the Ark except the two tablets of stone which Moses put there,” which, according to the opinion of Rabbi Meir, teaches that something else was in the Ark besides the tablets themselves? It serves to include

the broken pieces of the first set of tablets, which were placed in the Ark. Having cited the baraita, the Gemara now presents its objection to what was taught earlier with regard to the dimensions of a Torah scroll: And if it should enter your mind to say, as Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi held, that the circumference of a Torah scroll is six handbreadths, now since any cylindrical object having a circumference of three handbreadths has a diameter of one handbreadth, a Torah scroll with a circumference of six handbreadths has a diameter of two handbreadths. And since a Torah scroll is wound to the middle, since it is rolled from both sides, it must take up more than two handbreadths due to the space between the sheets of parchment and the double rolling. According to Rabbi Meir, who says that the Torah scroll was placed inside the ark, how did the scroll fit in the remaining two handbreadths [pushkei] of space in the Ark?

§ The Gemara continues its discussion concerning the writing of the Torah: Rabbi Elazar says: The majority of the Torah was transmitted in writing, while the minority was transmitted orally, as it is stated: “I wrote for him the greater part of My Torah; they were reckoned a strange thing” (Hosea 8:12), meaning that the majority of the Torah was transmitted in written form. And Rabbi Yoḥanan says: The majority of the Torah was transmitted orally [al peh], while the minority was transmitted in writing, as it is stated with regard to the giving of the Torah to Moses on Mount Sinai: “For on the basis of [al pi] these matters I have made a covenant with you and with Israel” (Exodus 34:27), which indicates that the greater part of the Sinaitic covenant was taught orally.

Rabbi Yoḥanan says: The Holy One, Blessed be He, made a covenant with the Jewish people only for the sake of the matters that were transmitted orally [be’al peh], as it is stated: “For on the basis of [al pi] these matters I have made a covenant with you and with Israel” (Exodus 34:27).

And the Lord said unto Moses: “Write thou these words, for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel” (Exod. 34:27). Scripture states elsewhere in allusion to this verse: Though I write for him never so many things of My Law, they are accounted as stranger’s (Hos. 8:12). R. Judah the son of Shalum was of the opinion that when the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses Write thou, Moses wanted to write the Mishnah as well. However, the Holy One, blessed be He, foresaw that ultimately the nations of the world would translate the Torah into the Greek language and would claim: “We are the Israelites.”

Now the scales are balanced (as to who are His people). The Holy One, blessed be He, can say to the nations of the world: You claim that you are My children, but I know that only those who know My secrets are My children. Where are His secrets (to be found)? In the Mishnah, which was given orally, and from which everything can be derived.

(1) G-d spoke to Moses, saying, (2) “Send agents to scout the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelite people; send one participant from each of their ancestral tribes, each one a chieftain among them.” (3) So Moses, by G-d’s command, sent them out from the wilderness of Paran, all of them being men of consequence, leaders of the Israelites.

And when ה׳ sent you on from Kadesh-barnea, saying, “Go up and take possession of the land that I am giving you,” you flouted the command of your God ה׳ —whom you did not put your trust in nor obey.

...He [Moshe] turned around the elders saw him. They ran after him: Moshe grasped the tops of the tablets and they grasped at them too. But Moshe's strength overcame that of the seventy elders, as it is written, "For all the great might (ha-yad ha-chazakah)"(Devarim 34:12). Moshe looked at the tablets and saw that the writing on them was drifting away. The tablets grew heavy in Moshe's hands [because they now didn't have so many letters etched into them], fell from his hands, and shattered. Others say that only after it was said to him from the mouth of G-d, "which you have broken" (Devarim 34:1). meaning that G-d was communicating to Moshe, "It's a good thing that you broke them." Rabbi Meir adds [that this is also the meaning of the verse], "They [the first, broken tablets] are there [in the ark] as I was commanded" (Devarim 10:5) - only after he was commanded did he break the tablets.

"If you shall walk in my statutes," this is the Oral Torah; "and keep my laws," this is the Written Torah. So we see it brought in Midrash [Shemot] Rabbah, Parashat Ki Tisa that Moshe looked at the tablets and saw that the writing on them was drifting away and then broke them where he stood, and as we explained earlier in Parashat Ki Tisa, on the first set of tablets the Oral Torah was also written...

Another matter: We also wrote that the level attained by Moshe Rabbeinu was only in the Oral Torah... In the Gemara it is say that the diaspora will be gathered only due to the merit of the Mishnah, as it is said, "Even if they are scattered among the nations I will presently gather them together" (Hoshea 8:10) and this kibbutz galuyot will occur due to the merit of the the Oral Torah.

As it is brought down in the holy Zohar on this parashah, had Yisrael not sinned, only the five books of Torah would have been given to them (Nedarim 22b). After the damage [of the sin] the second set of tablets was given on Yom Kippur, which had on them much more Midrash, halachot, and aggadot for their redemption (Shemot Rabbah 46:1, 47:7). These are the greater part of wisdom to act as a corrective to the great anger [of Hashem].

Only after the damage [of the sin of the golden calf] did Yom Kippur come into being. Then, He gave them the second set of tablets, which included the Oral Torah, the cause of the distinction between the [spiritual] levels [of the people before and after the sin]. Rambam already clarified [in Hilchot Teshuvah] that people possess free will, [a mystery] about which it is said "For My plans are not like your plans" (Yeshayahu 55:8), but the Raavad responded to him that it would be better for him to leave the matter in the manner of the simple... Thus, at this point Hashem foresaw the damage [of the sin] as well as the correction on Yom Kippur, i.e. that there will be two sets of tablets.

Even though they said, "We will do and we will hear" (), they required the overturning of the mountain [Har Sinai] like a tub over their heads. As it says in [Midrash] Tanchuma, this [overturning] was about the Oral Torah, since only "one who loves HKBH with all their heart" learns it: this refers to the Talmud, which can only be learned with great effort...

The generation that entered the Land of Israel, had they not had the merit to work hard at learning Torah, there would not have been such an extensive growth of Oral Tradition. Otherwise, they would have attained all that is possible in this world without the need to discover anything. They would have just tended to their olive groves and vineyards and so the following generations. [But the generation of the wilderness], their receipt of the Oral Torah was by coercion and obligation and not from love, and without love it is impossible to attain anything...

"And then there was light," this it the Torah, as it is said of it, "Torah is light," and later it says, "And He saw...that it was good." The first kind of light [of creation] is the Written Torah which is revealed through the speech of G-d. "That it was good" is the attainment of the Oral Torah which is drawn from the light of the Written Torah... The first set of tablets is like the light of the Written Torah...

(1) The High Priest came to read the Torah...And he reads from the scroll the Torah portion beginning with the verse: “After the death” (Leviticus 16:1) and the portion beginning with the verse: “But on the tenth” (Leviticus 23:26), and furls the Torah scroll and places it on his bosom and says: More than what I have read before you is written here.