Without a doubt, the central event in our parsha is the sin of the calf. The sin itself, and its many consequences, have had and continue to have a major effect upon Am Israel and all the nations. Our Rabbis the Rishonim and the Acharonim have delved into the nature of the sin, its causes and its results. I would like to focus on another event which was no less shocking: Moshe Rabbenu's breaking of the tablets.
 

Let us imagine the following scenario: A terrible misdeed was committed in one of Israel's communities. As the result, the enraged Chief Rabbi of Israel enters one of the central synagogues of Jerusalem, and in front of the entire congregation, he walks over to the Aron Kodesh, takes out the finest Sefer Torah and hurls it to the ground…

There is no doubt that an occurrence like this would shock the entire Jewish world! The breaking of the tablets was a much more extreme act. The first tablets were of a great and terrible character: "the tablets were the creation of HaShem, and the writing was the writing of HaShem."
 

What was behind this act of Moshe? What did he want to teach us by doing this?
 

G-d forbid that we should attribute to Moshe Rabbenu a rash, ill-considered act! Furthermore, it is inconceivable that Moshe would have received praise from HaShem for a deed like that. On the words asher shibarta (which you broke) Chazal say: yasher koach sheshibarta (you did a commendable thing by breaking them). This is a sign that this was a desirable deed, one which is worthy of being remembered for generations.
 

Another point which is difficult to understand: HaShem chooses to conclude the five Chumashim of the Torah with the act of the breaking of the tablets! The last words of the Torah are: "before the eyes of all Israel" (Devarim 34:12), and Rashi explains: "before the eyes of all Israel - his heart inspired him to break the tablets, as it says: 'and I broke them before your eyes' and HaShem agreed with his judgment, as it says: asher shibarta - yasher koach sheshibarta."
 

Clearly, the Torah attributes great importance to the act of breaking the tablets, and we must understand what this act comes to teach us.
 

A variety of answers have been given for this question, and in my opinion, the explanation given by the Meshech Chochmah illuminates a very fundamental point in the outlook of Judaism. And here is what he says:
 

"And it was, when he neared the camp and he saw the calf and the dancing, and Moshe's anger was aroused and he cast the tablets from his hands and broke them under the mountain – and the issue is, that the Torah and the Emunah are the fundamentals of the Israelite nation, and all of the Kedushot (attributes of holiness) of Eretz Israel and Yerushalayim, etc., these are elements and extensions of the Torah and they have been sanctified by the holiness of the Torah…  and similarly it is equal toward the man who is the highest of the high, Moshe the man of G-d, and the lowest of the low, and if one of them will transgress one of HaShem's Mitzvot, the same fate will befall him or the lowest of the low. And regarding this, Moshe cried out: Do you imagine that I am an issue and possess some holiness aside from the Mitzvah of HaShem? To the point that in the absence of my honor, you made yourselves the calf? G-d forbid, I am a man like you! And the Torah does not depend upon me, and even had I not come, the Torah would have remained in existence without any alteration, and the proof for this is that for 38 years in the desert they were under admonition, and the Divine Word did not address Moshe. And do not imagine that the Mikdash and the Mishkan possess independent holiness, but HaShem Yitbarach dwells within His sons, and if they, as men, transgressed the covenant, then all the holiness is removed from them and they are like mundane vessels. And furthermore: the tablets upon which is HaShem's writing, they also possess no intrinsic holiness, except for your sake (Am Israel). And when (referring to the sin of the calf) the bride committed adultery in the bridal canopy, the tablets are likened to earthen jugs and have no holiness in and of themselves, only for you, for you keep them. In conclusion, there is nothing in the world to which service and subservience are relevant to except HaShem, may His name be blessed. He is holy in His essence, and it is fitting that we praise and serve Him, and all of these Kedushot hold true by virtue of the command of the Creator! And this is the meaning of 'and it was, when he neared the camp and he saw the calf and the dancing': he understood their mistake 'and Moshe's anger was aroused and he cast the tablets from his hands'. That is to say: there is no holiness and divinity at all except for the existence of the Creator, may His name be blessed. And had he brought the tablets, they would be, in a sense, exchanging the calf for a tablet, and Israel would have remained in their mistaken concept. However, when he broke the tablets, they realized that they had not achieved the goal of Emunah in Hashem and His pure Torah… And therefore HaShem said: 'go down since your nation has corrupted' – in what way did they corrupt? By saying 'which you brought up from Egypt' – that they regarded you (Moshe) as well as divine, and as if you had brought them up from Egypt with a divine power, besides My hashgacha pratit (supervision). And this is a precious concept."

The Meshech Chochmah clarifies one of the Torah's great foundations. Israel had held to a corrupt concept of Emunah. This perception attributes holiness to creations in isolation from HaShem's desire. This contains a taint of idolatry, and therefore this notion must be rooted out from Israel.
 

Moshe understands that there is a critical need for a shocking act in order to disprove this concept. The breaking of the tablets engraved into the heart of the nation that without HaShem's will, the tablets and the calf are equivalent. Inherent holiness belongs only to the Creator of the world, may He be blessed. And when HaShem's will is not upon a specific thing – then this is a mundane object with no divine essence.
 

For a deed like this which served to purify Emunah in HaShem with no limits and with no impurities – Moshe certainly deserved to receive a great yasher koach from HaShem.

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