Thursday, June 02, 2022

kabbalas haTorah b'simcha

Hashem told Moshe while he was up on Har Sinai that the people below were worshipping the eigel, but that did not stop Moshe from bringing the luchos down with him.  Once he saw what was going on, however, he smashed the luchos.  M'ikara mai ka'savar u'l'bsof mai kasavar?  If he thought Bn"Y did not deserve the luchos, why did he bring them down?  If they did deserve them, why did Moshe smash them?

Seforno (32:19) answers:

וירא את העגל ומחלת, ויחר אף משה – כשראה שהיו שמחים בקלקול שעשו, כענין ״כי רעתכי אז תעלזי״ (ירמיהו י״א:ט״ו), ובזה התקצף ונואש שיוכל לתקן המעוות באופן שיחזרו לתמותם ויהיו ראויים לאותן הלוחות.

Moshe thought that even if the people were worshipping avodah zarah, it was a mistake he could correct.  Ohr she'hah machziran la'mutav once they got the Torah.  

However, once Moshe saw that it was not just that the people had gone astrary, but that they were filled with simcha at their situation, they were rejoicing in the worship of avodah zarah, he lost hope. You can't compare stam an aveira to an aveira done with simcha and hislahavus.

Rav Tzvi Shteinberg points out the Seforno's comment (23:14) on  שָׁלֹ֣שׁ רְגָלִ֔ים תָּחֹ֥ג לִ֖י בַּשָּׁנָֽה:

תחג לי – כענין ״ישמח ישראל בעשיו״ (תהלים קמ״ט:ב׳), על היפך ״וירא את העגל ומחלת״ (שמות ל״ב:י״ט).

 It's not enough to stam do the mitzvos ha'chag.  You have to have the same simcha and hislahavus that you showed when Aharon declared "chag la'Hashem machar" and you worshipped the eigel.

B'frat, this is true on Shavuos.  It's not enough to have a kabbalas haTorah, but it has to be b'simcha, just like the simcha of the eigel which thwarted the initial kabbalah.   

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