u-l'khol ha-yad ha-hazakah u-l'khol ha-mora ha-gadol asher assah Moshe l'einei kol Yisrael: b'reishit bara Elokim et ha-shamayim v'et ha-aretz: Rashi - u-l'khol ha-yad ha-hazakah: she-kibeil et ha-torah b'lukhot b'yadav. l'einei Yisrael: she-n'sa'o libo l'shaber et ha-lukhot l'eineihem. b'reishit bara: bish'vil ha-torah she-nikreit reishit darko.

Among all the evidence that wise men have found to prove that the Torah that Moshe gave to the Children of Israel was the Torah of the living G-d and to cut off thereby the arms of the unbelievers who say that Moshe in his great wisdom prepared it and composed it, this one shines as bright as the dawn. If we study the laws and principles of each state, we will find that the laws and statutes that the rulers expound correspond to the beliefs and opinions of the inhabitants of those states. Every nation enacts laws and statutes that correspond to its opinions and general understanding. And only from a people who themselves strive for a vibrant attitude and seek to advance forward in step with enlightened understanding can a ruler emerge who will, based on his lofty status and exalted understanding, reform their laws and make them more just. Rulers and leaders only can lead their peoples to a place towards which the spirit of the people wishes to go.

Consider a wise and understanding nation, like the people of France, who are just in their hearts and who strive for the spirit of knowledge and wisdom. Their freedom has given them just and liberal laws under which they proceed methodically without disturbance. Their ways are ways of pleasantness and their paths are of peace. But consider an insolent and foolish nation, like the Russians, who dwell in the valley darkness. Who could lead them in orbits of righteousness and under laws of freedom? For they are insurgents against light and they will always stumble and upset everything. They will live under laws that are appropriate to them and to their status and opinions.

This was not how Moshe led our ancestors. For he did not provide them with a legacy (morashah) that was commensurate with their spiritual level at that time, which was not a generation of enlightenment in belief and understanding. Before the midwife could come to them (terem tavo aleihem ha-m'yaledet), they had given birth to laws and statutes that were exceedingly lofty and sublime. Were our ancestors not like grapes in the desert or unripe figs in the summer? In the early times, they went in darkness and worshiped mountains and brought human sacrifices. It was a time when Jacob was small and very weak when they left Egypt, where they had worshiped idols and devoted themselves to every abomination. If so, how could anyone say that this degenerate and degraded people could have called to life these upright laws - which were as far from them as east from west? As heaven is higher than the earth, so were the ways of the Torah above their ways, deeper than the deep and wider than any ocean. So how could it have occurred to Moshe when he took them out of Egypt to give this lofty and exalted Torah to a foolish and ignoble nation, a generation crooked and perverse who knew nothing but to serve Egypt by making bricks and mortar?

Is this not a sure sign and testimony that G-d sent him and that the two tablets were made by G-d and the words were written by G-d? Was it not for Torah that He established boundaries on the land and upon it that he founded the entire world? And did He not willingly chose His people Israel to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation? But He did not give Israel His laws and statutes because Israel was already prepared for them, and had already risen from below and dwelled on high and were worthy of that reward. On the contrary, G-d sent His holy word to correct the ways of His people and to purify them like pure silver to be His chosen people forever more.

It was upon this idea that the Midrash (Midrash Rabbah 99) based its interpretation of the verse (Psalms 68:17) "Why look ye askance, ye mountains of peaks, At the mountain which G-d hath desired for His abode? Yea, the Lord will dwell therein forever" (lamah t'ratzdun harim gavnunim ha-har hamad elokim l'shivto aph ha-shem yishkon la-netzah). According to the Midrash, Mount Tavor and Mount Carmel were disputing between themselves, each one saying "the Torah should be given upon me." Therefore G-d said to them "you are defective (gavnunim gibein oh dak, Leviticus 21:20). The mountain that G-d desires for His abode is Mount Sinai." The Midrash was suggesting that Mount Tavor and Mount Carmel, by saying that G-d should give the Torah upon them, meant that the Children of Israel were on too low a moral and spiritual level to be worthy of receiving such enlightened laws. They were arguing that, before giving the Torah to Israel, G-d should wait until they had gradually elevated themselves morally and spiritually until they had reached the loftiest spiritual heights. But G-d responded to them with a higher wisdom -- with the just words "gibein oh dak" (a dwarf or crookback). By this G-d meant to say that the high-minded idea that He should wait till the Children of Israel had raised themselves up to be worthy of the Torah before giving it to them would never be realized because on their own they would never reach that spiritual level at which the laws and statutes of the Torah would be appropriate for them. Rather, the mountain that G-d desired for His abode was Sinai, that is to say G-d desired Israel even when they were at a lowly moral and spiritual level. He therefore brought the Torah down to Mount Sinai to match the low level of the Children of Israel, wanting His holy Torah would raise them up and elevate their existence. And these statutes are of ancient days created before there were mountains, and for their sake G-d created the earth and its fullness, the entire world and its inhabitants.

The breaking of the tablets give testimony and proof that the Children of Israel were unworthy of this Torah. For it is evident that while the King and His party were occupying Sinai and He was giving His commandments to His servant Moshe, the Children of Israel made the calf and bowed down to an idol. So when Moshe came down from the mountain he cast the tablets from his hands, saying "all Israel are apostates, how can I give them this Torah?" It is clear that they were not worthy of the Torah. And yet it was still given to them.

This is what was meant by "and in all the mighty hand . . . which Moshe wrought in the sight of Israel" (u-l'khol ha-yad ha-hazakah . . . asher assah Moshe l'einei Yisraell). He received the Torah and the tablets and then quickly thereafter he smashed them "in the sight of Israel." This shows that "b'reishit bara Elokim" - for the Torah, which is called "reishit" G-d created the heaven and the earth. In other words, the Torah was given before man became worthy of it, and it is by means of the Torah that man slowly raises himself up. "For the land was unformed and void" (tohu va'vohu). While mankind were still dwelling in spiritual darkness, G-d said, "let there be light." G-d made the light of the Torah shine for them. "For the commandment is a lamp and Torah is a light" (ki ner mitvah v'torah ohr).