After eighty days of negotiating, pleading and begging, the Israelites are given a second chance. A new set of tablets replace the first, shattered set.
But whatever happened to the broken pieces of the first Tablets? Were those holy pieces of stone, carved with G-d's own hand, swept away as just so much rubble?
Not at all, explains the Talmud. The shattered stones were given a place of honour in the Ark right next to the second set.
"The tablets and broken tablets lay side by side in the Ark".
Hey - I hear you ask - that seems to be going too far. Sure, the broken pieces should be treated with respect. But to put them in the Holy Ark right next to the "real", "whole" tablets? Isn't that a bit extreme?
Mordechai, the leader of the Jews, was famous even before the story of Purim. However this was nothing on the honour that he received after the Jewish victory. Now "his fame went forth throughout all the lands".
Wherever he went, Mordechai wore a large crown of gold. A Jew, said Mordechai, should be proud of his Jewishness. He also had no reason to be embarrassed by his success.
As befitting a person of great stature, Mordechai minted coins upon which his image was prominently displayed - Mordechai was no "shemediger" as they say in Yiddish. He certainly wasn't one to shy away from fame.
A cursory look at these coins would reveal something very strange indeed. Instead of a single image of Mordechai on one side of the coin, as is common practice, there were two, one on each side!
Going a little too far, no?
Your curiosity piqued, you may take a closer look. You would then find something of even greater interest.
On the one side - an image of Mordechai with a great crown of gold.
On the other - an image of Mordechai with sackcloth on his head. (The same sackcloth he wore when the decree of annihilation hung over the heads of the Jews.)
What was Mordechai saying with his coin?
Reb Yisroel Rhuzhin was a famous Chassidic Rebbe. He too was not the embarrassed type. Every day he would ride in the countryside with his private regal coach harnessed to four horses. Never mind a crown, he wore shoes of gold. Reb Yisroel believed that Jews should live in style.
One day the Chassidim snuck into his bedroom. They wanted a better look at those shoes.
Imagine their shock when they discovered stones in their shoes? Their Rebbe may be projecting an image of royalty to the outside - inside, however, he was in deep pain.
In another generation, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak, the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, wrote to a friend from a posh hotel, "as the custom of the Schneerson family, outer opulence: inner brokenness".
The above contrasts can be understood on many levels - some with deep mystical connotations. Here I would like to suggest an insight that is both simple and relevant.
No matter what successes we enjoy in life - and we all experience successes in one or more areas of our lives - it ill behoves us to take them for granted. We need to maintain a sense of balance - a sense of the transience of our current situation. An understanding that what is may not always be. That what is should be viewed as a precious gift for which appreciation must be constantly expressed.
This applies to one's health, one's relationships, one's financial situation, and even to one's spiritual level.
When we don't take things for granted, we automatically become more refined, appreciative human beings. We also become more spiritual. We begin to see the wonder, the magic and the beauty - indeed the Divine - in our relationships, in our successes and in the world around us. What for others is common, everyday and unexciting - is to us nothing short of miraculous.
When we don't take things for granted, we don't fall into the trap of being careless with those things that are most precious to us. We realise that maintaining them takes almost as much effort as gaining them in the first instance.
If the above is true generally, it is certainly true in the spiritual arena. Attaining a spiritual level - a level of refinement, goodness, of care and concern for G-d and one's fellow human being - is not something that just happens. You are not born good or bad, refined or course. You have to work on self-improvement. And even should you achieve a level of spiritual enlightenment - without constant effort, you may just as easily lose it. This indeed is one of the central themes of Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi's magnum opus, Tanya. Rabbi Schneur Zalman explains that whereas a person must have a positive self-concept, viewing himself in a good and positive light, he must at the same time see himself as on the edge of a spiritual precipice. He must understand that without due effort on his part he could quite easily fall.
Thinking well of oneself is an indispensable ingredient of success without which a person would be plagued with depression. Taking for granted one's goodness leads to complacency and inaction.
Developing a sense of our innate goodness, one the one hand, and of our delicate state of balance on the other, is essential for our spiritual growth.
And so:
* A golden crown on one side, but sackcloth on the other.
* Complete tablets in one half of the Ark, broken tablets in the other.
* Golden shoes on the outside, stones within.
* Outer pomp, inner brokenness.
King Solomon possessed a ring upon which he engraved the words: "This too will pass".
When things were at their height, he looked at those words. They reminded him to neither take his successes for granted, nor allow his successes to go to his head.
The words on the king's ring, served another, perhaps even more important purpose - one which is highly relevant to many of us.
When at a certain period of his life, King Solomon was deprived of his kingship and all hope seemed lost, he again looked at his ring and was reminded: "This too will pass".
There may be sackcloth in the present, but the hope of a golden crown in the future lives on.
The tablets may now be broken, but they will soon be repaired.
The stones will again give way to golden shoes, the brokenness to wholesomeness, the sinfulness to righteousness.
"This too will pass".
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