Rabbi’s Message

Rabbi Natan Halevy

Parashat Ki Tisa 5786, BSD

The Secret of the Tablets and the Power of Moshe’s Prayer

Shalom U’vracha,

One of the most fascinating descriptions in the Torah is that of the Luchot — the Tablets of the Covenant. These were not ordinary stone tablets engraved with letters. The Torah tells us that the letters were engraved through the stone, yet the writing could be read from both sides.

At first glance this sounds beautiful. But when we think about it carefully, it becomes astonishing.

Certain Hebrew letters make this physically impossible.

Letters such as the samech (ס) and the final mem (ם) are closed shapes. If you carve them through a piece of stone, the center should fall out. There is no way for the inner piece of stone to remain suspended.

Yet on the Luchot, the centers of these letters remained floating perfectly in place.

The Talmud explains: this was a miracle.
The Torah itself was literally held together by the power of Hashem.

The message is profound: the Torah does not merely sit on stone — the Torah sustains the stone itself. Reality itself is upheld by the divine wisdom contained in the Torah.

But the miracles surrounding the tablets do not stop there.

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Moshe’s Bold Prayer

After the sin of the Golden Calf, the Jewish people stood at the edge of destruction. Hashem told Moshe that He would destroy the nation and begin again from Moshe himself.

Moshe responded with one of the most powerful prayers ever uttered.

He reminded Hashem of the covenant with the Patriarchs:

אשר נשבעת להם בך
“You swore to them by Your very essence.”

Moshe was saying something extraordinary.

A human promise can be broken. But Hashem’s oath was made “by Himself” — by His eternal essence.

You are eternal — אתה קיים לעולם — therefore Your promise is eternal.

Moshe then began to invoke the merits of the Patriarchs in a way that reveals the depth of their devotion.

He said:

If You wish to destroy them with fire, remember Avraham.
Avraham was thrown into the fiery furnace for Your sake. Now is the time for him to receive the reward for that sacrifice.

If You wish to kill them, remember Yitzchak.
Yitzchak willingly placed his neck on the altar. He was ready to die for You.

If You wish to exile them, remember Yaakov.
Yaakov spent much of his life wandering in exile.

Moshe’s argument was clear:

These people are the children of those who gave everything for You.

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The Three-Legged Chair

Moshe then said something even more striking.

The Patriarchs are like a chair with three legs — Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov.

A chair with three legs can stand.

But if You destroy this nation and rebuild it only from me, Moshe said, that would be a chair with only one leg.

If the merit of three could not sustain them, how could the merit of one?

Moshe was refusing the offer of greatness. He would not accept becoming the new founder of the Jewish people.

His loyalty was absolute.

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“Leave Me Alone”

At one point Hashem says to Moshe:

הניחה לי
“Leave Me alone, so that I may destroy them.”

The sages notice something remarkable here.

Why would Hashem say “leave Me alone”?

Moshe understood the hint.

If Hashem tells someone to stop praying, it means that their prayer is powerful enough to stop the decree.

Hashem was revealing to Moshe that the future of Israel was now dependent on Moshe’s prayer.

And Moshe did not stop.

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The Revelation of Mercy

Later, Hashem tells Moshe:

“I will make all My goodness pass before you.”

Rashi explains that Hashem was teaching Moshe something essential.

Until now Moshe had prayed by invoking the merits of the Patriarchs. But Moshe worried: what happens if those merits are exhausted?

Is there no more hope?

Hashem answered by revealing the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy — a formula of prayer that draws on Hashem’s infinite compassion, not only on human merit.

Even when merit runs out, divine mercy does not.

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The Deeper Message

The floating letters on the tablets and Moshe’s prayer are deeply connected.

Just as the center of the letters floated miraculously in the stone, the Jewish people themselves have floated through history against all logic.

Empires stronger than stone have disappeared.

Yet the Jewish people endure.

Why?

Because our existence is not sustained by nature alone.

It is sustained by Torah, covenant, and the prayers of righteous leaders.

And perhaps the greatest lesson is this:

Hashem showed Moshe that the fate of the entire nation could rest in the hands of one person who refuses to stop praying.

Sometimes history changes not through power —
but through a single soul who stands before Heaven and refuses to give up on their people.