“Before the golden calf was created, the Jews could find G-d within the wholesomeness of the tablets, within the spiritual wholesomeness of life. Now they would find G-d in the shattered pieces of a once beautiful dream.

Because the broken tablets, representing the shattered pieces of human existence, have their own story to tell; they contain a light all their own. Truth is found not only in wholesomeness but also—sometimes primarily—in the broken fragments of the human spirit.

There are moments when G-d desires that we connect to Him as wholesome people, with clarity and a sense of fullness; there are yet deeper moments when He desires that we find Him in the shattered experiences of our lives… the conflicts which torment our psyches, when we are struggling with depression, addiction or confusion, when we fece despair and pain…

… not only the whole tablets, but also the broken ones, were situated in the holy of holies. This [conveys] the message articulated at the very genesis of Judaism: From the broken pieces of life you can create a holy of holies.”