You shall not recognize the gods of others in My presence. Do not make for yourself a carved image (lecha pesal) nor any likeness of that which is in the heavens above or on the earth below… (Shemos 20:3-4)

And HASHEM said to Moshe, “Carve for yourself (pesal lecha) two stone Tablets like the first and I will write on the Tablets the words that were on the first Tablets which you broke. (Shemos 34:1)

The second set of Tablets that Moshe carved were delivered on Yom Kippur. Therefore, Yom Kippur is also a day for re-receiving the Torah. How do these two seemingly different elements, Teshuvah and the Receiving the Torah work together?

It’s remarkable that the same two words, and the same five letters, “pesal lecha” and “lecha pesal”, “carve for yourself” and “for yourself carve” can have such varying results. Those Tablets that Moshe was instructed to “carve for yourself” were the 2nd unbroken Tablets that were placed in the Aron with the 1st broken Tablets which resided in the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle and the Temple in Jerusalem. Nothing could be more elevated in this entire material universe. Somehow the Aron did not even take up any physical space.

At the other extreme end of the spiritual spectrum is the expectation to not to carve out an idol. Almost nothing is more despicable in G-d’s world than the likes of a Golden Calf. The same two words “pesal lecha” and “lecha pesal” account for both. What’s the difference in these two types of carvings? The answer I heard goes like this; “It all depends on where you put the “lecha”- where you put your- self.” If the “self” comes after the doing it can be an action for the Holy of Holies. If it precedes the deed, then it may well be worthy of the title idolatry.

This entire notion is reflected in the difference between the way we express ourselves in English, versus the Holy Language of Hebrew. In English when I want to say that I wrote a poem, I say “I wrote a poem!” The first word is “I” at the beginning of the sentence and it’s the tallest letter.

When one wishes to say in the Holy Tongue that he wrote something, (in the first person) he says, “Ketavti”. The letter “yud” that indicates “I” is the littlest of the letters and it appears at the very end. The size and the placement of the “I” can make the biggest difference in the quality of the result, as it is written, “I stand between HASHEM and between you…” (Devarim 5:5) The Baal Shem Tov had taught this verse to mean that it’s the egoistic “I” that stands between you and HASHEM.

Years back I had the great honor and privilege to do a Rosh Hashanah program for three years in a row with Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski. I remember him telling us at that time that he did not write some fifty books, he wrote one book fifty different ways. All of the books were about one subject, “self-esteem”. I asked him, “What’s self-esteem?” He answered in a heartbeat, “Healthy self-esteem means seeing your good points and bad points simultaneously.”

It occurred to me that the operative word is “simultaneously”. If somebody only sees their good points then they are at risk of becoming haughty, perhaps a narcissistic personality. If they only see their bad points, then they will tend to be depressed and give up and fail before even trying. If one sees their good points and then their bid points alternately, then they are manic, taking off for flight and then crashing and burning again and again. However, if somebody sees their bad points and they’re good points simultaneously then they never get too low because they always know that they have something special to offer and they never get too high because they understand that they have faults and foibles. I saw a phrase like this, “I can be both a masterpiece and a work in progress at the same time!”

The story is told that when Michelangelo was asked how he carved that statue of David out of a solid slab of stone, he answered, “I cut away everything that was not David and there he was!” We are not actually eliminating the “I” but revealing the real “I”, the Chelek of HASHEM that resides within us. When we carve away that which is not really us, there we are, a masterpiece!