In this week’s parshah, we read about Moshe’s heroism and bravery. When he witnessed the people dancing around the golden calf, he shattered the Luchos — Tablets — which he had brought down from heaven. In addition, we are offered a glimpse of their uniqueness. The Torah tells us “The Tablets were inscribed on both their sides, mizeh umizeh heim ketuvim — they were inscribed on one side and the other” (32:15).

The manner in which they were inscribed was testimony to their Divine origin. They were inscribed through and through, on both sides, and miraculously they were not reversed on either side but legible on both the front and back. This is something which is not humanly possible.

Though Hashem is definitely capable of performing a miracle, our Sages tell us that He does not do them for no reason. (Derashot Haran see Shabbat 53b). What was the purpose of this miraculous form of inscription?

Just recently we celebrated the joyous Purim festival. The echoes of the Megillah are still resounding in our ears. We read that when the evil decree was issued to annihilate the Jewish people Mordechai rent his clothes, put on sackcloth and cried bitterly in the midst of the city. When word of Mordechai’s behavior reached Esther, she summoned Hatach, one of the king’s chamberlains, and ordered him to go to Mordechai to learn “mah zeh ve’al mah zeh” — “what this was, and why this was” (4:5).

The Midrash (Esther Rabbah 8:4) says that indeed Esther knew of the impending doom that threatened her people. Thus, she understood the reason for Mordechai’s behavior. But her question had a deeper significance. She asked Mordechai to explain to her “what this was, and why this was.” She wanted to know the reason for the tragedy that had come upon the Jewish people. What had brought it about? In the entire history of the Jewish people things had never come to such a pass! The Midrash interprets Esther’s question as a fascinating play on words: she was saying that perhaps the decree came about because the Jews denied that the Luchot — Tablets — “mizeh umizeh ketuvim” — “were inscribed on both their sides.”

Indeed this is puzzling. What did Esther mean by this analysis of the tragic situation? Is this denial of such vast importance to justify the threatened destruction?

Esther comprehended that when Hashem inscribed the Luchot on both sides, He was conveying a succinct and poignant message to the Jewish people: One should never mistakenly think that Torah applies only to those who stood in front of the Luchot and saw the inscription. Thus, she asked Mordechai, “Perhaps we are being punished because here in Persia the Jews denied that Torah was written from both sides of the Luchot.” The Jews, she reasoned, perhaps had evolved a new doctrine that Torah applied only in Eretz Yisrael where they lived before and towards which the legible side of the Luchot faced. In Persia, however, they argued, the Torah did not apply. Looking from their vantage point you could not read the inscription on the Luchot, for it was not inscribed legibly on both sides. Thus, they were exempt from Torah observance and practice.

Dear Chatan and Kallah, let the dialogue between Esther and Mordechai be the guidepost throughout your married life. Remember in theory and in practice that G‑d gave us the Torah which was “mizeh umizeh heim ketuvim” — “ inscribed on both sides” — and it is applicable regardless of what side of the world you will reside in. It can be “read” from any vantage point and must always function as the pattern for the Jewish way of life.