The fast of the 17th of Tammuz commences a period of mourning of The Three Weeks which concludes with the fast of Tisha B’Av. The Talmud records that the first tragedy that occurred on the 17th of Tammuz was the breaking of the tablets at Mt Sinai.
Moses descends Mount Sinai and sees the Jewish people dancing around the golden calf. He takes the two tablets he is holding in his two hands and thrusts them to ground, shattering them. The divine gift of the tablets etched by God now lay strewn on the ground.
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