The giving of the Tora took place on the sixth day of Sivan. During the following forty days, Moses was on Mount Sinai. Exodus 24:18 states, “Moses entered the cloud, went up on the mountain, and stayed there for forty days and forty nights.” Debarim 9:9 also describes this period: “I went up on the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the Lord had made with you, and I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I ate no bread and drank no water.” This period began the day after the giving of the Tora, the 7th of Sivan, and ended on the 16th of Tamuz. The day after the end of the forty days and forty nights, Moses came down from the mountain with the Tablets of the Covenant. Debarim 9:11 says, “And at the end of the forty days and forty nights, HaShem gave me the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant.” The people of Israel had made the golden calf the day before, on the 16th of Tamuz. Exodus 32:5 states, “When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, ‘Tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord.'” Therefore, on the 17th of Tamuz, Moses broke the Tablets of the Covenant. This event is one of the reasons why we mourn this date every year. After Moses destroyed and burned the golden calf, he prayed for forty days before the Lord in the Tabernacle. This began on the 18th of Tamuz and ended on the 28th of Av. Debarim 9:18 describes this period, saying, “Then once again I fell prostrate before HaShem for forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water, because of all the sin you had committed, doing what was evil in HaShem’s sight and so arousing his anger.” Moses then went up to Mount Sinai for a second time to receive the two tablets of the covenant. This period began the day after the previous period – on the 29th of Ab – and ended on the fortieth day – on the 9th of Tishri, one day before Yom Kippur. This was a time of compassion and forgiveness, as described in Debarim chapter 10. These dates are considered a period of teshuva: human repentance and divine forgiveness. And this is why we say the selichot and listen to the shofar from the beginning of the month of Elul to inspire repentance. At the end of this period, Moses descended from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant on the 10th of Tishri – the date we commemorate Yom Kippur.
