There is no charge for this special presentation by

Rabbi Yonatan Hambourger with an Introduction by

Dr. John Kay and is open to all ICL Members

Everyone knows the story. Moses comes down the mountain, finds the people dancing around a golden calf, and shatters the tablets — carved by G-d, written by G-d — on the ground.

Almost nobody has been told what happened next. The broken pieces were not swept up, and they were not buried. They were collected and placed inside the Holy Ark, beside the second, whole set, and remain there for eternity.

Why would anyone keep the broken ones?

Rabbi Yonatan Hambourger takes that question through the Talmud, the Midrash, and the Jewish mystical tradition to an answer about failure — the business that didn't make it, the marriage that ended, the person you fully intended to become — and what Jewish tradition says to do with the pieces. No Hebrew required, no background assumed; all traditions and faiths are welcome.

Copies of Echoes From Sinai: A Torah Voice for All Who Seek — a year of readings like these, one for every week of the Torah — will be available afterward, and Rabbi Hambourger will be glad to sign them.

Rabbi Yonatan Hambourger serves seekers of all faiths in communities across rural Georgia and writes the syndicated newspaper columns Echoes From Sinai, and Taste of Torah. He has taught at the Institute for Continuing Learning since 2023, and his book — Echoes From Sinai: A Torah Voice for All Who Seek — grew directly out of those classes. Drawing on Talmud, Midrash, and Hasidic thought, he teaches audiences of every background, and has lectured at colleges, military bases, and correctional facilities throughout the regional South.