Parashas Ki Sisa · EXTRA (side-ring) · Passuk 32:19
Sefaria — Or HaChaim on Ki Sisa 32:19
English: ויהי כאשר קרב אל המחנה , It was, when he came close to the camp, etc. Our sages have already told us in Megillah 10 that whenever the word ויהי introduces a paragraph this is an allusion to a painful experience. In this instance Shemot Rabbah 46,1 describes that Moshe noted the letters on the Tablets "flying away." This caused us all the subsequent grief our forefathers and we ourselves have experienced ever since, including the experience of death itself. Had the original Tablets survived, every sorrow and calamity would have disappeared from the earth, and the world would have experienced freedom from the angel of death (compare section 41 in that Midrash.) The word ויהי also refers to the
Commentary (Rishon) on a TT-silent passuk — EXTRA side-ring only.
See the Or HaChaim on this passuk for the full derash and implications.