The word tablet has many meanings.
There are the tablets Moses received on Mount Sinai. A tablet in 2023 can refer to a pill that is comprised of several substances. And then there is the tablet referring to the device that is generally smaller than a computer and bigger than a phone.
However, if you think about it, perhaps the three meanings of the word actually share a lot in common.
The first tablets were shattered by Moses because the Jewish people sinned with the golden calf. Meaning, they misused their need for spirituality. But then there were the second tablets that were given to Moses, which became the foundation of the entire Jewish religion.
Religion can be a beautiful thing or a tool fundamentalists use to incite violence and terror.
How true that is for substances and drugs. They can be life-saving and they can also obviously be horribly abused.
And finally, the technological tablet we all know and use. It can save lives, spread Torah, and trigger revolutions. But technology can also be horribly abused for bullying, dissemination of fake news, or poisonous rhetoric.
The three main translations of the word tablet – the tablets that were the foundation of Judaism, the tablet that is used for medication, and the tablet that is the device and represents tech – can be used or abused.
