(1) Then Hashem said to Moshe, “Set out from here, you and the people that you have brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Avraham, Yitzhak, and Ya'akov, saying, ‘I will give it to your offspring’— (2) I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite— (3) a land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go in your midst, since you are a stiff-necked people, lest I destroy you on the way.” (4) When the people heard this harsh word, they went into mourning, and none put on their jewelry. (5) Hashem said to Moshe, “Say to the Israelite people, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I were to go in your midst for one moment, I would destroy you. Now, then, leave off your jewelry, and I will consider what to do to you.’” (6) So the Children of Israel removed their jewelry from Mount Horev onward.
Rashi from midrash - the crowns given when they said נעשה ונשמע
The jewelry they've removed
is connected to their shining moment of being willing to devote themselves
to serving God.
Having their jewelry off is like a mark of shame that never goes away.
Hizkuni - the riches taken from EG
A mark of arrogance,
maybe their imitation of Egyptian royalty,
that they are now willing to let go of.
or of their arrogance?
Is the fact that they've taken it off
a sign that they've matured
or that they live in the shadow of lost merit
in the shadow of their wrongdoing?
Just a thought I'm left with,
that I wonder whether these things aren't so different,
whether imagining ourselves as someone else (a celebrity, royalty, etc.)
isn't so different from pretending that we are only our highest achievement.
Maybe we're more complicated and dynamic than any of that.
Letting go of the jewelry might be a sign of shame,
but it could also be a way that the people free themselves from the past,
from any one moment,
and allow themselves to notice their highs and lows,
their successes, challenges, and missteps,
in a way that makes it possible for them to keep learning and shifting.