The Talmud relates that when Moshe was up on the mountain receiving the Torah, and the Jewish people had already expected his return, the Satan showed the Jews an image of Moshe’s coffin in the air and gave them the impression that he had died. The Meshekh Chokhmah (Devarim 30:2) notes that this was an integral part of why the sin of the golden calf is held up as a paradigmatic model of repentance.

The Talmud (Yoma 86b) cites in the name of R. Yochanan that a true penitent is one who faces the same challenges and temptations (“oto makom, oto ishah”) that led to the sin in the first place. This may imply, though, that when it is impossible to recreate the original situation, there can not be true repentance. The episode of the calf, however, teaches otherwise. The repentance of the Jewish people followed Moshe absenting himself for another period of time, true, but that absence lacked the misimpression of his death. Therefore, that second period did not fully recreate the circumstances of the sin. Nonetheless, once G-d, who knows man’s innermost thoughts (yodea ta’alumot) can testify to the inner repentance, the process is complete, even without the outer test. This is taught by the model of the episode of the calf.