I used to think that one of the most cliche questions rabbi could ask was, “When did you experience a Sinai Moment?” For whatever reason, I found this question forced and naive, as it assumes that any of us can really imagine what it was like to experience Sinai, a moment shrouded in mystery. However, as I studied this week parasha, and looked at how the commentaries understood the message implicit in the Israelites’ journey to receive the revelation at Sinai, the more I understood how a “Sinai Moment” is an experience that all of us can have, and is a challenge that every Jew must feel in their soul in order to be worthy of receiving Torah.
Parashat Yitro describes an encounter between the Israelites, Moses and God prior to the receiving of the Aseret Ha-Devarim, where individuals ascend or descend based on the needs of the moment:
“On the third day, as morning dawned, there was thunder, and lightning, and a dense cloud upon the mountain, and a very loud blast of the horn; and all the people who were in the camp trembled. Moses led the people out of the camp toward God, and they took their places at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke, for the Lord had come down upon it in fire; the smoke rose like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled violently. The blare of the horn grew louder and louder. As Moses spoke, God answered him in thunder. The Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain, and the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain and Moses went up” (Shemot 19:16-20).
In the passage, our commentators paid great attention to the dramatic scene painted by the Torah, and how the notions of ascending and descending reflected the powerful charge God would make to Moses and the Israelites. In each case, our rabbis see the revelation at Har Sinai as a moment where the Israelites were commanded to elevate themselves, literally and figuratively, in their relationship to God, a message that would remain timeless for all generations of the Jewish people who would come afterwards.
Our rabbis imagined in an early midrash that the Israelites were completely unprepared for the physical experience of standing at Sinai, experiencing shock and awe when God descended towards the Israelites. At the same time, the midrash states that God only sought to create a shocking experience because of the powerful message contained in the revelation:
““Who shall not fear You King of the nations!” (Jeremiah 10:7). This can be compared to a money-lender who filled his pocket with gold coins and stood calling out, “Whoever wishes may come and borrow!” Everyone heard him and fled--thinking, “When he comes to reclaim his debt, who will be able to stand, to bear it?” So, God came down to Sinai to give the Commandments and prevent the world from falling apart, as it is said: “The earth trembled, the sky rained because of God” (Psalms 68:9); and “The mountain quaked” (Judges 5:5); and “The pillars of heaven tremble” (Job 26:11). And Israel shuddered, as it is said, “The whole people shuddered” (Exodus 19:16); and the mountain shuddered, as it is said, “The whole mountain shuddered violently” (Exodus 19:18). Why all these tremors? Because he spoke words of Life! And the prophet cried out: “If a lion roars, who shall not fear?” (Amos 3:8)” (Shemot Rabbah 29:3).
Lest we think that the experience at Sinai was one of shock and awe because God wanted to punish the Israelites, the midrash reminds us that because God had such a powerful purpose in speaking to the Israelites, God’s message was packaged in a way that made the Israelites feel the importance of that moment. Additionally, because God’s message was so powerful, and was delivered through a powerful medium, the hope of the midrash is that the Israelites would heed God’s message and rise to the occasion.
Recognizing the metaphorical meaning of this passage, Isaac Abravanel argues that Moses’ ascent towards Sinai represents a spiritual, not physical, climb up the mountain, where Moses must prepare himself to be worthy of what he shall receive from God on behalf of the Israelites. Abravanel states:
“And Moses went up to God”: This may be taken to imply that as soon as the Israelites encamped opposite the Mount, Moses communed in solitude in his own tent and “went up,” in the metaphorical sense of scaling the intellectual heights of communion with God, preparing himself for the prophetic experience whenever it would descend upon him. Then in the midst of his self-communing: “The Lord called unto him out of the mountain” (ibid.) bidding him ascend. Accordingly, the phrase “went up” implies a spiritual lifting up and not a physical ascent of the Mount” (Abravanel on Shemot 19:20).
For Abravanel, Moses knew meeting God in this revelatory moment required a spiritual preparation unlike any other moment before or since. As such, the Torah reminds us that the vision at Sinai contained an implicitly aspirational message, one where Moses would only be worthy of God’s revelation if he lifted himself up spiritually.
Finally, Professor Jon Levenson of Harvard University writes in Sinai & Zion that Sinai is a typological moment, an example of what the Israelites can be, in the past, present, or future, if they choose to wholly devote themselves to God, a much-needed needed reminder at certain low points in the Israelites’ history. Levenson writes:
“...the Sinaitic “event” functioned as the prime pattern through which Israel could re-establish in every generation who she was, who she was meant to be. The experience of Sinai, whatever its historical basis, was perceived as so overwhelming, so charged with meaning, that Israel could not imagine that any with or commandment from God could have been absent from Sinai” (Jon D. Levenson, Sinai & Zion: An Entry Into the Jewish Bible, 18-19).
For Levenson, Sinai matters because it offers a vision for how the Israelites should live their lives, and how God entrusted them to represent a certain way of being to the rest of the world. As a result, when the Jewish people fall short in their mission, they need only to look towards Sinai to remind themselves of what they are capable of being and becoming.
If I had choose one thing I wish every Jew would take away from this week’s parasha, I would say that the experience of Sinai challenges every Jew to ask themselves if they are elevating themselves in a way that reflect the ascent of Sinai as understood by our commentators. Every day, we have the opportunity to elevate our families, our work, our Schechter community, and every aspect of who we are. In this way, every day offers the opportunity to have a “Sinai Moment,” a moment when we elevate ourselves to be the best of what we can be, and what the Torah commands us to be.
Shabbat Shalom!
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