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On the night of Shavuot 1948, Rabbi Yehuda Leib Ashlag the great Kabbalist gave this teaching:
When we think about the giving of the Torah which took place at Mount Sinai, we’re not talking about a historical event, which took place only at one time and is not taking place now. But according to the principle that once a spiritual event has happened in spirituality, it is eternal, and all spiritual events that seem to replace it, are in fact only additions to it.
So the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai is an eternal event which has never stopped, for God is continually giving. The only changes that occur take place from the side of the receivers . So the fact that we are not receiving the Torah now as we did at Mount Sinai, is not because God is not giving it to us but that we are not at present fit to receive it.
HaShem Shamati Shimecha vol. 2 article 86
So we need to examine ,what was the special virtue that the Children of Israel had at the time when they stood at Mount Sinai which enabled them to receive the Torah . What was their spiritual state and how did they achieve it?
We learn from the Scripture:
“On the third month following the exodus of the children of Israel from the land of Egypt, on that day, they came to the wilderness of Sinai. They journeyed from Rephidim and they came to the wilderness of Sinai, and they encamped in the wilderness. And Israel (in the singular) camped there under the mountain.”
Exodus chapter 19 verses1-2)
The sages noted that all the verbs in in the sentences describe the Children of Israel in the plural, except for when they encamped at Mount Sinai, There they encamped as one. Rashi, the great commentator on the Torah, quoting the Mechilta, says all their other encampments were with contention and strife, but here they encamped as one man with one heart.
How did they reach this elevated stage? What changed for them?
The Rashi on these verses is illuminating.
They journeyed from Rephidim: Why did [Scripture] have to repeat and explain from where they had journeyed? Did it not already state (Exod. 17:1) that they were encamped in Rephidim? It is known that they journeyed from there. But [it is repeated] here in order to compare their journey from Rephidim to their arrival in the Sinai desert. Just as their arrival in the Sinai desert was with repentance, so was their journey from Rephidim with repentance. —
[from Mechilta]
Ah, here we are on to something. The journey from Rephidim to Sinai was conducted with repentance. Does the Torah tell us what the Children of Israel were repenting for?
The consequence of their repenting was that they became united as one man with one heart. In a state of unconditional giving to each other and with faith in God. So it is likely that they were in the opposite state when they were in Rephidim.
Let’s take a look at the Scripture, Exodus Chapter 17 there.
.The entire community of the Children of Israel journeyed from the desert of Sin, on their travels, by the word of the Lord. They encamped in Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink.
Exodus 17:1
In other words, this was not a random stumbling across an arid place in the desert. They were deliberately taken there by God. And there is no water. The Scripture continues.
2 So the people quarreled with Moses, and they said, Give us water that we may drink. Moses said to them, Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?
There were many things they could have done. This was the generation that had seen the miracles of God in Egypt , they had seen how they called out to God and He parted the waters of the Red Seat for them. They had faith in God who led them out of Egypt into the wilderness. Why didn’t they do any of those things?
The next verse give us a clue.
3 The people thirsted there for water, and the people complained against Moses, and they said, Why have you brought us up from Egypt to make me and my children and my livestock die of thirst?
In other words they seemed to have been concerned for themselves alone. They are talking about me, my children, my livestock. What about the concern for my brother’s children and his livestock?
Even though this is the literal sense of the Scripture and there may be other deeper meanings There is a clear hint that here they are operating from their wills to receive for themselves alone. Even if we look at water, not as physical water, but water as referring to Torah as the Sages of the Talmud and of the Zohar do , nevertheless they are functioning from the will to receive for themselves alone.
Following their next question,” Is God in our midst or not?” Amalek attacks Israel and they need to defend themselves. Only when Moses help up his hands in faith did the people prevail.
The lesson was learned and the people repented fully. They reached such a degree of self- awareness and responsibility that their Teshuvah (repentance) was so complete, it brought them to the ultimate level of faith and giving. They became united as one, and were in such affinity of form with God, that they could hear His voice deep within themselves and experience His goodness directly as He spoke to them giving the ten commandments on Mount Sinai. In exactly the same way, we also, in the here and now need to experience the eternal voice of God speaking directly to us, as the prophet Jeremiah describes.
32 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD, I will put My law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people; 33 and they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying: ‘Know the LORD’; for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more. {S}
Jeremiah 31: 32-33
Thus the injunction of the Baal Shem Tov, that every person needs to hear the ten commandments everyday, will be fulfilled, when we also will come to be, both within ourselves and with our communities, as one man with one heart.
This podcast is dedicated in loving memory and for the ilui nishmat of Feigi Bat Rivka z”l and Aharon Kotler z”l and Sara Kotler z”l, May their memories be a blessing for us.
Yedidah Cohen is now teaching a new course on the Introduction to the Zohar, by Rabbi Ashlag. The group has already begun, but it is not too late to join. If you are interested, please contact Yedidah through www.nehorapress.com
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