Chukat ~ Anger, coercion and Torah

(12) But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust Me enough to affirm My sanctity in the sight of the Israelite people, therefore you shall not lead this congregation into the land that I have given them.” (13) Those are the Waters of Meribah—meaning that the Israelites quarrelled with the LORD—through which He affirmed His sanctity.

(24) “Let Aaron be gathered to his kin: he is not to enter the land that I have assigned to the Israelite people, because you disobeyed my command about the waters of Meribah.

(12) The LORD said to Moses, “Ascend these heights of Abarim and view the land that I have given to the Israelite people. (13) When you have seen it, you too shall be gathered to your kin, just as your brother Aaron was. (14) For, in the wilderness of Zin, when the community was contentious, you disobeyed My command to uphold My sanctity in their sight by means of the water.” Those are the Waters of Meribath-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin.

(50) You shall die on the mountain that you are about to ascend, and shall be gathered to your kin, as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his kin; (51) for you both broke faith with Me among the Israelite people, at the waters of Meribath-kadesh in the wilderness of Zin, by failing to uphold My sanctity among the Israelite people. (52) You may view the land from a distance, but you shall not enter it—the land that I am giving to the Israelite people.

And behold the entire Torah and the mitzvot are based on loving the Exalted Holy Name, like tzitzit, tefillin and all sacrifices, and peregrinations, because they are done in the way of the lover to strengthen his/her love towards the beloved, to remember him always and carve his name on one's arm, on one's clothing, on one's house, and to serve the Beloved in all one's actions that show the excitement of the lover, and his/her feelings, and the honor of the Beloved with the happiness that comes from the heart of the lover. And these mitzvot, that are carved in the heart and in the mouth of people, they are to give thanks for God's great Love, and to tell God's providence, ways, goodness. And the mitzvot such as 'teach to your children', the reading of the Shema, 'remember the Exodus', and prayer, and guarding the Shabbat, and holy days, are to publicize the faith in renewal, an the Exodus, and the providence of God. And just as in a human his/her soul is a book from which one can know the 7 mitzvot of the children of Noach, so too a Jewish soul is tied up with strong love ties to the transcendent (which is, is the opinion of many, the oath that connects the people, in general, with the existence of Torah) and to His Torah. When one ... finds engraved in his heart the tendency to follow the paths of Torah, to love the Exalted Holy Name, and to unify one's mouth and heart with the Exalted Holy Name then, as one distances oneself from illusions and lying desires, he will realize that love is destroyed by two things: anger and wrath. Anger comes from the lying illusion that is intellectual; wrath comes as the lustful dew produced by the heating of one's blood and its quickening. And this, that Israel was on Mount Sinai, all their animalistic horrible desires, such as the desire to commit murder and the like were suspended, and so, anger was not commanding them...

That the mountain was uprooted etc. In the chapter that begins, "Rabbi Akiva..." the Tosafot ask, they already said "We will do and we will hear," why is all this (i.e. the uprooting of the mountain) necessary?...

However, the essential answer that seems straightforward is that God overturned the mountain like a bucket to say 'If you do not accept the Torah, there will be your grave.' That is to say that acceptance of the Torah is mandatory, and if you do not accept the Torah - there will be their grave. And it is known, that things that are required to be, they are the things that are most important, on another level, for it impossible to be without them, and there is no existence without them. Therefore, God overturned the mountain above them to tell them the importance of the Torah, that it is absolutely impossible to live without it. And if God did not do this, they would have said that the Torah is not mandatory forever, they only accepted it when they wanted it, and if they hadn't accepted it, they wouldn't have needed to. Therefore God tempted and appeased them beforehand, and when they saw that the essence of its giving was by way of overturning the mountain, they had to say that it was a mandatory giving, that they could not exist without it. This is why the Gemara brings there on this statement, "...the sixth day" (yom ha-shishi instead of yom shishi). The extra "ה" teaches that God made a condition with his creation that if Israel did not accept the Torah, the entire world would return to chaos. And this midrash comes to explain why God overturned the mountain above them, to show that the giving of the Torah was mandatory.

And even so, Rava says there, "From here there is a great objection to the Torah," meaning that they were forced to accept the Torah, even though they never took back "We shall do and we shall hear," in the end, at the moment that they accepted the Torah, they were forced. And since it was a forced acceptance, there is an objection to the Torah.

And he says that "They again accepted it upon themselves in the days of Ahasuerus," as it says, "They fulfilled and they accepted," 'They fulfilled what they had already accepted.' Meaning that they accepted upon themselves one mitzvah among the mitzvot of the Torah, that is, reading the Megillah, and even though there is no forcing, and they, on their own, accepted it on themselves. And since they, on their own agreed to do this mitzvah, this is an acceptance of the entire Torah. For how can they add another mitzvah - if the initial ones are against their will, therefore, the acceptance of reading the Megillah is an acceptance of the Torah by choice.

And if not for this, there would have been a major objection in saying that the acceptance of the Torah was forced and forced things are not a part of one's essence. And therefore, if they violated the Torah, they could say that the Torah is not appropriate for the essence of Israel, because enforced things are not a part of one's essence. And since the Torah is not a part of their essence, therefore, the Torah is not appropriate for them essentially. And there is no surprise if they violate the Torah, for if a stone doesn't float in the air - this is not a surprise because it is not its nature to float, and it could only stay in the air through some kind of force. And when Israel made a new Mitzvah among the Mitzvot, then it was clear that the Torah was not forced on them at all and an enforced thing, rather, the Torah was also essential to them. And even though they were forced at first, this was because of what we wrote above, for it was impossible without it, but the Torah is also from the side of Israel and it is essential to them. For the Torah came to Israel from the side of the Giver who wants it, and from the side of the receiver who are Israel. And when they accepted the reading of the Megillah, it meant that the Torah was essential to them and they couldn't say that the Torah was only given to Israel by force. And understand this. This is the meaning of the words of the Rabbis.