the first two themes to come up are fear and faith.
As Pharaoh sends out the people,
God determines their itinerary
based on a knowledge of how fearful they are,
how likely to turn back to EG at the first sight of war.
And then we're reminded of Yosef, of his vision and faith:
(19) And Moshe took with him the bones of Yosef, who had exacted an oath from the children of Israel, saying, “God will surely take notice of you: then you will carry up my bones from here with you.”
his people would leave EG, dig up his bones,
and set them to rest in the land of his mothers and fathers.
Similar themes show up in the midrashic understandings
of the climactic moment we are heading into this week:
the giving of Torah.
(16) 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. (17) Moses led the people out of the camp toward God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain (tahtit hahar). (18) Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke, for Adonai had come down upon it in fire; the smoke rose like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled violently.
(שמות יט, יז) ויתיצבו בתחתית ההר א"ר אבדימי בר חמא בר חסא מלמד שכפה הקב"ה עליהם את ההר כגיגית ואמר להם אם אתם מקבלים התורה מוטב ואם לאו שם תהא קבורתכם א"ר אחא בר יעקב מכאן מודעא רבה לאורייתא...
"...they stood at the foot of the mountain” (Exodus 19:17). Rabbi Avdimi bar Ḥama bar Ḥasa said: the Jewish people actually stood beneath the mountain (tahtit/tahat hahar), and the verse teaches that the Holy One, Blessed be He, overturned the mountain above the people like a tub, and said to them: If you accept the Torah, well and good, and if not, there will be your burial. Rav Aḥa bar Ya’akov said: From here there is a substantial reason for protest against the Torah...
we have to admit that he's captured something of the tone of the text.
Mt. Sinai is in many ways a frightful and overwhelming experience.
But for Rav Aha, if Sinai was all about fear,
it means that we never willingly committed ourselves to Torah.
We could reasonably reject Torah now as an expression of coercion,
rather than a consensual and mutual commitment.
So, Rava attempts to save the day:
אמר רבא אף על פי כן הדור קבלוה בימי אחשורוש דכתיב קימו וקבלו היהודים קיימו מה שקיבלו כבר
Rava said: Even so, they again accepted it willingly in the time of Ahasuerus, as it is written: “They ordained, and took upon themselves, [and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined themselves unto them]” (Esther 9:27), and he taught: They ordained what they had already taken upon themselves [through coercion at Sinai].
of trying to strike earlier rabbinic statements from the record.
It tries to argue for them and see if there is a theoretical way to resolve difficulties.
But I must say that if you have to rely on the Book of Esther,
known for its seeming irreverence and debauchery
and taking place around a thousand years after Sinai,
as a foundation for the giving of Torah...
let's just say that you're not in a great place.
So we're not going to make Rav Avdimi the primary voice on this topic,
but we can give him this:
Mt. Sinai is an unequal moment.
Our covenant with God isn't and can't be just like an agreement with people.
God creates the world, redeems us from slavery, provides for our needs,
and holds our life and death in the balance.
We can say no to Torah, but that means
pushing against forces much greater than ourselves.
Rabbi 'Akiva, for whom Sinai is about love and romance.
The early rabbis interpret Song of Songs,
the book of biblical love poetry,
as an extended metaphor for the love and courtship
between God and the People of Israel.
Rabbi 'Akiva takes the following verse as the basis
for his understanding of Sinai:
(14) “O my dove, in the cranny of the rocks, in the hidden place of the cliff, Let me see your face, Let me hear your voice; For your voice is sweet And your face is lovely.”
The "dove" is the People of Israel
The "hidden place in the rock" is their location at the foot of the mountain
"Let me hear your voice" refers to the people
expressing their willingness to receive Torah.
"For your voice is sweet" refers to the sound of the people
accepting Torah after hearing it.
Rabbi 'Akiva reads the beauty, romance of love of the Song of Songs
into this covenantal moment.
But his midrash ends on a strange note:
The phrase "your face is lovely" refers to the people
standing back from the mountain and trembling in fear.
they are shaking.
The face that is so beautiful to God
is filled with terror.
Even when God is full of desire for us, is delighting in us,
it is possible for us to experience fear.
Fear that, as we saw in Rav Avdimi's midrash,
can be well-founded.
There might be good reasons for us to be afraid,
just as the Children of Israel were afraid at the Sea, or at Sinai.
But fear isn't the only place we could be.
We remember Yosef's rock-solid faith in the goodness and rightness
of the larger process.
And we might recall the fact that his faith was hard-earned
after years of adversity and perseverance.
It is alright to be afraid.
It is natural, maybe inevitable.
The danger is if we get stuck there,
and if,
rather than realizing we're afraid,
we read our fear into the world around us.
May we merit to recognize our fear,
and have the faith to let go enough
to make ourselves ready
to receive Torah in love.
(ד) רַבִּי עֲקִיבָא פָּתַר קְרָיָה בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל בְּשָׁעָה שֶׁעָמְדוּ לִפְנֵי הַר סִינַי, יוֹנָתִי בְּחַגְוֵי הַסֶּלַע, שֶׁהָיוּ חֲבוּיִין בְּסִתְרוֹ שֶׁל סִינַי. הַרְאִינִי וגו', שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (שמות כ, טו): וְכָל הָעָם רֹאִים אֶת הַקּוֹלֹת. הַשְׁמִיעִנִי אֶת קוֹלֵךְ, זֶה קוֹל שֶׁלִּפְנֵי הַדִּבְּרוֹת, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (שמות כד, ז): כֹּל אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר ה' נַעֲשֶׂה וְנִשְׁמָע. כִּי קוֹלֵךְ עָרֵב, זֶה קוֹל שֶׁלְּאַחַר הַדִּבְּרוֹת, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (דברים ה, כד): וַיִּשְׁמַע ה' אֶת קוֹל דִּבְרֵיכֶם וגו' הֵיטִיבוּ כָּל אֲשֶׁר דִּבֵּרוּ. מַהוּ הֵיטִיבוּ כָּל אֲשֶׁר דִּבֵּרוּ, חִיָּא בַּר אַדָּא וּבַר קַפָּרָא, חַד אָמַר הֲטָבָה כַּהֲטָבַת הַנֵּרוֹת, וְחַד אָמַר הֲטָבָה כַּהֲטָבַת הַקְּטֹרֶת. וּמַרְאֵיךְ נָאוֶה, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (שמות כ, טו): וַיַּרְא הָעָם וַיָּנֻעוּ וַיַּעַמְדוּ מֵרָחֹק.
Rabbi 'Akiva interpreted [the verse as referring to the] moment Israel stood before Mount Sinai, "My dove in the cleft of the rock," for they were hidden in the hidden place (seter) of Sinai. "Let me see, etc." As it is said, "And all the people saw the voices." (Exodus 20:15) "Let me hear your voice" - this is the sound before the [ten] commandments, as it is said, "All that Adonai has said, we will do and we will hear/obey." (Exodus 24:7). "For your voice is sweet" - this is the sound after the [ten] commandments, as it is said, "Adonai heard the sound of your words...all they said was good." (Deuteronomy 5:24) What does "all they said was good" mean? Ḥiyya bar Adda and Bar Kappara, one of them said, "good like the candles", and the other said, "good like the incense." "And your face is comely," as it is said, "The people saw and trembled and stood afar." (Exodus 20:15)