A Mighty Voice that Did (Not) Continue​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ Revelation at Sinai: Continuous or Closed?

(19) Out of the fire and the dense clouds, the LORD spoke those words to your whole congregation at the mountain, with a mighty voice that did not (continue/end). He inscribed them on two tablets of stone, which He gave to me.

(1) ולא יסף, according to the plain meaning of the text there was never again such an overpowering sound in the history of mankind. Whenever the word יסף appears it represents an addition...

קול גדול ולא יסף, “with a strong voice that did not weaken;” according to our sages this voice continued to be heard during the entire forty days that Moses spent on Mount Sinai, immediately after the revelation...

(6) Another explanation: "And God said all of these things, saying" - Rabbi Yitzchak said, What the prophets were to prophesy in the future in each generation, they received from Mount Sinai...

And so [too] it states (Deuteronomy 5:19), "These things did the Lord speak to your entire congregation, [...] a great voice and it did not cease": Rabbi Yochanan said, "One voice was split into seven voices and they were divided into seventy languages"; Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said, "From it prophesied all of the prophets who arose." The Sages said that it did not have an echo (i.e. not indirectly).

1896

The idea is as is written, "If you listen, hear" (Deut 11:13), as Rashi interprets: "Listen" to the old, "[you will] listen" anew. The idea is as is written, "A mighty voice that did not end" (Deut. 5:19) - it did not cease, for the words are living and persisting. The Holy Blessed One gives the Torah always. By keeping the Torah and commandments, you can hear new things in each moment.

... It appears to me that [the Sages] established [the blessing for Torah study] to conclude, "[Blessed are You...] Who gives the Torah," whose grammatical sense indicates the present voice. But not "Who gave the Torah," in the past tense, since the intent of the blessing is that G-d is constantly giving us, each day, G-d's Torah, in that we engage with it, and [through that, G-d brings forth from within it new meanings. As it is written," Let her breasts satisfy you at all times; [Be infatuated with love of her always.]" (Prov. 5:19) [The Midrash elucidates] Just as a baby [needs to be consistently nourished by its mother, so does a student of Torah need to be consistently learning Torah]. And see [Orach Chaim] §110[:8], in which I composed liturgy which one can pray before study.

One who enters the study hall. As seen above, that when one sits down to study, even alone, and especially one who comes for instruction, that one can say a short prayer that contains much, and this is it: "May it be Your will, Hashem our G-d, G-d of our ancestors, to illuminate my eyes with the light of Your Torah and to save me from any obstruction or error, whether in religious law or civil law, whether in teaching or in learning. Open my eyes so that I see wonders [emerging] from your Torah. What I may have erred in before, help it stand in truth; do not keep me from truth long, for Hashem is the One Who provides wisdom from within knowledge and understanding."

"The laws of Hashem are honest and make the heart glad." (Ps. 19:20) Above, in the introduction to The Generations of Adam, I already elaborated on the liturgical meaning of "Who gives the Torah" and not "Who gave the Torah," for the Holy One is still giving the Torah. This is derived from the secret meaning of "A mighty voice that did not end/continue," (Deut. 5:19) which has two interpretations. 1) It was not added to, and 2) the opposite, that it never ended. But both are true, for it did not extend in that moment to reveal more than what was disclosed, but it did not end, since all of the prophesies of the prophets and all the innovations of the scribes and sages of each generation... even that which a student generates [in their learning], all of that was in the potential of that voice, and when its time came, it came into the light. All of the words of our rabbis and their proclamations and interventions and customs, all of it was from Sinai.

One must take great care with the blessing on [learning] Torah... one concludes it with, "Blessed are You, Who gives the Torah." But one does not conclude "Who has taught me Your laws," since a blessing's language is not focused on appreciating the past, but rather is in the form of a request [for the future]...