Aish Kodesh Shavuot 5700 Drasha (June 12, 1940)

Holy Fire, Shavuot 5700/1939

"As your speech to Your servant"—the apparent meaning is as follows: just as G-d spoke to King David through the prophets—understand!—so every Jew says Psalms. This is the simple meaning of "As your statement to Your servant."

But it is written, "All the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the blare of the horn and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they fell back and stood at a distance" (Ex. 20:15). Rashi explained, "They saw the sound which is invisible in any other place." Understand well what idea underlies why G-d showed this miracle to them. What is the matter of the thunder, the blare of the horn, and the mountain smoking? "In order that reverence will be upon their faces" (Ex. 20:17) as the verse says. This does not explain the meaning of seeing sound.

According to our minimal understanding it [i.e. seeing sound] is possible since G-d is the Instructor of Torah to the people of Israel. The giving of the Torah was not merely [a matter of] a stand-alone giving or uttering, it was also [a matter of] study. Our teacher Moses studied/taught the entirety of the Torah with them and God studied/learned the 10 Statements with them, as we learned in a midrash, they responded yes [to the positive commandments] and no [to the negative commandments] (Midrash Tehillim 8:3). The 10 Statements are written Torah, and since it is forbidden to recite words of the written Torah orally [i.e. without reference to the text], therefore G-d showed them the thunder [lit. voices], such that there would not be oral study [of the written Torah].

The giving of the Torah was also a class in which G-d studied/taught with us. At the end of Parashat Naso, Rashi explained the verse, "When Moses went into the Tent of Meeting to speak with Him, he would hear the Voice addressing him from above the cover that was on top of the Ark of the Pact between the two cherubim; thus He spoke to him" (Num. 7:89), as "speak (with Him) - as His exalted honor utters itself. This is to say that G-d spoke between His honor and Himself, and Moses heard from Him" (Rashi on Num. 7:89)

This idea is possible [to grasp] according to its likeness to what is found in [the case of] Ahasuerus, who began speaking to Esther by means of a translator. However once he heard that she was of royal stock he spoke to her directly. That is, even though he took her to be his wife, she nevertheless did not merit his direct speech until he knew that she too came came from royal stock.

It is known from the Baal Shem Tov ZZ"L on the verse, "My soul came forth at his words" (נפשי יצאה בדברו) (Song of Songs 5:6), that part of the speaker's soul comes forth while he speaks (Arvei Nachal, Parashat Vayishlach). Thus the essence of the soul of the speaker must resemble the essence of the soul of the addressee since it is not only words that come forth but also a part of the essence of his soul. Thus for the time that he [Ahasueres] did not know that she [Esther] is of royal stock, that is despite the fact she was then a queen—[for what mattered was] that her essence be royal—he did not speak with her. Since "The earthly kingdom is like the heavenly kingdom" (Zohar I, 197; III 176), also despite all of the greatness of our teacher Moses, when God spoke between Himself to His Essence, Moses would listen in, and this is an exalted honor.

Yet we must understand what is written "[He] spoke to the Children of Israel," "spoke to Aaron," and how it possible to speak this between Himself and His essence.

Just as the creation of the world was [established] through the Torah (Zohar II 161), so too the Statements to our teacher Moses [were communicated] through the Torah. When it is written, "And G-d said to Moses, "[He] spoke to the Children of Israel, etc." The Holy One learned these verses in the Torah between Himself and his Essence, and our teacher Moses listened in.

We find that when the Holy One taught/studied the Torah to/with our teacher Moses and the people of Israel, it was not that He spoke exclusively between Himself and His essence, and that they [the people of Israel] listened in. Rather he spoke with them and to them, for he speaks between Himself and His essence only when he studies between Himself and his Essence, which is not the case [at Mount Sinai] when he indeed taught/learned with them. It was to/with them that he spoke.

This is the magnitude of connection between G-d and Israel at the receiving of the Torah: since he spoke to them and connected to them the essence of the Speaker, in the aspect of "I am the Eternal One" not only in words but also in the aspect of "I myself wrote and gave [the Torah]", (Shabbat 105) "Myself," as it were, was revealed to Israel through the study of Torah that God taught/studied with us.

Indeed, at times when the [heavenly] detractors [alt. accusers] overcome Israel, G-d forbid, and it is difficult that Israel will be saved [alt. will be made victorious], G-d reveals His essence so that the detractors are unable to harm, as it occurred in Egypt: "Say, therefore, to the Israelite people: I am the LORD. I will free you from the labors of the Egyptians and deliver you from their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and through extraordinary chastisements" (Ex. 6:6)

Thus, on Shavuot, the time of receiving the Torah, and always, when we study Torah, it is a time of salvation/triumph, in which no detractor is able to rule over Israel, G-d forbid, since G-d speaks to us and the essence of Anokhi ["I" i.e. the Divine essence] becomes revealed. This is [what is meant by] "May Your steadfast love comfort me in accordance with Your promise to Your servant," that it is similar to when He speaks between Himself and His essence, but rather Your promise [alt. speech] to Your servant, i.e. when you speak directly to me. "Your Torah is my delight" for You speak to me.