(2) ...According to the simple interpretation, this section is teaching that Moshe achieved three levels: Fire, Angel, and Divine Presence. First he saw the fire which was flashing in the bush but the bush was not consumed. He saw this with his actual physical eye while he was awake; when he saw the bush burning he thought it was a fire of (the) pitch from beneath (the bush).Thinking that, and seeing that the bush was not being consumed, he chose to come closer as it says, "I will turn now and see this wondrous sight," meaning, "I will see this wonderment if the bush is different than normal wood, or the fire is different from other fires."
If he had realized it was a heavenly fire, he would not have approached. Once he saw this fire he became stronger through seeing the angel, as it says, "And he saw an angel of G-d in the flame within the bush." This means that first he saw the flame, and only after did he see the angel within the fire.
Once he became stronger through seeing the angel, he saw the Divine Presence in a prophetic vision. This is the meaning of, "And G-d saw that he turned to see, and He called to him." Because this was the beginning of Moshe's prophecy, G-d wanted to orient him little by little and lift him up from one (spiritual) level to the next until his mind would be strong enough. This can be compared to someone who is sitting in a dark house for a long time. If he exits suddenly and looks at the sun his vision will be darkened. Therefore he must look at the light slowly until he becomes accustomed to it.
The same way it works with physical light is how it works with the enlightenment of the mind; all mind-related things work similarly to physical things; the traits of the soul are related to the traits of the body.
(3) We find the same thing with the Jewish People; when G-d inaugurated them in the Torah he did it in small steps. First He gave them some mitzvos at Marah, namely Shabbos and civil laws, and then He taught the Ten Commandments at Sinai, and the rest of the Torah was taught at Moab (just prior to entering the Land of Israel - ed.). We therefore find when it comes to comprehending G-d, a person must first inaugurate (train?) his mind a little at a time, and in that way his comprehension will continue to expand, like the light of dawn which starts to shine a little and then expands.
This is what is meant by the verse of the prophet Hosea, "And we will know, we will chase after knowledge of G-d and find Him like the dawn." This verse teaches that there are people who don't know how to chase (knowledge of G-d) and rather try to accomplish everything in one moment. In response to such a person the verse says you must know how to chase, which is like the dawn, meaning a little at a time.
(1) והנה תנור עשן, “and here there was a smoking furnace.” At first glance one would think the Torah should have written עשן תנור, “the smoke of a furnace,” instead of תנור עשן. This is the way the Torah describes a similar phenomenon at the time the Jewish people received the Torah at Mount Sinai. At that time the Torah wrote ויעל עשנו כעשן הכבשן, “its smoke (that of the mountain) rose like the smoke from a furnace” (Exodus 19,18).
(2) However, — using a kabbalistic approach — it is possible that the Torah wanted to inform us of the force which had passed between these pieces and accepted Avram’s sacrifices. It also wanted to inform us that that particular force was composed of both male and female elements. The male element was the active one, the one which initiates an activity, whereas the female element was the passive one, the one that specializes in receiving, in accepting something. All activities are enhanced and assume a more important dimension due to the presence of the female element. This is the reason the word שכינה, “G-d’s benevolent presence,” is a word in the feminine gender.
(ב) הכבשן. שֶׁל סִיד; יָכוֹל כְּכִבְשָׁן זֶה וְלֹא יוֹתֵר, תַּ"לֹ בּוֹעֵר בָּאֵשׁ עַד לֵב הַשָּׁמַיִם (דברים ד'), וּמַה תַּ"לֹ כִּבְשָׁן?
לְשַׂבֵּר אֶת הָאֹזֶן מַה שֶּׁהִיא יְכוֹלָה לִשְׁמֹעַ – נוֹתֵן לַבְּרִיּוֹת סִימָן הַנִּכָּר לָהֶם; כַּיּוֹצֵא בּוֹ כְּאַרְיֵה יִשְׁאָג (הושע י"א), וְכִי מִי נָתַן כֹּחַ בָּאֲרִי אֶלָּא הוּא?
וְהַכָּתוּב מוֹשְׁלוֹ כְּאַרְיֵה, אֶלָּא אָנוּ מְכַנִּין וּמְדַמִּין אוֹתוֹ לִבְרִיּוֹתָיו כְּדֵי לְשַׂבֵּר אֶת הָאֹזֶן מַה שֶּׁיְּכוֹלָה לִשְׁמֹעַ;
כַּיּוֹצֵא בוֹ וְקוֹלוֹ כְּקוֹל מַיִם רַבִּים (יחזקאל מ"ג), וְכִי מִי נָתַן קוֹל לַמַּיִם אֶלָּא הוּא? וְאַתָּה מְכַנֶּה אוֹתוֹ, לְדַמּוֹתוֹ לִבְרִיּוֹתָיו – כְּדֵי לְשַׂבֵּר אֶת הָאֹזֶן (מכילתא):
(2) הכבשן A FURNACE of lime (i. e. in which lime is burnt and which emits vast quantities of smoke). One might think that the mountain emitted smoke only like such a furnace and not to a greater degree! Scripture therefore states in another passage, (Deuteronomy 4:11) “[And the mountain] burned with fire unto the very midst of the heavens”.
Then what reason is there for stating that it smoked only like a furnace? This is said in order to make intelligible to the human ear as much as it can understand: Scripture gives human beings an example (a comparison) which is well-known to them.
A similar case is, (Hosea 11:10) “As a lion does He (God) roar”. But who gave the lion power if not He, and yet Scripture compares him only to a lion! But the reason is that we describe Him by comparing Him to His creatures in order to make intelligible to the human ear as much as it can understand.
A similar example is: (Ezekiel 43:2) “And His voice was like the sound of many waters”. But who gave the waters a thunderous sound except He, and yet you describe Him by comparing Him to His handiwork — it is to make it intelligible to the human ear (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 19:18:2).
(ב) ויחרד כל ההר מאד. הפך המנהג כי ההרים לא ימושו רק שעל דרך משל אמר וירגזו ההרים:
(2) AND THE WHOLE MOUNT QUAKED GREATLY. The reverse of the usual, for mountains do not move. It is only by way of parable that Scripture states, And the hills did tremble (Is. 5:25).
Rabbi Yaakov Emden writes in Migdal Oz (Zitamar 220b), “The stones of Mount Sinai have on them an image of the sneh; therefore this mountain is called Sinai because of the sneh in which G-d revealed Himself to Moshe. One of the distinguished members of Barcelona brought to me some of these stones and I saw on them the sneh in perfect detail. This is a Heavenly phenomenon, for when I broke the stone in pieces I found the image of the sneh on every side and inner part of the stone, and I marveled at this.
Similarly, the kabbalistic work Arvei Nachal (Parshat Shemot) notes, “It is known that the image of this sneh appears on all the stones of Mount Sinai, and it is a wondrous sign that this is so, since when any such stone is broken into fragments, each will have an image of the sneh. Indeed these stones from Mount Sinai are a segula for the revelation of the Torah.
(א) והר סיני עשן כולו. ואז ירד ה' על ההר ונתעורר יסוד העפר שהיה שקט ונח עד הנה, בין יסוד העפר הכולל בין יסוד העפר של העם שהוא כבד התנועה מכל היסודות והפיל על העם עצלות וכובד, וספר כי ההר התעורר בשני ענינים:
א] שהר סיני עשן כלו מפני אשר ירד עליו ה' באש והוה העשן על שטחו של ההר ע"י ירידת אש אוכלה אש, וכל אש מעלה עשן, והיה עשן כולו כי ה' ירד על כל ההר,
ב] עלה עשן מפנימית ההר שעז"א ויעל עשנו כעשן הכבשן, שעשן הכבשן בא ע"י חלקי האש הנעצרים בתוך הסיד כן יצא עשן מעומק ההר ועפרי,
ויחרד כל ההר מאד, שהיה רעש הארץ של ההר, ומודיע שהיה בזה ענין שלמעלה מן הטבע, שידון שהרעש בא ע"י אדים ועשנים הנעצרים בבטן האדמה שאין להם מקום לצאת ותגעש ותרעש הארץ ממקומה, אבל שימצא העשן והאדים מקום לצאת ויעלו עשן מתוך הארץ שיופסק הרעש,
ופה הגם שעלה עשן ההר, בכ"ז חרד ההר ונרעש ממקומו, והיה הרמז לזה שיען שהעם לא הוכנו כראוי ולא יכלו לקבל את התורה מאהבת ה' ויראת הרוממות החרדים ביראת העונש כי באש ה' נשפט וירגזו ההרים,
שעז"א חז"ל שכפה עליהם ההר כגיגית, ר"ל שלולא יראת העונש לא היו מקבלים עליהם עול מצות או עול תורה שבע"פ רק שנתיראו מן האש הרעש ויראת העונש:
(1) והר סיני עשן כלו, “and the entire mountain of Sinai was smoking.” The mountain was smoke, not the fire; for the fire which sort of separated between the people and G’d had no smoke.
If the Torah nonetheless speaks of כעשן הכבשן “like the smoke of a furnace,” we know that in a parable the comparisons do not have to be accurate This is especially so when physical concepts are being compared to meta-physical phenomena. Seeing that we are terrestrial human beings, bound to concepts which we can visualize, the Torah cannot describe matters of a spiritual nature except by using terms familiar to us from our daily experience on earth.
Similarly, we find that Scripture compares even the brilliance of the sun to the beauty of human beings, and the sun’s orbit to the runner circling a certain prescribed route in the stadium in which he races.
This is the meaning of Psalms 19,6: “who is like a groom coming forth from his chamber, like a hero, eager to run his course.” Everybody knows that such a comparison between sun and a human runner is not even remotely similar. Nonetheless, the psalmist chose to make this comparison to give us an inkling of what he had in mind.
The same thing applies to the prophet Amos 3,8 comparing G’d to a lion when he writes: “a lion has roared, who can but fear? My Lord G’d has spoken, who can but prophesy?” The reason that the prophet arrogated to himself the right to make such blatantly inaccurate comparisons is simply that he wanted to compare the most powerful and fear-inspiring phenomenon amongst earth’s inhabitants to G’d in order to give man the feeling that he must relate with at least as much fear to G’d as he does to a lion.
Our sages have termed all these so-called comparisons as דברה תורה כלשון בני אדם, “the Torah having adopted a style of expression with which human beings are familiar” (Berachot 31).
Rav Hirsch on Chumash - Exodus 19:18
The people saw all of nature quiver at the approach of the Divine Majesty. However, they themselves stood firm as they awaited their God, King of the Universe. In this way the Israelites achieved the incomparable nobility of people ready to dedicate themselves to the Divine service. Creation is in an uproar, lightening leaps forth, mountains shake, the earth is filled with blasts of the horn, but Israel hears only the words of Hashem and Moshe.
