Trembling at Sinai: Finding Strength in Hard Times

Presented by Rabbis Jeffrey Clopper, Lina Zerbarini and Eric Rosin

כָָָָָָָל הַעולַם כוּלוֹ גֶּשֶׁר צַר מְאֹד וְהָעִקָּר לֹּא לְפַּחֵד כְּלָל

Kol ha’olam kulo, gesher tzar me’od, v’ha’ikar lo lifacheid klal.

All of the world is a narrow bridge, the main thing is not to be afraid at all.

Rebbe Nachman’s teaching, as written by his student, Rabbi Nosson:

כָָָָָָָל הַעולַם כוּלוֹ גֶּשֶׁר צַר מְאֹד וְהָעִקָּר לֹּא לְהתפַּחֵד כְּלָל

Kol ha’olam kulo, gesher tzar me’od, v’ha’ikar lo l’hitpacheid klal.

The main thing is not to frighten yourself.

Question:

• What is the difference between these two teachings?

• Do/how do you “frighten yourself?”

Exodus 19:16

וַיְהִי֩ בַיּ֨וֹם הַשְּׁלִישִׁ֜י בִּֽהְיֹ֣ת הַבֹּ֗קֶר וַיְהִי֩ קֹלֹ֨ת וּבְרָקִ֜ים וְעָנָ֤ן כָּבֵד֙ עַל־הָהָ֔ר וְקֹ֥ל שֹׁפָ֖ר חָזָ֣ק מְאֹ֑ד וַיֶּחֱרַ֥ד כׇּל־הָעָ֖ם אֲשֶׁ֥ר בַּֽמַּחֲנֶֽה׃

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.

Questions:

1. What is the difference between the fear at the Sea and the fear at Sinai? What are the ways people might have been afraid in each place?

2. Picture yourself as one of the Israelites at the Sea with Pharaoh’s army approaching and at the foot of Mount Sinai on the evening that God appeared on the top. What might have these have felt like?

3. Which of these fears seem more prevalent today?

Sota 37a

Rabbi Judah said to [Rabbi Meir]: this [tribe] said, "I will not be the first to go down to the sea," and this one said, "I will not be the first to go down to the sea." Then Nachshon ben Aminadav sprang forward and went down first to the sea… At the same time, Moses was lengthening his prayer and the Holy One Blessed be He said to him, "My beloved ones are drowning in the sea and you are lengthening your prayer before me." He said to Him, "Master of the world, 'What is in my hands to do?'" He said to him, "Speak to the Children of Israel that they go forward and you will lift up your rod and stretch out your hand, etc. (Exodus 14:15-16).

Questions:

1. How did Nachshon’s act enable the people to move forward?

2. Why didn’t prayer work? Or did it?

3. What are the obstacles to stepping up like Nachshon? How do we move ourselves past those obstacles?

Pesikta de-Rav Kahana, piska 12:

The Divine Word spoke to each and every person according to his or her particular capacity. . . . now if each and every person was enabled to taste the manna according to his or her particular capacity, how much more and more was each and every person enabled according to his or her particular capacity to hear the Divine Word.

Questions:

1. What does it mean that the Divine Word spoke to every person according to his or her particular capacity?

2. If every person heard something different, how might we understand the message at Sinai?

3. How do we recognize that our interpretation might not be the only one? How does this cultivate our humility?

4. Where do you find Torah?

Commentary of R. Pinchas Peli:

Rabbi Pinchas Peli (1930 – 1989; Israeli rabbi, poet, and scholar of Jewish philosophy) says the phrase’s significance is found in God’s offer of an if/then proposition to the Israelites (through Moses) in Parashat Yitro: “… and now if you will hear my voice and keep my covenant then you will be my treasured people.” (Ex. 19:5) The Israelites consent by stating, “… all that the Lord has stated, we will do!” (Ex. 19:8) But God doesn’t want blind obedience; God wants the Israelites to hear and listen and think and learn. So God repeats the condition a second time (Ex. 19:9). And the Israelites declare, again, “All the things the Lord has commanded, we will do.” (Ex. 24:3). But it’s still not good enough.

When Moses reprises the laws defining the contours of a civil society, the Israelites realize they must engage with the Torah intellectually and emotionally as well as behaviorally. They will need to practice these new ideas and reflect upon their experiences. So they respond appropriately, finally, to God’s offer: na-aseh v’nishma. The Israelites commit to absorbing the lessons, internalizing the principles, and incorporating the behaviors into daily life. Now God is satisfied.

Questions:

1. What does it mean that God wants people to hear, listen, think and learn?

2. Why is the Israelites’ response to receiving the Torah in the plural?

3. How has Torah/Jewish tradition/Jewish community given you a sense of strength or hope? How might it going forward?

From the Commentary of Kedushat Levi, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, on Parashat Ki Tavo

According to the teachings of our rabbis, “Each day a heavenly voice goes out from Mount Horeb [or Sinai, saying], “Return you wayward children.” (Babylonian Talmud, Hagigah 15b) Really, every single person who is a member of the people of Israel has the privilege of hearing this voice, tailored to his or her own personal level of spiritual development. This is what the sages meant when they taught that, “Even though that individual may not see this happening, their spiritual self can see it.” (Babylonian Talmud, Megillah 3a). This heavenly voice arouses the process of teshuvah (repentance, return to relationship with God) that everyone experiences each day.