Have you ever really thought about where Moshe Rebenu was during the 10 Commandments according to the Pshat of the Torah?
I asked my students, co-workers, and friends this week and the most popular initial answer was that Moshe was on top of Mt. Sinai with Gd. Wrong. Read closely the last verse in chapter 19 as it follows into chapter 20:
And Moshe went down to the people and spoke to them (19:25).
God spoke all these words saying:
I am the Lrd your Gd who brought you out of the land of Egypt (20:1-2).
This contradicts the simple understanding that most of us learned growing up. Perhaps we are more familiar with the verses directly after the revelation.
All the people witnessed the thunder and lightening, the blare of the horn and mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they fell back and stood at a distance. "you speak to us," they said to Moshe, "and we will obey, but let not Gd speak to us, lest we die." Moshe answered the people, "Be not afraid; for Gd has come only in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may be ever with you, so that you do not go astray." So the people remained at a distance, while Moshe approached the thick cloud where Gd was. (20:15-18).
We are even more familiar with the details that follow at the end of parshat Mishpatim, when Moshe ascends the mountain with the 70 elders, Aharon and his sons and with Yehoshua by his side to get the tablets. He goes up the mountain without food or drink embarking on a 40 day task within the cloudy mountain top. Further, we remember Moshe's leadership on the mountain in parshat Ki Tisa during the golden calf episode.
Why is it that more people believe Moshe was on the mountain rather than with the people? My theory has two ramifications, one educational and the second social, to explain this phenomenal misunderstanding.
It is clearly more comfortable for us to think that Moshe, our great teacher, prophet of prophets, is at a sacred distance from us. Not only does it give us a sense of security knowing that he is toiling away at his holy work on our behalf, but subsequently we feel removed from having to take any responsibility for what goes on up there. When times are good, the system works well. During tougher times, when leaders struggle or threats seem impossible, how do we react? Sitting at home watching the news it is easy to comment and point the finger at politicians or sinners who do wrong. It is easier for us to live knowing that we do not have to meet the same social, political or religious standards as those chosen to serve the public. This is a terrible educational message for the leader is a reflection of the people and the people of the leader.
Remembering that Moshe stood with the people while the terrible voice of Gd called out the 10 utterances – that we were on the same level as Moshe at that precise moment – should inspire us to our religious potential. We stood shoulder to shoulder with our leader; he stood with children, woman and men. Only then did the people send Moshe up, as a messenger for the community. We enabled him to reach higher levels for the sake of the greater good.
This idea explains well why Moshe is exiled from the mountaintop after Gd reveals the golden calf plot. It is a contradiction to have a diplomat negotiating a covenant while his government is violating the exact language of the document. The connection between the leader and the people was broken.
The social message is now clearer. As a society, we need to be more aware of our responsibilities to our leaders, even when our leaders forget their responsibility to us. Remembering that we attained high levels of holiness and intimacy at the very moment of revelation should inspire us to demand more from our society and not take a passive role to current events.
Yehi Ratzon, may it be Hashem's will, that we merit leaders who are fitting and appropriate to the tasks at hand, and we remember our potential as a society to do great things and that we must rise to occasion to again sit "like one man with one heart" at the foot of Mt. Sinai.
I asked my students, co-workers, and friends this week and the most popular initial answer was that Moshe was on top of Mt. Sinai with Gd. Wrong. Read closely the last verse in chapter 19 as it follows into chapter 20:
And Moshe went down to the people and spoke to them (19:25).
God spoke all these words saying:
I am the Lrd your Gd who brought you out of the land of Egypt (20:1-2).
This contradicts the simple understanding that most of us learned growing up. Perhaps we are more familiar with the verses directly after the revelation.
All the people witnessed the thunder and lightening, the blare of the horn and mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they fell back and stood at a distance. "you speak to us," they said to Moshe, "and we will obey, but let not Gd speak to us, lest we die." Moshe answered the people, "Be not afraid; for Gd has come only in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may be ever with you, so that you do not go astray." So the people remained at a distance, while Moshe approached the thick cloud where Gd was. (20:15-18).
We are even more familiar with the details that follow at the end of parshat Mishpatim, when Moshe ascends the mountain with the 70 elders, Aharon and his sons and with Yehoshua by his side to get the tablets. He goes up the mountain without food or drink embarking on a 40 day task within the cloudy mountain top. Further, we remember Moshe's leadership on the mountain in parshat Ki Tisa during the golden calf episode.
Why is it that more people believe Moshe was on the mountain rather than with the people? My theory has two ramifications, one educational and the second social, to explain this phenomenal misunderstanding.
It is clearly more comfortable for us to think that Moshe, our great teacher, prophet of prophets, is at a sacred distance from us. Not only does it give us a sense of security knowing that he is toiling away at his holy work on our behalf, but subsequently we feel removed from having to take any responsibility for what goes on up there. When times are good, the system works well. During tougher times, when leaders struggle or threats seem impossible, how do we react? Sitting at home watching the news it is easy to comment and point the finger at politicians or sinners who do wrong. It is easier for us to live knowing that we do not have to meet the same social, political or religious standards as those chosen to serve the public. This is a terrible educational message for the leader is a reflection of the people and the people of the leader.
Remembering that Moshe stood with the people while the terrible voice of Gd called out the 10 utterances – that we were on the same level as Moshe at that precise moment – should inspire us to our religious potential. We stood shoulder to shoulder with our leader; he stood with children, woman and men. Only then did the people send Moshe up, as a messenger for the community. We enabled him to reach higher levels for the sake of the greater good.
This idea explains well why Moshe is exiled from the mountaintop after Gd reveals the golden calf plot. It is a contradiction to have a diplomat negotiating a covenant while his government is violating the exact language of the document. The connection between the leader and the people was broken.
The social message is now clearer. As a society, we need to be more aware of our responsibilities to our leaders, even when our leaders forget their responsibility to us. Remembering that we attained high levels of holiness and intimacy at the very moment of revelation should inspire us to demand more from our society and not take a passive role to current events.
Yehi Ratzon, may it be Hashem's will, that we merit leaders who are fitting and appropriate to the tasks at hand, and we remember our potential as a society to do great things and that we must rise to occasion to again sit "like one man with one heart" at the foot of Mt. Sinai.
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