Yitro
In this week’s portion, Yitro, the children of Israel receive the Aseret HaDibrot—the Ten Commandments. But how did they HEAR the 10 Utterances? Can you imagine the scene at Mt. Sinai? There were upwards of 600,000 people. There were countless animals braying and bleating and baa-ing. Babies were crying, Mothers were trying to shush their infants, children were probably doing what children always have done---running around shouting and laughing. And then, let’s not forget the heaven-made sounds---the crashing of the thunder, the blaring of the horns. How on earth could anyone have heard ANYTHING?
And, the second question…If, as our Rabbis tell us, we were ALL standing at Sinai and if the Torah is continually being given to all of us at any given time, why is the experience at Sinai so important?
Eliyahu KiTov, an Orthodox Israeli commentator, says that the everyday noise of our lives (think the sound of traffic, people talking and laughing, dogs barking, machines whirring, etc.etc.etc) keeps us from being able to hear God’s voice. At Sinai, God was able to quiet all the noise so every single person could hear the Words.
If God could do that for the Children of Israel in the wilderness, then surely God can do that for us today. But we have to work in partnership with God by learning to quiet all the inner and outer noise that keeps us from hearing God. Some people retreat to the mountains or to the ocean trying to hear God’s voice. But we can do it in our daily lives (even in Chicago) by consciously focusing on what was said at Sinai. Because every time we study Torah we are standing at Sinai. And by living the values that were set before us, we can hear God’s voice every day.
Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…can you hear it?
Shabbat Shalom,
Debby Lewis
Ritual Director
