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Revelation
Hadar Beit Midrash
Shavuot Retreat
June 5-8, 2003
Historical Revelation
I. Preparation for Revelation
II. Who Knows Ten?
III. Of Our Own Free Will?
IV. Who Heard What?
V. The Glory of God
VI. God Needs You!
VII. One Event, Two Perspectives
VIII. Were You There Too?
IX. Too Close For Comfort
X. Black Fire on White Fire
I. Preparation for Revelation
EXODUS 19:16 And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings,
and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the sound of a shofar exceedingly loud; so that all the people who were
in the camp trembled. 17 And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they
stood at the lower part of the mount. 18 And Mount Sinai was altogether in smoke, because the Lord descended
upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount trembled greatly. 19 And
when the voice of the shofar sounded long, and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him
by a voice. 20 And the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mount; and the Lord called Moses
up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up. 21 And the Lord said to Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest
they break through to the Lord to gaze, and many of them perish. 22 And let the priests also, who come near
the Lord, sanctify themselves, lest the Lord break forth upon them. 23 And Moses said to the Lord, The people
cannot come up to mount Sinai; for you charged us, saying, Set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it. 24
And the Lord said to him, Go, get you down, and you shall come up, you, and Aaron with you; but let not the
priests and the people break through to come up to the Lord, lest he break forth upon them. 25 So Moses went
down to the people, and spoke to them.
Guiding Questions
1. Why does God reveal Godself with thunder and lightening?
2. Note the repetition of the word kol (voice or sound) and the verb red (descend). What is the significance?
3. What boundaries are set up between God and the people? Why?
Connections
Where did God speak from?
What is the significance of the smoke, thunder and lightening?
VII
VIII, X
Rastafarian 12 Commandments
The Holy Piby, is the documented vision, message and aspirations of Athlyi Rogers, the founder of the
Rastafarian movement. It was published in 1924.
I. Love ye one another, O children of Ethiopia, for by no other way can ye love the Lord your God.
II. Be thou industrious, thrifty and fruitful, O offsprings of Ethiopia, for by no other way can ye show
gratitude to the Lord your God, for the many blessings he has bestowed upon earth free to all mankind.
III. Be ye concretize[d] and ever united, for by the power of unity ye shall demand respect of the nations.
IV. Work ye willingly with all thy heart with all they soul and with all thy strength to relieve suffering and
oppressed humanity, for by no other way can ye render integral service to the Lord your God.
V. Be thou clean and pleasant, O generation of Ethiopia, for thou art anointed, moreover the angels of the
Lord dwelleth with thee.
VI. Be thou punctual, honest and truthful that ye gain favor in the sight of the Lord your God, and that your
pathway be prosperous.
VII. Let no people take away that which the Lord thy God giveth thee, for the Lord shall inquire of it and
if ye shall say someone hath taken it, ye shall in no wise escape punishment, for he that dieth in retreat of
his enemy the Lord shall not hold him guiltless, but a people who dieth in pursuit of their enemy for the
protection of that which the Lord God giveth them, shall receive a reward in the kingdom of their Father.
VIII. Thou shalt bind up the would of thy brother and correct the mistakes of thine own household before
ye can see the sore on the body of your friend, or the error in the household of thy neighbour.
IX. O generation of Ethiopia, shed not the blood of thine own for the welfare of others for such is the
pathway to destruction and contempt.
X. Be ye not contents in the vineyard or household of others, for ye know not the day or the hour when
denial shall appear, prepare ye rather for yourselves a foundation, for by no other way can man manifest love
for the offsprings of the womb.
XI. Athlyi, Athlyi, though shepherd of the holy law and of the children of Ethiopia, establish ye upon he Law
a Holy temple for the Lord according to thy name and there shall all the children of Ethiopia worship the
Lord their God, and there shall the apostles of the shepherd administer the law and receive pledges thereto
and concretize within the Law. Verily he that is conretized within the Law shall be a follower and a defender
thereof, more-over the generations born of him that is concretize within the law are also of the law.
XII. O generation of Ethiopia, thou shall have no other God but the Creator of Heaven and Earth and the
things thereof. Sing ye praises and shout Hosanna to the Lord your God, while for a foundation ye sacrifice
on earth for His Divine Majesty the Lord our Lord in six days created the heaven and earth and rested the
seventh; ye also shall hallow the seventh day, for it is blessed by the Lord, therefore on this day thou shall do
no manner of work or any within thy gates.
II. Who Knows Ten?
EXODUS 20:1 And God spoke all these words, saying, 2 I am the Lord your God, who have brought you out
of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3 You shall have no other gods before me. 4 You shall not
make for you any engraved image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth
beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 You shall not bow down yourself to them, nor serve them;
for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and
fourth generation of them that hate me; 6 And showing mercy to thousands of those who love me, and keep
my commandments. 7 You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him
guiltless who takes his name in vain. 8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days shall you labor,
and do all your work; 10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any
work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your
stranger that is within your gates; 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is
in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and made it holy. 12 Honor
your father and your mother; that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God gives you.
13 You shall not kill. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against
your neighbor. 14 You shall not covet your neighbor’s house, you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his
manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is your neighbor’s.
Guiding Questions
1. What are different ways that one can group the Commandments?
2. What is surprisingly missing from this list?
Connections
Is revelation God-focused or people-focused?
What is the “language of revelation?”
III, V, VI, VII
IV
Rabbi Joel Roth
Whether or not it is “true” that the Torah embodies
the word and will of God is of great historical
and theological significance, but of no real legal
significance. Even if one has traced the origins of the
Torah to documents called J, E, P, and D, he may have
uncovered the historical sources of the legal norms,
but he has in no way abrogated the grundnorm
(basic ground of authority) of the halakhic system,
which is presupposed by the system.
III. Of Our Own Free Will?
EXODUS 19:17 And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at
the lower part of the mount.
EXODUS 24:7 And he took the Book of the Covenant, and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said,
All that the Lord has said will we do, and obey.
SIFRE DEVARIM When God was ready to give the Torah, He first went to aall the nations of the world and
offered it to them. One after another, the nations all asked, “What is written in the Torah?” Finally God went and
offered the Torah to the Jewish people. They accepted it sight unseen, as the Torah says (Exodus 24:7): “We will
first do the Torah ,and then we will understand it.”
SHABBAT 88a Rabbi Abdimi bar Hama bar Hassa said: This teaches us that the Holy One, praised be He, lifted
up the mountain over the Israelites, holding it like an inverted barrel. He said to them: “If you accept the Torah, well
and good. If not, then this will be your burial place.” About this, Rab Aha bar Jacob offered the following comment:
“If this had really been so, one could protest against the Torah. After all, the Israelites had to accept it under
compulsion.” “Not so,” replied Rabba. “In the days of Ahasuerus, they accepted the Torah once more; but this time
voluntarily. That is why it is said in Esther 9:27: ‘The Jews undertook and irrevocably obligated themselves.’ This
means the Jews now voluntarily undertook that which they had long before obligated themselves.”
Guiding Questions
1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of these contrasting models of acceptance?
2. What do you do out of compulsion as opposed to out of love or pure willingness?
Connections
How is revelation dangerous?
II, V, VI, VII
IX, X
We All Stood Together
Merle Feld
My brother and I were at Sinai
He kept a journal
of what he saw
of what he heard
of what it all meant to him
I wish I had such a record
of what happened to me
It seems like every time I want to write
I can’t
I’m always holding a baby
one of my own
or one of my friend
always holding a baby
so my hands are never free
to write things down
And then
As time passes
the particulars
the hard data
the who what when where why
slip away from me
and all I’m left with is
the feeling
But feelings are just sounds
The vowel barking of a mute
my brother is so sure of what he heard
after all he’s got a record of it
consonant after consonant after consonant
If we remembered it together
we could recreate holy time
sparks flying
IV. Who Heard What?
SHEMOT RABBAH 5:9 Rabbi Yochanan said: When God’s voice came forth at Mount Sinai,
it divided itself into seventy human languages, so that the whole world might understand it. All at
Mount Sinai, young and old, women, children and infants heard the voice of God according to their
ability to understand. Moses, too, understood only according to his capacity, as it is said (Ex. 19:19),
“Moses spoke, and God answered him with a voice.” With a voice that Moses could hear.
Guiding Questions
1. What is the implication of Rabbi Yochanan’s assertion that the entire world could hear God’s revelation
from Sinai?
2. What does this text say about communal vs. individual revelation at Sinai?
3. How do our different perspectives influence our understanding of Torah and the Commandments?
Connections
How does God manifest Godself in the world?
Was revelation primarily to the individual or to the community?
What is the “language of revelation?”
V, X
VIII
II
II Corinthians
New Testament, King James Version
3:12 Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:
3:13 And not as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of
Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished:
3:14 But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same veil
untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which veil is done away
in Christ.
3:15 But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart.
3:16 Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.
3:17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there
is liberty.
3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord,
are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit
of the Lord.
V. The Glory of God
EXODUS 33:18 And he said, I beg you, show me your glory. 19 And he said, I will make all my goodness pass
before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and
will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. 20 And he said, You can not see my face; for no man shall see me
and live. 21 And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and you shall stand upon a rock; 22 And it shall
come to pass, while my glory passes by, that I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and will cover you with my hand
while I pass by; 23 And I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back; but my face shall not be seen.
EXODUS 40:33 And he erected the court around the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the screen of the
court gate. So Moses finished the work. 34 Then a cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the Lord
filled the tabernacle. 35 And Moses was not able to enter into the Tent of Meeting, because the cloud abode on it,
and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 36 And when the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the
children of Israel went onward in all their journeys; 37 But if the cloud was not taken up, then they journeyed not
till the day that it was taken up. 38 For the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by
night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.
Guiding Questions
1. What does it mean to see God as opposed to hear God?
2. In what way is God physically manifest in these texts?
3. How do you understand these physical manifestations of God given Judaism’s de-emphasis of the physical?
Connections
How does revelation foster a relationship?
IV, X
II, III, VI, VII
VI, IX
The Prophet
by Khalil Gibran
Then said a teacher, Speak to us of Teaching.
And he said:
No man can reveal to you aught but that which already lies
half asleep in the dawning of your knowledge.
The teacher who walks in the shadow of the temple, among
his followers, gives not of his wisdom but rather of his faith
and his lovingness.
If he is indeed wise he does not bid you enter the house of
his wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your
own mind.
The astronomer may speak to you of his understanding of
space, but he cannot give you his understanding.
The musician may sing to you of the rhythm which is in
all space, but he cannot give you the ear which arrests the
rhythm nor the voice that echoes it.
And he who is versed in the science of numbers can tell of
the regions of weight and measure, but he cannot conduct
you thither.
For the vision of one man lends not its wings to another
man.
And even as each one of you stands alone in God’s knowledge,
so must each one of you be alone in his knowledge of God
and in his understanding of the earth.
VI. God Needs You!
PISIKTA DE-RAB KAHANA 12:6 “You are my witnesses, and I am God” (Isaiah 43:12) Rabbi Shimon
ben Yochai taught, “Only when you are my witnesses, I am God, but when you are not my witnesses, I,”— if one
dare say this — “am not God.”
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHEL There is only one way to define Jewish religion. It is the awareness of
God’s interest in man, the awareness of a covenant, of a responsibility that lies on Him as well as on us. Our task
is to concur with His interest, to carry out His vision of our task, God is in need of man for the attainment of His
ends, and religion, as Jewish tradition understand it, is a way of serving these ends, of which we are in need, even
though we may not be aware of them, ends which we must learn to feel the need of.
Some people think that religion comes but as a perception of an answer to a prayer, while in truth it comes about
in our knowing that God shares our prayer. The essence of Judaism is the awareness of the reciprocity of God and
man, of man’s togetherness with Him who abides in eternal otherness. For the task of living is His and ours, and so
is the responsibility. We have rights, not only obligations; our ultimate commitment is our ultimate privilege....
Guiding Questions
1. In what ways do we serve God’s needs?
2. How do you reconcile this reciprocal relationship with the Biblical account of revelation at Sinai?
3. Does God’s apparent need for us detract from God’s power?
Connections
II, III, V, VII
V, IX
Ketubbah le-Shavuot
In many Sephardic congregations, prior to the Torah reading on the first day of Shavuot, a ketubbah le-Shavuot
is read, a symbolic betrothal of God and His people Israel.... The most widely used text of a ketubbah leShavuot is that of the prolific Safed mystic and poet Israel Majara (c. 1550 - c. 1625)
Friday, the sixth of Sivan, the day appointed by the Lord for the revelation of the Torah to
His beloved people.... The Invisible One came forth from Sinai, shone from Seit and appeared
from Mount Paran unto all the kings of the earth, in the year 2448 since the creation of the
world, the era by which we are accustomed to reckon in this land whose foundations were
upheld by God....
The Bridegroom [God], Ruler of rulers, Prince of princes, Distinguished among the select,
Whose mouth is pleasing and all of Whom is delightful, said unto the pious, lovely and
virtuous maiden [the people of Israel] who won His favor above all women, who is beautiful
as the moon, radiant as the sun, awesome as bannered hosts: Many days wilt thou be Mine
and I will be thy Redeemer. Behold, I have sent thee golden precepts through the lawgiver
Jekuthiel [Moses]. Be thou My mate according to the law of Moses and Israel, and I will
honor, support, and maintain thee and be thy shelter and refuge in everlasting mercy. And I
will set aside for thee, in lieu of thy virginal faithfulness, the life-giving Torah by which thou
and thy children will live in health and tranquility. This bride [Israel] consented and became
His spouse. Thus an eternal covenant, binding them forever, was established between them.
The Bridegroom then agreed to add to the above all future expositions of Scripture,
including Sifra, Sifre, Aggadah, and Tosefta. He established the primacy of the 248 positive
commandments which are incumbent upon all.... and added to them the 365 negative
commandments. The dowry that this bride brought from the house of her father consists
of a heart that understands, ears that hearken, and eyes that see. Thus the sum total of
the contract and the dowry, with the addition of the positive and negative commandments,
amounts to the following: “Revere God and observe His commandments; this applies to all
mankind” (Ecclesiastes 12.13). The Bridegroom, desiring to confer privileges upon His people
Israel and to transmit these valuable assets to them, took upon Himself the responsibility of
this marriage contract, to be paid from the best portions of His property....
All these conditions are valid and established forever and ever. The Bridegroom has given
His oath to carry them out in favor of His people and to enable those that love Him to
inherit substance. Thus the Lord has given His oath. The Bridegroom has followed the legal
formality of symbolic delivery of this document, which is bigger than the earth and broader
than the seas. Everything, then, is firm, clear, and established... I invoke heaven and earth as
reliable witnesses. May the Bridegroom rejoice with the bride whom He has taken as His lot
and may the bride rejoice with the Husband of her youth while uttering words of praise.
VII. One Event, Two Perspectives
MEKHILTA PARASHAT BAHODESH 9 “And the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai.” You might
suppose that the divine glory came down in its reality, and was spread over Mount Sinai. Therefore it says: “It
was from heaven that I spoke to you.” This teaches you that God bent the lower and the upper heavens upon
the top of the mount, and the glory descended, and was spread over Mount Sinai, as a man lays the bolster
on the head of the bed.
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHEL
What happened on Sinai?
The Bible tries to say it in two ways. What it says in one is something words can hardly bear: “The Lord came
down upon Mount Sinai” (Exodus 19:20). No sentence in the world has ever said more: He who is beyond,
hidden and exalted above space and time was humbly here, for all Israel to sense.
But the Bible also speaks in another way: “I have talked to you from heaven” (Exodus 20:22). He did not descend
upon the earth; all that happened was that His word welled from heaven.
These passages do not contradict each other; they refer not to one but to two events. For revelation was both
an event to God and an event to man. Indeed, in the second passage it is God who speaks (in the first person);
the first passage conveys what the people experienced (it speaks of God in the third person). The same act
had two aspects. God did and did not descend upon the earth. The voice came out of heaven but man heard
it out of Sinai.
Guiding Questions
1. How does each text resolve the contradiction of whether God spoke from heaven or from Sinai?
2. Is there a difference between experiencing God speaking from Sinai or heaven?
Connections
Where did God speak from?
I
II, III, V, VI
Sacred Fragments
Neil Gillman
The notion that every religious experience has a mystical quality
was proposed by the German Christian scholar of the history and
phenomenology of religions, Rudolph Otto (1869-1937), in his
seminal work, The Idea of the Holy (an unfortunate translation
from the German Das Heilige). Otto insisted that there is a
unique, distinctive dimension to the religious experience which
he designated the sense of the numinous (Latin: numen, spirit):
the utterly nonrational, hence mysterious but compelling, sense
of the transcendent Presence, both beyond and also very close to
me. This Presence generates a powerful and complex emotion that
Otto describes as a mixture of fear and fascination, terror and
bliss — in sum, a sense of my “creatureliness” and of the abyss
that separates a person, as merely human, from the transcendent
Presence, but that can also be bridged by God’s compelling power
and by my acts of worship.
VIII. Were You There Too?
SEFER HACHINUCH Therefore, when God wished to give the Torah to His people Israel, He gave it to
them in sight of 600,000 grown men, not to mention the great number of children and women, that all might be
faithful witnesses about the things that happened then.
RAMBAM, HILCHOT YESODAI HATORAH 8:1 The Jews did not believe in Moses, our teacher,
because of the wonders that he performed. Whenever anyone’s belief is based on wonders, he has misgivings,
because it is possible to perform a wonder through magic or sorcery....
What is the source of our belief in him? The revelation at Mount Sinai. Our eyes saw, and not a stranger’s. Our
ears heard, and not another’s. There was fire, thunder, and lightning. He entered the thick clouds; the Voice spoke
to him and we heard, “Moses, Moses, go tell them the following:...”
Guiding Questions
1. Was revelation a communal or private event?
2. Can a person believe in revelation without experiencing it personally?
3. What preparation or skills are necessary to receive and understand revelation?
Connections
Was revelation primarily to the individual or to the community?
IV
I, X
Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler (1891-1954)
What did the Jews fear at Sinai? They couldn’t help but feel
great love for God, but they also sensed within themselves
the potential to love other things as well, and eventually
betray God. An intense relationship with God — speaking
face-to-face — meant a greater expectation of commitment
and loyalty, the lack of which would bring even greater Divine
retribution (i.e. death). Therefore, they sought to lessen
their level of relationship with God and the expectation of
loyalty. So they retreated behind Moses.
IX. Too Close For Comfort
SHIR HASHIRIM RABBAH V, 16, iii Rabbi Azariah and Rabbi Aha said in the name of Rabbi Yohanan: When
the Israelites heard anochi the first word of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai, their souls left them.... The word
returned to the Holy One, praised be He, and said: “Sovereign of the Universe, You live eternally, and Your Torah lives
eternally. But You have sent me to the dead. They are all dead!” Thereupon God made the word more palatable.... Rabbi
Shimon bar Yochai taught: The Torah, which the Holy One, praised be He, then gave to Israel, restored their souls to them.
That is why it is said in Psalm 19:8, “The Torah of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul.”
TANHUMA B, DEVARIM Ib When God revealed His presence to the Israelites, He did not show forth all His
goodness at once, because they could not have borne so much good; for had He revealed His goodness to them at one time
they would have died.... Thus, when Joseph made himself known to his brethren, they were unable to answer him because
they were astounded by him (Genesis 45:3). If God were to reveal Himself all at once, how much more powerful would
be the effect. So He shows Himself little by little.
Guiding Questions
1. How is revelation related to death?
2. What is the significance of God’s word both killing and reviving?
3. How do these midrashim relate to human relationships?
Connections
III, X
V, VI
Nachum Sarna
Exploring Exodus
Fire, Thunder, and Lightening
The phenomena of nature constitute, as it were, the
background music, the orchestral harbinger of and
accompaniment to the momentous divine activity,
but they are essentially unrelated to it. The function
of the detailed, elaborate, and animated descriptions
of the upheavals of nature is to convey in human
terms something of the ultimately inexpressible,
ineffable impact of the awesome and mysterious
manifestation of the Divine Presence.
X. Black Fire on White Fire
ZOHAR 2:84a R. Isaac said: ‘The Torah was given in black fire on white fire, that the right include the left and
the left is joined to the right; as it is written: “from his right hand a fiery law to them” (Deut. 33:2).’ R. Abba said:
‘When the smoke came out of Mount Sinai a fire went up inside it, revealed within. It rose and fell, and the smoke
emitted all the scents and fragrances of the Garden of Eden. This smoke went up looking white, red, and black, as
it says, “perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant” (S.S. 3: 6). This smoke, what
was it? R. Isaac said: ‘It was the Shekhinah who was revealed there as it says, “Who is this (zoth) that cometh up
from the wilderness like pillars of smoke?” (Ibid.)’ R. Judah said: ‘Why do you need all this (exegesis)? Doesn’t
the scripture say [explicitly] that “Mount Sinai was all in smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire, and
the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace” (Ex. 19: 18)? Blessed were the people who saw it and who
understood it!’ R. Hiya said: ‘When the letters were engraved on the tablets of stone they were visible from two
sides, from this side and from that side. The tablets were of sanpirinon [sapphire or lapis-lazuli] stone. They were
engraved and covered with white fire and the letters were of black fire. They were engraved upon two sides, this
side and that.’ R. Abba said: the tablets were in their sight and the letters flew, and were seen in two fires, white
fire and black fire, to show the unity of right and left, as it is written, “length of days is in her right hand and in
her left hand is riches and honor” (Prov. 3:16). But isn’t it written “from his right hand (came) a fiery law to them”
(Deut. 33:2)? It [the Torah] is from the side of Judgment (gevurah) [the left side] and it was included in the right,
[harsh judgment was tempered by mercy]. Black fire and white fire [judgment and mercy].
Guiding Questions
1. How does this text deal with the problem of evil?
2. According to R. Abba, why are the tablets two-sided?
3. Why is the Torah written with black letters on white parchment? Can the two sides become one?
Connections
I, VIII
IV, V
III, IX
Ongoing Revelation
I. Prophecy as Revelation
II. Not In Heaven
III. Flashes of Light
IV. The Many Faces of God
V. A Still, Small Voice
VI. Preposterous Prophets
VII. Torah Study as Revelation
VIII. Revelation Renewed
IX. Crowns on the Letters
X. The Sacred Aleph
I. Prophecy as Revelation
NUMBERS 44:16 And the Lord said to Moses, Gather to me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders
of the people, and officers over them; and bring them to the Tent of Meeting, that they may stand there with you. 17 And I will
come down and talk with you there; and I will take of the spirit which is upon you, and will put it upon them; and they shall carry
the burden of the people with you, that you carry it not yourself alone. 24 And Moses went out, and told the people the words of
the Lord, and gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them around the Tent. 25 And the Lord came down in
a cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the spirit that was upon him, and gave it to the seventy elders; and it came to pass, that, when
the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not cease. 26 But there remained two of the men in the camp, the name of
one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad; and the spirit rested upon them; and they were among those who were registered,
but went not to the Tent; and they prophesied in the camp. 27 And there ran a young man, and told Moses, and said, Eldad and
Medad are prophesying in the camp. 28 And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and
said, My lord Moses, forbid them. 29 And Moses said to him, Are you jealous for my sake? would God that all the Lord’s people
were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them!
RASHI 11:25 BUT DID NOT CONTINUE TO DO SO. They did not prophesy, except on that day alone. Thus is is explained in
Sifrei. But Onkelos translated ve’lo yasfu as “and did not cease,” which means, prophesy did not cease from them.
Guiding Questions
1. What is the role of prophecy after revelation?
2. What distinguishes those who are chosen to be prophets?
3. How do Rashi and Onkeles interpret the words lo yasafu differently? What are the implications of each
interpretation?
Connections
How do we recognize post-Sinaitic revelation?
What are the different levels of revelation?
II, VI, VIII, IX
III, VI, VIII
Rabbi Simcha Bunam of Parsischa (1765-1827)
Rabbi Bunam was asked: It was written (Ex. 19): And you shall be
to me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. These are the words that
you shall speak to the people of Israel. To this our teacher Rashi
comments: These are the words — no more, no less. What does
he mean by that? Rabbi Bunam explained: Moses wanted to reveal
more Torah to the people, but he was not allowed. For it was God’s
will that the people make an effort on their own. Moses was to say
just these words to them, no more and no less, so that they might
feel: Something is hidden here, and we must strive to discover it
of ourselves. That is why, further on, we read: And he [Moses] set
before them these words. No more and no less.
II. Not In Heaven
BAVA METZIA 59b Rabbi Eleizer now cried out: “If the law is to be construed in the way I have argued,
then let God Himself prove it!” And, in fact, a Heavenly Voice was heard proclaiming: “What do you want from
Rabbi Eliezer? Don’t you know that in all matters of law the decision is in accordance with his opinion?” At that,
Rabbi Joshua jumped to his feet and shouted: “It is not in the heavens!” (Deut. 30:12) What did he mean by that
quotation from Deuteronomy? Rabbi Jeremiah explained: “The Torah had already been revealed at Mount Sinai.
We, therefore, need not be concerned with further Heavenly Voices. After all, the Sinaitic Torah itself contains the
principle that, in legal matters, the vote of the majority is decisive” (Exodus 23:2, in the rabbinic interpretation).
Later, when Rabbi Nathan met the Prophet Elijah, he asked the Prophet: “What did the Holy One, praised be He,
do at that hour?” Elijah replied: “He smiled and said: ‘My children have prevailed against me! My children have
prevailed against me!’”
“A LIVING COVENANT” DAVID HARTMAN Torah, therefore, should not be understood as a
complete, finished system. Belief in the giving of the Torah at Sinai does not necessarily imply that the full truth of
has already been given and that our tast is only to unfold what was already present in the fullness of the founding
moment of revelation. Sinai gave the community a direction, an arrow pointing toward a future filled with many
surprises. Halakhah, which literally means “walking,” is like a road that has not been fully paved and completed.
The Sinai moment of revelation, as mediated by the ongoing discussion in the tradition, invites one and all to
acquire the competence to explore the terrain and extend the road. It does not require passive obedience and
submission to the wisdom of the past.
Guiding Questions
1. Was it God’s intention to transfer halakhic authority to humans or is this an ongoing partnership?
2. What is our responsibility to continue our active role in revelation?
3. What does “my sons have defeated me” mean?
Connections
How does revelation impact one’s relationship with others?
I, VI, VIII, IX
V, X
Pulp Fiction
Quentin Tarantino
VINCENT: Good for you.
Lighten up a little. You been sittin’ there all quiet.
JULES: I just been sittin’ here thinkin’.
VINCENT: About what?
JULES: The miracle we witnessed.
VINCENT: The miracle you witnessed.
I witnessed a freak occurrence.
JULES: Do you know that a miracle is?
VINCENT: An act of God.
JULES: What’s an act of God?
VINCENT:
I guess it’s when God makes the impossible possible. And I’m sorry
Jules, but I don’t think what happened this morning qualifies.
JULES:
Don’t you see, Vince, that &#%! don’t matter. You’re judging this thing the
wrong way. It’s not about what. It could be God stopped the bullets, he changed
Coke into Pepsi, he found my &#%! car keys. You don’t judge &#%! like this based on
merit. Whether or not what we experienced was an according-to-Hoyle miracle is
insignificant. What is significant is I felt God’s touch, God got involved.
VINCENT: But why?
JULES: That’s what’s &#%! wit’ me!
I don’t know why. But I can’t go back to sleep.
III. Flashes of Light
‘GUIDE FOR THE PERPLEXED” RAMBAM At times the truth shines so brilliantly that
we perceive it as clear as day. Our nature and habit then draw a veil over our perception, and we
return to a darkness almost as dense as before. We are like those who, though beholding frequent
flashes of lightening, still find themselves in the thickest darkness of night. On some the lightening
flashes in rapid succession, and they seem to be in continuous light, and their night is as clear as
the day. The was the degree of prophetic excellence attained by (Moses) the greatest of prophets,
to whom God said, “But as for thee, stand thou here by Me” (Deut. 5:31), and of whom it is written
“the skin of his face shone,” etc. (Ex. 34:29). [Some perceive the prophetic flash at long intervals; this
is the degree of most prophets.] By others only once during the whole night is a flash of lightening
perceived. This is the case with those of whom we are informed, “They prophesies, and did not
prophesy again” (Num. 11:25). There are some to whom the flashes of lightening appear with
varying intervals; others are in the condition of men, whose darkness is illumined not by lightening,
but by some kind of crystal or similar stone, or other substances that possess the property of shining
during the night; and to them even this small amount of light is no continuous, but not it shines and
now it vanishes, as if it were “the flame of the rotating sword.”
Guiding Questions
1. What prevents us from having clarity?
2. Can one rely on transitory flashes of light or moments of clarity for religious inspiration?
Connections
I, VI, VII
Late I Have Loved Thee
Augustine, “Confessions”
Late I have loved Thee, O Beauty so ancient and so new, late have
I loved Thee! And behold, Thou wert within and I was without.
I was looking for Thee out there, and I threw myself, deformed
as I was, upon those well-formed things which Thou hast made.
thou wert with me, yet I was not with Thee. These things held
me far from Thee, things which would not have existed had they
not been in Thee. Thou didst call and cry out and burst in upon
my deafness; Thou didst shine forth and glow and drive away my
blindness; Thou didst send forth Thy fragrance, and I drew in my
breath and now I pant for Thee; I have tasted, and now I hunger
and thirst; Thou didst touch me, and I was inflamed with desire for
Thy peace.
IV. The Many Faces of God
PESIKTA DE-RAB KAHANA 12 Because the Holy One appeared to Israel at the Red Sea as a mighty
man waging war, and appeared to them at Sinai as a pedagogue who teaches the day’s lesson and then again and
again goes over with his pupils what they have been taught, and appeared to them in the days of Daniel as an elder
teaching Torah, and in the days of Solomon appeared to them as a young man, the Holy One said to Israel: Come to
no false conclusions because you see Me in many guises, for I am He who was with you at the Red Sea and I am He
who is with you at Sinai: I am the Lord they God. The fact is, R. Hiyya bar Abba said, that He appeared to them in
a guise appropriate to each and every place and time. At the Red Sea He appeared to them as a mighty man waging
their wars, at Sinai He appeared to them as a pedagogue, as one who stands upright in awe when teaching Torah; in
the days of Daniel, He appeared to them as an elder teaching Torah, for the Torah is at its best when it comes from
the mouths of old men; in the days of Solomon He appeared to them as a young man in keeping with the youthful
spirit of Solomon’s generation — ”His aspect is like Lebanon, young as the cedars” (Song 5:15). At Sinai, then,
when he said, I am the Lord thy God, appropriately He appeared to them as a pedagogue teaching Torah.
Guiding Questions
1. Are there other images of God, not described in this passage, that speak to you?
2. Do you experience God in different guises at different times?
Connections
How does God tailor revelation for different situations?
How does revelation effect our perception?
V, VII, IX
X
Earth’s crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God:
But only he who sees takes off his shoes.
—Elizabeth Barrett Browning
V. A Still, Small Voice
I KINGS I:I And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 Then
Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not your life as the life of one of them by
tomorrow about this time. 3 And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah,
and left his servant there. 4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree; and
he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers. 5
And as he lay and slept under a broom tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said to him, Arise and eat. 6 And he looked, and,
behold, there was a cake baked on the coals, and a jar of water at his head. And he ate and drank, and laid himself down again. 7 And
the angel of the Lord came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for you.
8 And he arose, and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that meal forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. 9
And he came there to a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, What are you doing
here, Elijah? 10 And he said, I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant,
thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword; and I am the only one left; and they seek my life, to take it away. 11
And he said, Go out, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the
mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake; but the
Lord was not in the earthquake; 12 And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.
13 And it was so, when Elijah heard it that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entrance of the cave. And,
behold, there came a voice to him, and said, What are you doing here, Elijah? 14 And he said, I have been very zealous for the Lord
God of hosts; because the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the
sword; and I am the only one left; and they seek my life, to take it away.
Guiding Questions
1. How does this manifestation of God compare to the revelation at Sinai? Burning bush? Jacob’s dream?
2. Why doesn’t Elijah change his response (see verses 10 and 14)?
Connections
What is the proper response to ongoing revelation?
IV, VII, IX
VI, IX
II, X
Star of Redemption
Franz Rosenzweig
The prophet does not mediate between God and man, he does not
receive revelation in order to pass it on; rather, the voice of God
sounds forth from directly within him, God speaks as “I” directly
from within him. The master of the great plagiarism of revelation
lets God speak and passes the revelation which occurred to him in
secret on to the dazed assemblage. Not so the true prophet. He
does not let God speak at all. Rather, he no sooner opens his mouth
than God already speaks.
VI. Preposterous Prophets
DEUTERONOMY 13:1 What ever I command you, take care to do it; you shall not add to it, nor diminish from it. 2 If there
arises among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and gives you a sign or a wonder, 3 And the sign or the wonder, comes to
pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, Let us go after other gods, which you have not known, and let us serve them; 4 You shall
not listen to the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams; for the Lord your God tests you, to know whether you love the
Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 5 You shall walk after the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his
commandments, and obey his voice, and you shall serve him, and hold fast to him.
DEUTERONOMY 18:15 The Lord your God will raise to you a Prophet from your midst, from your brothers, like me; to him
you shall listen; 16 According to all that you desired of the Lord your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not
hear again the voice of the Lord my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not. 17 And the Lord said to me, They
have well spoken that which they have spoken. 18 I will raise them a Prophet from among their brothers, like you, and will put my
words in his mouth; and he shall speak to them all that I shall command him. 19 And it shall come to pass, that whoever will not
listen to my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. 20 But the prophet, who shall presume to speak a
word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who shall speak in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.
21 And if you say in your heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken? 22 When a prophet speaks in the
name of the Lord, if the thing follows not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken, and the prophet has
spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.
Guiding Questions
1. What is the contradiction in these two passages? How might it be reconciled?
2. How are we to judge who is a real prophet?
Connections
I, III, VII, VIII
I, II, VIII, IX
V, IX
Commentary Symposium
Seymour Siegel
The process by means of which the community of Israel reads the Torah...
is the process of interpretation called midrash. The history of Judaism is
both of revelation and the interpretation of revelation.
Spirituality and Intellectual (dis)Engagement
David Kraemer
Talmudic spirituality happens something like this: Talmud study
incorporates many voices. There is, of course, the voice of God in the
Torah, which is quoted to support and test the variety of rabbinic opinions.
Then there is the voice of the rabbis who examine the written Torah and
promulgate their own Oral Torah-all in pursuit of God’s will. As the Talmud’s
discussions progress, it becomes difficult to distinguish the express Divine
voice from the incorporated (=rabbinic) Divine voice. Both merge into a
tentative Torah harmony. But, as anyone who has ever studied Talmud
knows, the Talmud is incomplete without your own voice (the voice of
the learner) to provide the connective tissue. And Talmud makes no
sense without your own interpretive voice to test and re-test possible
interpretations. So, in the first-and-last step, your own voice joins the
Divine and rabbinic voices to create a cacophony of oral Torahs. Crucially,
this is not an external cacophony; it happens inside you. So you feel, welling
up inside you, the voice of God and the voices of God’s creatures, in rich and
ever more complex exchange. If all goes well, you will lose yourself in this
exchange — as you lose yourself in any spiritual experience. The difference
is, in this spiritual exercise, God’s voice becomes one of many voices inside
you-voices which merge to become indistinguishable. This is, I think, what
is meant by devekut-cleaving to God. But it is a peculiarly rabbinic way of
accomplishing it.
VII. Torah Study as Revelation
TANHUMA BUBER, YITRO “On this day they came to Sinai” — Did they come today? But rather, it
means that when you study the words of Torah, do not let them be old in your sight, but as if I gave them today.
Guiding Questions
1. How is Torah study like the revelation at Sinai?
2. How does one make Torah study a revelatory experience?
Connections
How is study revelatory?
I, III, VI, VII
IV, V, IX
IX
Exodus Rabbah 41:6
Could Moses have learned the whole Torah? Of the Torah is says,
“The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the
sea” (Job 11:9); could Moses then have learned it all in forty days?
No; but it was only the principles thereof that god taught Moses.
Tales of Hasidim
Martin Buber
The rabbi of Kotzk was asked: “Why is Shavuot called ‘the time the
Torah was given’ rather than the time we received the Torah?” He
answered: “The giving took place on one day, but the receiving takes
place at all times.”
VIII. Revelation Renewed
“COMMANDMENTS AND CREATION” SFAT EMET (REB YEHUDA ALTER OF GER)
The Ten Commandments contain within them the entire Torah. They stand parallel to the ten
utterances of God in creating the world. Just as all of Creation and all that has happened since,
in general and in particular, were included in those ten “let there be”s, so is all of Torah — all the
commandments as performed by everyone of Israel, general and particular — included within these
Ten Commandments.
The difference between these two sets of ten is that the divine utterances of Creation are fixed
within nature, while the commandments are constantly renewed. They are the inner side of the
ten utterances. That is why the Mishnah (Avot 5:1) can teach that the world was created with ten
utterances “to give goodly reward to those who preserve” it. This “goodly reward” is Torah.
Guiding Questions
1. What is the connection between Sinai and creation?
2. What does it mean for the Commandments to be constantly renewed?
3. What implications does this have for our role in the world?
Connections
I, III, IV, VII
I, II, IV, IX
Mei Hashiloach (1800-1854)
Rabbi Mordechai Yosef of Isbitza
“I am the Lord your God...” (Exodus 20:2) The word
anochi is used for “I am,” rather than the word ani,
which would have signified a complete revelation of
the divine light to Israel at the Giving of the Torah.
That would have left no room for deeper exploration
of His words.
IX. Crowns on the Letters
MENACHOT 29b Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav: When Moses ascended to heaven (to receive
the Torah), he found God sitting and tying crowns to the letters. Moses said: “Sovereign of the Universe,
what are you doing?” God replied: “At the end of many generations, a man named Akiva ben Yosef will
exist, and he will expound upon each dot of these letters mountains and mountains of laws.” Moses
said: “Sovereign of the Universe, show him to me.” God said: “Look behind you.” Moses went and sat at
the end of the eighth row (of a classroom), and couldn’t understand what (the students) were discussing.
This upset him. But when they came to a certain subject, the students asked (R. Akiva): Rebbe, what is
the (Scriptural) proof for your statement? Akiva said to them: It is a law given to Moses on Mount Sinai.
Moses was content. He returned and came in front of God and said to him: “Sovereign of the Universe,
You have a man like this, and you are giving the Torah through me?” God said: “Silence! This is what I have
decided.” Moses said: “Sovereign of the Universe, You showed me his Torah, now show me his reward.”
God said: “Look behind you.” Moses looked behind him and saw them selling the flesh of Akiva in the
market. He said: “Sovereign of the Universe, this is Torah, and this is its reward?!” God said: “Silence!
This is what I have decided.”
Guiding Questions
1. What makes an interpretation authoritative?
2. Why was Moses comforted when Rabbi Akiva’s new teachings were attributed to him?
3. Why did God silence Moses upon seeing Rabbi Akiva’s suffering?
Connections
How is study revelatory?
I, II, VI, VIII
IV, V, VII
V, VI
VII
Hermann Cohen
Religion of Reason
God in no way reveals himself in something,
but only to something, in relation to something.
And the corresponding member of this
relationship can only be man.
X. The Sacred Aleph
“ZERA KODESH” NAFTALI TSVI HOROWITZ OF ROPCZYCE It seems to me that [revelation at Sinai] can
be understood according to something I once heard from the mouth of my revered master and teacher, Rabbi Mendl of Rymanov,
[1745-1815] his memory is a blessing. He explained the verse in Psalms 62:12, ONE THING GOD HAS SPOKEN BUT TWO THINGS
I HAVE HEARD.... It is possible, he taught, that at Sinai we heard nothing from the mouth of God other than the letter aleph of the
first utterance, “I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD. Exodus 20:2) [The first letter of the first word I, anochi, is aleph.]
We can now also understand [the apparent contradiction between] the passages in Deuteronomy 5:4, THE LORD SPOKE WITH YOU
FACE TO FACE AT THE MOUNTAIN FROM THE MIDST OF THE FIRE and Deuteronomy 4:15, YOU SAW NO IMAGE WHEN
THE LORD YOUR GOD SPOKE TO YOU AT HOREB FROM OUT OF THE FIRE. There was nothing [that could be seen, in other
words] but a voice!
It is possible to explain this in the light of a teaching by our sages on Psalm 16:8,, I SET THE LORD BEFORE ME CONTINUALLY.
They say that this verse represents a great principle of the Torah. One might think they would have said that serving God or
something similar was a great principle. It becomes clear when we read it in light of a tradition in our musar, or ethical, literature.
There we learn from the Shaym Hameforash, the awesome Name of God, the four letter Name of yod hey vav and hey, itself
actually hints at the letter aleph. For the letter aleph itself is constructed of two letter yods [ which are the tenth letter of the
alphabet, making a total of twenty] joined with the letter vav [sixth letter] joining them in the middle. This makes a total of
twenty-six. The four letter Name of God, yod hey vav and hey, [yod is ten, vav is six and two letter heys, each being five, also]
total twenty-six!
This, in turn, hints at the face of a human being. The two eyes resemble two letter yods and a nose between them looks like a letter
vav! In other words, on every human face there is a letter aleph! And just this is the meaning of Genesis 1:27, IN THE IMAGE OF
GOD, HE CREATED HIM [ADAM]. And this facial aleph, engraved on every person, has the same numerical equivalent, twenty-six,
as God’s most awesome name, yod hey vav and hey!
We also know that there is a kind of effulgence surrounding every person [a kind of divine light], just as, in holiness, we are radiant.
And this is the reason we are bidden to continually keep the images of God ever before our faces, for indeed, the seal of the Holy One is
literally on our faces, evoking the shape [of the Name] of the Creator.
This is what our sages meant when the spoke of a great principle of the Torah. When we were worth to stand at God’s chosen
mountain and we heard the voice issuing the letter aleph, we were fulfilled and there was revealed to us the shape of the letter aleph.
And we read in Exodus 20:15, AND ALL THE PEOPLE SAW THE THUNDER. In other words, they saw what was heard [synesthesia]!
We saw the form of the letter aleph, inself evoking the Name of God. And [at that moment] they all saw and understood that this
was also the form of their own faces!
And this then is the reason that we read just after the theophany in Exodus 10:17, BE NOT AFRAID; FOR GOD 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, for when a person continually keeps this idea [that God is in the face of every other human begin], then he will not easily
be inclined to go astray....
Guiding Questions
1. What is this midrash saying about what we actually experienced at Sinai?
2. How is God’s image/name physically present in humanity or in our perceptions of other people?
3. What are the ethical implications of seeing the image of God in every human face?
Connections
How does revelation effect our perception?
II, V
IV
Dedicated to the memory of David Kramer z”l, on the observance of his first yahrzeit.
We would like to thank Limmud (www.limmud.org) for the inspiration for this booklet,
and all the many people at Hadar who helped put this together:
Julia Andelman
Sarah Chandler
Ben Dreyfus
Abby Eisenberg
Efrem Epstein
Alon Ferency
Rachel Forster
Adam Gregerman
Marisa Harford
Eli Kaplan
Elie Kaunfer
Sybil Kessler
Miriam Kramer
Aaron Levy
Yanay Ofran
Adam Rosenthal
Nili Schiffman
Ahud Sela
Bill Shackman
Adina Shoulson
Judith Weiss
Nellie Zupancic
Special thanks to Shir Yaakov Feinstein-Feit ([email protected]) for layout and design,
and to Miriam Kramer and Aaron Levy for supporting this project.
[email protected]
http://www.kehilathadar.org/

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