Lee Hebrew Lesson 3/31

WE WERE ALL STANDING AT THE FOOT OF MOUNT SINAI

WHEN MOSES RECEIVED THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

Goal: To understand yourself as a link in the chain of Jewish history.

At our last class together, we read the following passage from the Torah: “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 shofar; and all the people who were in the camp trembled. Moses led the people out of the camp, and they took their places at the foot of Mount Sinai.”

So exactly who was there? Who exactly were the people who are mentioned? And who were the Commandments intended for? Well, later in the Torah we are told: “All of you (that is, every Israelite) stand before God today – your tribal leaders, your elders and your officials, all the men and women of Israel, even the stranger who lives among you… I make this agreement (in the words of the Ten Commandments) not with you alone, but both with those who are standing here this day and with those who are not with us here this day.”

“With those who are not with us here this day….” Now who could that be? Remember that this Ten Commandment scene happened more than 3200 years ago. And it took place in the middle of the desert. There was no place where an Israelite could wander off to, and nothing particular that they could do. (It’s not unlike our present situation with Covid-19. Our parents don’t have to ask where we’re going. We’re home for the next while.) So if every Israelite who left Egypt was together at the foot of the mountain, who were “the people who are not with us here this day?” Our rabbis tell us that these people are us, that all the Jews yet to be born were there.

That’s really what becoming b’nay mitsva is all about. Not long from now, each of you will read a portion from the Torah that Moses was said to have received on Sinai. And after you read from the Torah, you will be given the Torah to carry through the congregation as if to say, “Now that I have worked for so many months to read from this scroll, and I have done it, I feel that the Torah is mine, that I possess it.” By doing all that you need to do to become b’nay mitsva, you will ‘own’ the Torah that you were given more than thirty-centuries ago.

Fill out this form!

(make sure you hit submit at the bottom)

In the meantime, take care, be nice to the people in your house, and stay healthy.