7/26/2023 0 Comments Torah reading sound reference![]() ![]() The heavens don’t need the peace of Torah, we do. The ultimate goal of Torah is for Torah to be brought down from the mountaintop. The following is my response to parashat Mishpatim’s question, explaining why she deserves such prominence of place. What comparable insights could I as a parasha offer to Your people? And will they even listen, after such an exalted experience, especially since my parsha describes oxen goring each other? Anywhere else yes, just not after Yitro, not after the parasha in which the mystic gift of Your holy Torah is given. If that’s Torah, sign me up.Īnd now we reach parashat Mishpatim, and the reason why I envision parashat Mishpatim in a desperate dialogue with the Divine, metaphorically imploring God: “Please don’t position me immediately after parashat Yitro. So in parashat Yitro we have 1) The magnificence of the Divine “I Am” calling out into universal silence and 2) The Jews experiencing grand visions of sound, along with an auditory experience of vision. Parashat Yitro also states that at Har Sinai/Mount Sinai, “All the people saw the thunders and the flashes of lightening, the sound of the shofar and the smoking mountain…” (Exodus 20:15), which the midrash richly interprets as meaning, “They saw what was audible, and they heard what was visible,” (Melkhlita d’Rabbi Yishmael, 20:15:1). It states: “When the Holy and Blessed One gave the Torah, not a bird chirped, nor did any fowl fly…neither were the angelic Seraphim chanting, “Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, (Holy, Holy, Holy)…no creatures uttered a sound, (and) the world was in absolute silence (humbly listening for) the voice to echo forth (throughout the entire universe saying): I am the LORD your God,” (Midrash Shemot Rabbah 29:9). In the mind of the midrash, it may even be the most significant event in history. In last week’s Torah portion, parashat Yitro, the Jews received the Torah, the central and most significant event in Jewish history. Here the dialogue is not between the Hebrew letters and God, but between the parasha of Mishpatim, and God. In this week’s parasha however, I imagine an entirely different dialogue taking place. In the wonderful world of midrash, the rabbis portray the letters of our Hebrew alphabet as agents in dialogue with the Divine, each pleading their case as to why the holy Torah should begin with them. ![]()
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