Memories of Sinai

Yitro (“Jethro”), Exodus 18:1-20:23

Rabbi Mark S. Diamond
Executive Vice President
Board of Rabbis of Southern California

It is told that the late Rabbi Stephen S. Wise attended a public dinner where he was seated next to a prominent woman. She sought to impress the rabbi by telling him, “One of my ancestors was present at the signing of the Declaration of Independence.”  “My dear,” replied Rabbi Wise, “my ancestors witnessed the giving of the Ten Commandments!”

The giving (and receiving) of Aseret ha-dibrot (the Ten Commandments) is the highlight of the weekly Torah portion, and arguably the most famous passage in the entire Hebrew Bible. Chapter 20 of Exodus paints an awesome and awe-inspiring portrait of the sensory overload of the revelation at Sinai--dark clouds, thunder, lightning, the blast of the Shofar, and the people trembling in fear before God. The colorful halftime show of last Sunday’s Super Bowl was quite an extravaganza, but I imagine it pales in comparison to our ancestors' experience at the foot of the mountain.

Sinai was the Jewish people's most unique collective experience of revelation. What do we choose to remember of Sinai? What do we choose to forget? The acclaimed Israeli poet Zelda (1914-1984) remembers the theophany of Sinai this way:

"I shall not float
unreined in space
lest a cloud swallow
the thin band in my heart
that separates good from evil.
I have no existence
without the lightning and thunder
that I heard at Sinai."
(Zelda, "The Spectacular Difference," translated by Marcia Falk, p. 231)

In time-honored Jewish fashion, Zelda writes about Sinai as a person who was actually present at the mountain. She fights against her mystical nature to fly or float away. Zelda is profoundly thankful for Sinai's grounding in ethics and morality that give purpose and meaning to her life. Zelda cannot live without Sinai, and, by extrapolation, nor can our people.

Zelda's writing is one gifted poet's memory of Sinai. What is your “memory” of revelation? How do you interpret the Torah's narratives of the revelatory experience? What does Sinai mean to you and how does it inform your life? To paraphrase the great sage Hillel, the answers are your commentary. Go and learn!