The Torah, describing the scene building up to G-d’s Revelation at Mount Sinai, says, there was thunder, lightning and a Shofar blast. The Torah then makes an astounding statement, “The entire nation saw the sounds!” Rashi quotes the Medrash that says they actually were able to see the sounds!
How can we understand this?
Toldos Yitzchok takes us back to the story of Adam and Eve, and what led them to go against G-d’s command not to eat from the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge.
The serpent, who symbolizes the evil inclination, tried to convince Eve to eat from the forbidden tree. Eve told the serpent that she wasn’t even allowed to touch it. The serpent then pushed her into the tree and after seeing that she did not die by touching it, he was able to convince her to eat from it.
The question is, Eve knew that in fact, the punishment of death was only for eating from the tree not for touching it. So after she touched it and did not die, how did that cause her to go ahead and actually eat from the forbidden tree?
Toldos Yitzchok explains that before Adam and Eve sinned, their senses were blended into one. Although each sense was primarily found in a specific part of the body, each sense shared degrees of the other senses as well. So even though taste is mainly through one’s mouth, at that heightened spiritual time – in the Garden of Eden and before the sin – all their senses were able to share elements of the other senses. This means that when Eve touched the forbidden tree, the sense of taste was activated through her sense of touch.
The serpent, after pointing out that she did not die by ‘tasting’ the fruit through touch, was able to convince Eve to actually eat from it and she then shared it with Adam.
When the Jews rose to the apex of the spiritual realm in this world, as G-d revealed himself at Mount Sinai, they entered into the sphere where Adam and Eve were before they sinned. At this point they were all physically and spiritually complete. Their senses became heightened as well and each sense was able to tap into the other senses.
We can now begin to appreciate what the Torah means by, “The entire nation saw the sounds.”
Their senses of sight and hearing were meshed together and were able to see what they were hearing!
Why did the Jews see what they heard specifically when the Torah was given?
Our Parsha is called Yisro. Yisro tried every idol worship possible and was elevated to be the high priest of foreign worship. Even before his son in law Moshe came into the picture, Yisro rejected all forms of idolatry and began to believe in an Omnipotent G-d –the monotheistic belief that our forefather Avraham spread in the world.
A year after Moshe left his family to lead the Jews from Egypt, Yisro picked himself up from the comforts of his home in Midyan and together with Moshe’s wife Tziporah and their two sons Gershom and Eliezer, traveled to the desert to join up with Moshe and the recently freed Jewish nation.
The Parsha begins with, ‘Yisro heard what happened to the Jews.’
Yisro felt compelled to travel to the desert to see the people who went through such miraculous events.
It wasn’t enough for him to just hear about what the Jews went through; Yisro had to actually see it. He needed to be an eyewitness of how they functioned. He had to comprehend what happened with both his sense of hearing and of seeing. Once that happened he converted and embraced Judaism. He then traveled back home to spread it to others.
The Torah is teaching us that only listening and intellectualizing Judaism, Torah and Mitzvos will have limited benefit and impact unless one takes an interest in seeing and witnessing how it functions. The combination of hearing and visualizing can prompt and propel one to further embrace the greatest gift we ever received – G-d’s Torah, His perfect prescription for life!
