Sounds and Silence!

Our Parsha is set at the plains of Moav on the banks of the Jordan River, at the conclusion of the Jews’ travels through the desert. It was the end of the fortieth year from when they left Egypt.

Just before Moshe’s death, he took the opportunity to have a heart to heart talk with the nation. He reminisced about their high and low points, their challenges and experiences.

During this discourse Moshe described in detail the awesome event of G-d’s Revelation to the nation at Mount Sinai where G-d Himself Proclaimed the Ten Commandments. This event had taken place forty years earlier and Moshe related to them what they had experienced.

What is greatly compelling is that not one person contradicted Moshe or challenged anything that he said. Moshe would not have been able to dupe an entire ‘stiff necked’ nation into believing something they never experienced.

When Moshe finished writing the documents of the Torah he gave a Torah scroll to each tribe. These scrolls contained all the information of the Torah. The content of every Torah document has been pristinely passed down without interruption until this very day. In fact, the wording of every Torah scroll we have today is identical! Furthermore, within the Torah it states that this Torah will never be forgotten or switched with another, thus the document of Torah contains a clause that substantiates its authenticity.

In describing the events leading up to G-d’s Revelation at Mount Sinai, Moshe related that there was fire, thick smoke, thunder, lightning and a Shofar blast. However, when G-d proclaimed the Ten Commandments, the world was still; not a bird chirped, not a tree swayed; not an angel, person or animal emitted a sound. The entire world heard this G-dly event which was directed towards the Jewish people; the only nation that agreed and committed themselves to accept the Torah from G-d.

The Torah states, “The great sound of G-d did not stop and will never again repeat itself.”

What is meant by, “it will never again repeat itself”? Rabbi Zalman Sorotzkin o.b.m. quotes a Medrash that tells us that G-d’s Proclamation had no echo, despite the fact that Mount Sinai was located in the mountainous desert where sounds usually bounce off.

The reason this happened is because the nature of an echo is that the last word reverberates. So for example, had there been an echo when G-d stated “Do not steal,” the last word that would have bounced back would be, “Steal”. Since they wouldn’t have heard, “Do not” – one could have interpreted it as a command to steal. In order that they should not misinterpret the commands, there was no echo.

Rashi explains that “the sound did not stop” means that this powerful sound of G-d declaring the Ten Commandments never stopped and is around forever. Says the Shem Mishmuel, it is possible for someone on a pure spiritual level to tap into this sound which is always around!

This concept is nothing strange to us because when we make a blessing on the Torah we say, “Nosain Hatorah” – G-d is the giver of the Torah– in the present tense – because His command is continually present.

The Mishna in Ethics of our Fathers tells us that there is actually a Bas Kol – a rumbling voice – that emanates from Mount Sinai each day which extorts us to return and embrace G-d’s Torah.

The question is, if that voice is not clearly heard what is its purpose? Rabbi Yaacov Schnaidman explains that there are certain times when we feel inexplicably inspired to draw closer to G-d. It is possible that on a sublime level the person accesses the frequency of that Bas Kol which stirs and motivates him to further connect with G-d and His Torah.

Of course, our challenge is to capture the moment and take and develop it so that we advance further!