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EXODUS — 19:2 camped

EXOD307 The larger the group we try to persuade to live together, the harder it is to make everyone happy. One is fortunate, then, if one lives in a community where the justice system is sound and the political life healthy. But even the best social systems require a moral citizenry. The founders of America warned coming generations against fractiousness and factionalism. The need for social unity is equally strong in the Jewish tradition: "Hezekiah said: Great is peace, for the Torah says about the wilderness journeys of the Israelites, 'And they journeyed… and they pitched' [Num. 33:5]. There was sufficient dissension that that people are described in the plural. When, however, they came to Mount Sinai, they all became one camp, as it is stated, 'And there Israel camped before the mount' [this verse]. God noticed that Israel had come together and knew that this was the time to give the Torah to the people of Israel" (Lev. R. 9.9). Knowing the degree of contention and existing between Jews in our time, we are inclined to imagine the notion of a unified Jewish community as another of the Bible's miracles! More significant, though historically questionable, is the report: "Although the school of Shammai and the school of Hillel were in disagreement--what the one forbade, the other permitted--the school of Shammai did not refrain from marrying women of the families of the school of Hillel, nor did the school of Hillel refrain from marrying those of the school of Shammai. This should teach that they showed love and friendship toward another, practicing, 'Love truth, but also peace' [Zech. 8:19]" (Yev. 14b). Trying to extend these attitudes from family and neighborhood to our nation and the world is a critical moral challenge of our time.

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EXODUS — 19:2 encamped

EXOD308 According to the Mishnah Avot 1:18, one of the three foundations of the universe itself is peace. And when two of those foundations of the universe, truth and peace, are in conflict, peace wins out Bereshit Rabbah 11:7, implying that peace may indeed be the highest value in the universe. The Talmud Yevamot 65b explicitly points out that when truth comes into conflict with peace, that is, telling the truth would destroy the peace, one may lie in order to preserve the peace (under certain conditions). According to the Midrash, the entire creation, everything on earth, is equal in value to peace Bamidbar Rabbah 11:7, as it says in the Siddur that God created peace and He created everything (else) (beginning of the first blessing before the Shema in the weekday service). There is only one place mentioned in the Torah where the entire Jewish people were united in peace as one, implied by the use of the singular form "he camped" rather than the expected plural form "they camped." [This verse]. Only then, at Mount Sinai, when they were at peace, without division among themselves, as a singular unit, could God give the Jewish people the Torah. Vayikra Rabbah 9:9. All the ways of the Torah itself are peace Gittin 59b as it says in the verse in proverbs Proverbs 3:17. God openly tells the people in the Torah Leviticus 26:3-6 that their reward for keeping all the commandments will be peace (in the land as the Midrash Sifra Bechukotai 1:8 explains in greater depth.

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EXODUS — 19:2 encamped

EXOD309 The Midrash Mechilta Yitro 9 tells us that before God could give the Torah at Mount Sinai, He first healed all the physically and mentally disabled. Therefore, in order for the people to unite and receive the Torah, (see Rashi commentary on this verse explaining the sudden shift in the verse from plural to singular) the entire community, including the developmentally disabled, had to be included in receiving the Torah. Excluding them would have excluded the Divine Image and prevented the Torah from being given. Therefore, based on the past Sinai experience, we can infer that only when the entire Jewish community unites once again and is sensitive to the needs of all its segments will the Jewish people be merited once again with the Divine Image and messianic times.

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EXODUS — 19:2 encamped

EXOD310 Tolerance of all Jews, no matter their backgrounds, beliefs, or lifestyles, leads to the ultimate goal-Jewish unity. It was only that one and only time when the Jewish people united as one, expressed through the singular use of the verb in the verse (of camping), that they were worthy to hear God's voice. In fact, every Jew is commanded to be responsible for every other Jew, not only the Jews who agree with a particular viewpoint, lifestyle, or behavior pattern. Shavuot 39a When there is cohesive feeling and action, Jewish unity results. The Midrash states that the Jews are compared to one large sheep, because just as when one limb suffers pain, the entire animal feels the hurt, so too when one Jew suffers, the entire Jewish people should also feel the pain. Rabbi Shimon compares the situation to a person who bores a hole in a ship, and as the others get upset that the entire ship will go down causing everyone to drown, the man says, "I only put a hole in the area that belongs to me." So it is with the Jewish people. Every action by every Jew affects the entire Jewish people. Vayikra Rabah 4:6.

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EXODUS — 19:2 Refidim

EXOD311 Rabbi Soloveitchik, Oral address to students in May 1981, in describing the war with Amalek prior to the giving of the Torah, says that this war was necessary before the Jewish people could receive the Torah. Only after a near defeat did the people realize they were vulnerable and needed God and the Torah to overcome life's difficulties. This is alluded to in [this verse] that connects the battle with Amalek at Refidim with the coming to Mount Sinai (see Rashi on this verse). Rabbi Soloveitchik expanded on this concept and said each person has his own Refidim, the challenge in life that seems to defeat him. He used the specific example of old age, showing that some people let it defeat and beat them down, while others, understanding that they no longer do some of the things they had done previously, are able to cope and make the most out of their new situation. Understanding Torah and its values can help you cope with old age.

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EXODUS — 19:3 Jacob

EXOD312 Before Hashem gave the Torah to Bnei Yisrael, he told Moshe: כֹּ֤ה תֹאמַר֙ לְבֵ֣ית יַעֲקֹ֔ב וְתַגֵּ֖יד לִבְנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃… וִהְיִ֨יתֶם לִ֤י סְגֻלָּה֙ מִכָּל־הָ֣עַמִּ֔ים “So shall you say to the House of Yaakov [referring to the women] and speak to Bnei Yisrael [referring to the men] … and you will be cherished unto me more than all of the nations” (Shemos 19:3,5). The Toras Chaim (Bava Basra 130a) explains that Hashem deliberately instructed Moshe to speak separately to the women and the men, in order to teach us that the reward of one's mitzvos is shared equally by husband and wife, for the two are in essence one entity.

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EXODUS — 19:4 did

EXOD313 It is widely recognized that a man's obligation of service corresponds to the degree of favor bestowed upon him. In every generation there are events which occasion one people to be singled out from all other peoples for God's special favor. They, in turn, must distinguish themselves in the service of the Creator, May He be exalted, to a greater degree than all of the other peoples. But there is no way to know this by the intellect alone. For instance: God chose us by bringing us out of the land of Egypt, dividing the Red Sea, and the other favors which followed, which are too well known to be mentioned. [Correspondingly] the Creator, May He be exalted, singled us out from all other nations for service, which He bound us to so that we might express our thanks to Him. For accepting this service He promised us reward -- in this world and the next -- that is indescribable, a grace and a kindness from Him, made He be exalted. Now, all this becomes clear only through the Torah, as it says in Scripture: “You have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Me. Now, if you listen carefully to My voice and keep My covenant, you will be for Me a special treasure among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine. And you will be for Me a Kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Shemos 19:4-6).

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EXODUS — 19:5 covenant

EXOD314 The national character of the covenant is clear-cut in both biblical and rabbinic literature. The covenant is specifically between God and the Jewish people; its terms do not apply to others: [Exodus 19:5-6; Leviticus 20:24, 26; Psalms 147:19-20]. The Rabbis continued this theme. Probably the best indication of this is what they say with reference to the Sabbath, which is the symbol of the ongoing covenant between God and Israel and consequently, according to the Rabbis, the equivalent of all of the other commandments. (Cf. J. Nedarim 38b and Exodus Rabbah 25:12). The Torah says: [Exodus 31:16-7.] On this the Rabbis commented: Mekhilta d-Rabbi Yishamael, Ki Tissa on Exodus 31:17). This is not simply a matter of ideology: it has a pervasive effect on practice as well. Specifically, Jewish law operates like any other legal system in assuming that its rights and obligations apply fully only to the members of the national group. The Rabbis made this explicit by asserting that non-Jews are subject to only the seven commandments given to the children of Noah -- that is, prohibitions against murder, idolatry, incest, eating a limb torn from a living animal, blasphemy, and theft and requirement to establish laws and courts. (T. Avodah Zarah 8:4; B. Sanhedrin 56a, 60a). Non-Jews are given certain protections and privileges in Jewish law, (M. Gittin 5:8, T. Gittin 5:4-5) as aliens often are in other legal systems, but they are not required to take on “the yoke of the commandments” (a rabbinic expression) (See, for example, Sifra “Shemini” 12:4, on Leviticus 11:45 (57b) and M. Berachot 2:2 because that was exclusively a feature of God's covenantal relationship with the Jews. That part of the Jewish covenantal notion should be fairly easy for Christians to understand because Christianity also conceives itself as the prime way of relating to God -- indeed, as the “New Covenant” that supersedes the “Old Testament.” Anyone who refuses to believe in Jesus is, according to the Christian scriptures, condemned: “No one who believes in him [Jesus] will be condemned; but whoever refuses to believe is condemned already because he has refused to believe in the name of God's only Son.” (John 3:18. Compare also John 15:1-6, Acts 4:12, I Corinthians 1:18, and 2 Corinthians 2:15). Indeed, despite all the progress in Catholic-Jewish relations since the Vatican issued its 1965 document Nostra Aetate, in a recent papal statement on the subject, the Vatican asserted that Catholicism is the only “instrument for the salvation of all humanity,” that all other faiths are “gravely deficient,” and that even other denominations of Christianity “suffer from defects.” (Sheler (2000) “Pull Back or Reach Out? Interfaith Statements Seem to Differ Markedly,” U.S. News and World Reports (September 18), 74. The Vatican document is called Dominus Iesus, and it was issued on September 6, 2000.) It makes perfect sense that people of all faiths should consider their own to be the best, for otherwise why would they affirm it? In contrast to the three Western religions, many Eastern religions do not claim to have an exclusive hold on the truth or the good and, therefore, permit adherents to embrace several religions simultaneously; but even followers of those religions clearly think that their chosen faith(s) is (are) the best. Minimally, people think that their own faith is best for them, and many would go further, claiming that their faith is best for everyone. What is probably harder to communicate is the fact that for the Jewish tradition the superiority of Judaism does not mean, as it historically has for much of Christianity and apparently still does for Catholicism, that it is the only way in which people can fulfill God's will for mankind and be “saved” (a word that means in Christianity to be delivered from sin but in Judaism means instead liberation from the dangers and limitations of life, including rule by others). Jews are required to obey the law because they are part of God's covenant with Israel at Sinai; (See, for example, Deuteronomy 7:9-11). Non-Jews were never part of the Sinai covenant and, therefore, are not obligated under it. This does not mean, though, that non-Jews are excluded from God's concern or prevented from enjoying God's favor. On the contrary, if they abide by the seven commandments given to Noah and seek to be righteous, they have done all that God wants of them. “The pious and virtuous of all nations participate in internal bliss,” the Rabbis said (Sifra on Leviticus 19:18) -- a sharp contrast to the eternal damnation inherited by those who reject Jesus according to some versions of Christianity. Even at the prime moment of nationalistic triumph, the Exodus from Egypt, the Rabbis picture the ministering angels singing songs of praise over the destruction of the Egyptians in the Red Sea, but God rebukes them, saying, “My children lie drowned in the sea, and you sing hymns of triumph?” (B. Megillah 10b). Thus, contrary to many versions of Christian and Muslim faiths, the Jewish covenant does not entail exclusivity or triumphalism. Moreover, the Rabbis did not seek to convert non-Jews to Judaism, and many of them maintained that the righteous among the idolaters of ancient times shall inherit a place in the world to come. (T. Sanhedrin 13:2; and in regard to the chidren on Gentiles, T. Sanhedrin 13:1).

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EXODUS — 19:5 heed

EXOD315 It is a very beautiful trait in a man to be full of goodwill and cancel his own will before that of his fellow man. This will cause him to be loved by all in doing the will of all men. Such a man is very close to the ways of repentance, for if he is in the grips of an evil act and his friend comes to chastise him, he at once acquiesces in forsaking the evil and he returns to the righteous path. The result is that he gratifies himself by acknowledging and abandoning his evil ways, and that he is a source of gratification to those who befriend him. And King Shelomo likewise said (Mishlei 12:15): "And he who listens to counsel is wise." "Listens" here applies not to the listening of the ear alone, but hearing the counsel of the wise man and acquiescing in what he tells him. We find the entire Torah to be subsumed in the trait of willingness, as well as all of the chastisement and all of the blessings. How so? At the giving of the Torah it is written [this verse]: "And now, if you surely hear my voice and heed my covenant, then you shall be chosen for me from among all the peoples." The meaning of "surely hear" is "take it upon yourselves and acquiesce in them," and they answered (ibid. 24:7): "we shall do, and we shall hear," and they acquiesced. (Continued at [[DEUT1537]] Deuteronomy 28:15 curses TZADIK 253-5).

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