Thus You Shall Say and God Bent the Heavens to Speak

Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai 20:19

Curated by Arthur·Told by Maggid·

"And the LORD said to Moses: Thus you shall say to the children of Israel" (Exodus 20:19). "Thus" in the holy tongue; "thus" in this very manner; "thus" in this order; "thus" with these pauses; "thus" in these very sections; "according to all that the LORD has commanded" (Exodus 19:8), neither subtracting nor adding. "You yourselves have seen" (Exodus 20:19): not from the mouth of witnesses and not from a written document. "That I have spoken with you from heaven" (Exodus 20:19). Behold, two verses contradict and balance one another. One verse says, "and the LORD came down upon Mount Sinai" (Exodus 19:20), and one verse says, "you yourselves have seen that I have spoken with you from heaven." It is impossible to say "He came down," for it has already been said "from heaven I spoke with you"; and it is impossible to say "from heaven," for it has already been said "He came down." The verse, "out of heaven He made you hear His voice, to discipline you, and upon earth He showed you His great fire" (Deuteronomy 4:36), decides between them: it teaches that the Holy One, blessed be He, bent the upper heavens down upon the top of the mountain and spoke with them from heaven upon the top of the mountain. And so it says, "He bowed the heavens also and came down, and thick darkness was under His feet" (2 Samuel 22:10).

Themes

RevelationTorahMoses

Continue Reading

Antiquities of the Jews (Josephus)God Speaks From Sinai and Gives the LawThe mountain was on fire, the sky had turned black, and every person in the camp was convinced they were about to die. That was the scene at Mount Sinai when GoEin Yaakov, BerakhotSinai Gave Moses Torah, Mishnah, and GemaraMoses did not come down from Sinai with only stone. In Ein Yaakov, Berakhot 1:22, Resh Lakish reads one verse as an entire library. God says, "I will give you tKalach Pitchei ChokhmahThe Concealed Order vs. the Revealed OrderJewish mysticism, particularly the Kabbalah, wrestles with this very idea. We Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah, a significant Kabbalistic text, dives deep into this dichKalach Pitchei ChokhmahHow Torah Flows Through the Divine ConfigurationsHow Torah Flows Through the Divine Configurations is the question behind this passage from Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah. The verse reads, ".because the entire governKedushat Levi (Rabbi Levi Yitzchak)The Mountain That Burned When God Spoke"Yitro, the priest of Midian, heard all that God had done for Moses and His people Israel" (Exodus 18:1). What exactly did Yitro hear? Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of BeNoam Elimelech (Rebbe Elimelech)The Convert Who Heard What No One Else Did"And Moses went up to God" (Exodus 19:3). Rebbe Elimelech of Lizhensk, commenting on Parashat Yitro, draws a distinction between two kinds of righteous people.