We open our mouths, make noises, and those noises carry meaning. The person listening hears us. But that's all they do, right? They hear. They don't see the sound.

Unless... unless you were at Mount Sinai.

According to Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating and somewhat enigmatic work of Jewish literature, something extraordinary happened there. Rabbi Jehudah tells us that normally, when we talk, you hear the sound of my voice, but you don't see any light coming with it. It's just sound. Plain and simple.

But at Sinai? That was different.

"The Israelites heard the voice of the Holy One, blessed be He, on Mount Sinai, and saw the voice going forth from the mouth of the Almighty in the lightning and the thunder." Imagine witnessing that. The very voice of God, not just heard, but seen as lightning and thunder! The verse from Exodus 20:18 confirms this: "And all the people saw the thunderings and the lightnings." It wasn't just a booming voice; it was a visual spectacle, a sensory overload of the divine.

What does it mean to see a voice? It challenges our understanding of reality, doesn’t it? It hints at a level of divine communication that transcends our everyday experience. Maybe it means the message was so powerful, so overwhelming, that it impacted them on every level of perception. Perhaps the seeing was a metaphor for profound understanding.

And that brings us to another interesting point from Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer. All the commandments, all the mitzvot, in the Torah number 611. But where do the other two come from to make up the traditional 613?

Well, Rabbi Jehudah continues, those two were spoken directly by God. As it says in Psalm 62:12, "God has spoken once, two have I heard thus." These two commandments, directly from the source, were likely the first two of the Ten Commandments – "I am the Lord your God" and "You shall have no other gods before Me." (Although, it doesn't specifically say that here).

Think about that for a second. We have 611 commandments received through Moses, but two, the most fundamental ones, spoken directly, visibly, audibly, by God at Sinai. Two commandments so powerful they were seen as well as heard.

So, the next time you speak to someone, remember the miracle of communication, the way sounds can carry meaning. And maybe, just maybe, remember Sinai, where the voice of God wasn't just heard, but seen, a testament to the power and mystery of the divine encounter.