ספר שמות

Exodus 19,3. “meanwhile Moses had ascended to G’d, ‎‎[lowest of the celestial domains, Ed,], and Hashem ‎called out to him from the Mountain, saying: ‘thus you shall ‎speak to the house of Yaakov and tell in detail to the Children ‎of Israel.’”‎We need to analyze a number of points in this verse ‎‎(paragraph). 1) What precisely is the meaning of the word ‎כה‎? ‎Why could the Torah not simply write: ‎ויקרא אליו ה' לאמור לבית ‏יעקב‎, “Hashem called to him to say to the house of Yaakov, ‎etc.?” 2) Why, in verse 4, does G’d refer only to the Exodus from ‎Egypt as examples of what He had created? 3) What is the ‎meaning of the line (verse 5) ‎והייתם לי סגולה מכל העמים‎, “you have ‎become more precious to Me than any of the other nations,” after ‎the condition: "if you will surely listen to My voice and observe ‎My covenant?“ Are we to assume, G’d forbid, that if we had not ‎been given the covenant and had accepted it enthusiastically, ‎that we would not be superior to the other nations? Does G’d love ‎us only on account of our being loyal to the covenant? Moreover, ‎G’d should have said that if we observe the covenant we are also ‎dearer to Him than all the angels, as when we –who are free to ‎choose- observe the covenant, we are on a spiritually higher level ‎than the angels, even?‎It appears to me that the answer to all these questions can be ‎found already in the Midrash. [I have not found this ‎‎Midrash. Ed.] which describes Moses’ reception in ‎the lowest of the seven layers of the celestial regions. When ‎Moses arrived at that level he found himself surrounded by many ‎thousands of different categories of angels, including the holy ‎‎seraphim, all of whom were standing in awe and reverence ‎‎[before the Lord, I assume, Ed,] so that he was ‎overcome by a great fright and was trembling not knowing with ‎whom he should commence to speak. He remained in this ‎condition until G’d Himself spread some of the brilliance of His ‎Presence over him.‎We find numerous occasions when other prophets when ‎addressed by G’d, stood in awe and trembling before G’d so much ‎so that their normal senses became totally disoriented and ‎dysfunctional.‎On Leviticus 1,1 ‎ויקרא אל משה אליו מאהל מועד‎, “G’d called to ‎Moses from the Tent of Meeting,” Rashi comments that the ‎words following: ‎וידבר אליו‎, “He spoke to him,” might be ‎understood as a repetition as at first G’d’s voice was not loud ‎enough, therefore the Torah writes both in Numbers 7,89 and ‎Deuteronomy 8,20, ‎את הקול‎, “the ‘well known’ voice.” G’d’s voice ‎was powerful but could not be heard outside the confines of the ‎Tabernacle. The Bible repeatedly refers to the powerful voice of ‎G’d being such that it felled cedars. (psalms 29) If a human being ‎is fortunate enough to hear the voice of G’d proclaim the words: ‎אנכי ה' אלוקיך אשר הוצאתיך וגו'‏‎, “I am the Lord your G’d Who has ‎taken you out, etc.;” each Shavuot, this is proof of how one must ‎prepare oneself in order to hear the Lord’s voice. [Alas, ‎none of us has been found meritorious enough to hear that voice. ‎Ed.] We have a tradition that the tens of thousands of ‎angels were overcome with trembling whenever they heard the ‎voice of G’d. How much more so must we mortal human beings ‎be overcome with such tremors if even the angels are described as ‎being in such a state of terror? The three days of preparation ‎described in the Torah as preceding G’d’s revealing Himself to the ‎people at Mount Sinai are totally inadequate. Even if we were to ‎prepare ourselves for a whole year this would not suffice for us to ‎tolerate G’d’s voice without becoming seriously disoriented. Our ‎verse indicates that although Moses had prepared himself for the ‎encounter with G’d that he would face, and he had assumed that ‎what G’d had to say to him was on a level that the people could ‎not comprehend, G’d told him that this was not necessary, as ‎what He had to say to him was intended for him to teach to the ‎people.