In this week’s parashah, Yitro, we read about the giving of the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments. This moment of Revelation at Mount Sinai has come to mean much more to our people - it’s not just the moment of these ten laws, it’s the model for an encounter with God together with our people.
A commentary on this experience of Revelation, with all Israelites present, teaches that the Torah was given in seventy languages. Seventy is our tradition’s way of describing something innumerable. And if the Torah is saying that the Torah was given in all languages, this is a way of saying that the Torah can be understood in many different ways. I think this speaks to the beauty of a diverse Jewish community: I hope we all connect to Torah, but we may interpret it and live by it in different ways. Hopefully, without judgement, we can appreciate that others may hear Torah in a different language than we do.
But there’s a different commentary that looks at all Israelites camped opposite the mountain, as they waited to receive the teaching (Shemot 19:1-2). The verb in the Torah for ‘camped’ is in the singular, surprisingly, even though all other times the Torah talks about the encampments, it’s in the plural. Rashi teaches that at other moments there may have been argument and dissent amongst the people, but in this moment, at the time they received Torah, they were as one person with one heart, k'eesh echad b'lev echad.
This is a moment of complete unity even while each person may have heard a different voice of Torah. This is a time where they came together to experience the beauty of Torah, even if they may have interpreted it differently. I think these ancestors of ours demonstrate for us that even when we might hear Torah in a different language, so to speak, we can still be united as one person with one heart.
I feel blessed to live in a community with other clergy that I count as close friends. Respect and admiration is the bedrock of these relationships, and I have tremendous respect for our other synagogues in the community and value the contributions they bring to Memphis as a whole. We each might hear Torah in a different language, but we are still part of that one human being with one beating heart. The pulse of Torah runs through each of us.
We have a beautiful opportunity to demonstrate this unity, and I hope you will take part in a community wide sandwich making program on Wednesday, February 26th from 6-7 PM. We are dedicating this one hour to coming together to do good together. This demonstrates that while we may live out our Judaism differently, we aim to use Torah for good in the world. If you’re unable to attend, you can still help support the efforts, and I hope you will sign up here to be a part of that good, to stand together as one community.
Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Sarit
Please note: Congregations all over the country are being scammed, with fake email addresses being created with the rabbi’s name. Please do not respond to a note from me asking for a favor to send money or purchase gift cards. All email from me will come to you from this address - RabbiSarit@bsholom.org - and not any other (like gmail), even if the name in your inbox says “Rabbi Sarit Horwitz.”
