ויקח ספר הברית ויקרא באזני העם ויאמרו כל אשר דבר ה’ נעשה ונשמע
Exodus 24:7
THE BERIT
3,500 years ago, the people of Israel experienced the most important event in human history: a covenant; a formal pact between a Nation and God. These events, that took place in Sinai, are known in Hebrew as “ma’amad har Sinai”, the revelation of God to the Jewish people in Mount Sinai.
What happened there can be described in three acts.
הצעת הברית 1. HaShem offered us to become his chosen people by establishing a covenant with Him. We accepted. God promised to adopt us as His “treasured” people, ‘am segula (see here).
מתן תורה 2. God gave us the Tora, the “document” that contains the guidelines and conditions of the covenant between God and Israel.
קבלת התורה 3. The Jewish people agreed to abide by the laws of the Tora. The Tora was adopted by us from then on as our National Law or Constitution.
This covenant between God and a people is unique in the history of mankind, and is described in detail in chapter 20 and chapter 24 of the book Shemot (Exodus).
הצעת הברית
THE PROPOSAL
In the first day of the month of Sivan, Moshe ascended to Mount Sinai and received a Divine message : (Exodus 19: 3-6): “You shall speak to the house of Ya’aqob and tell the children of Israel: ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians [the ten plagues, etc.], and [you have also seen] how I led you [=protecting you] like an eagle [that carries its chicks] on its wings, and I have brought you to Me. And now, if you [are willing to] obey My voice and to fulfill My covenant, you will become a precious possession for Me [segula] among all nations, a special people. You will become for Me a Kingdom of Priests, and a consecrated nation [to serve me]. “
God offered to establish a covenant between Him and the people of Israel. God offered to make Israel a nation of priests (cohanim), that is, a people consecrated to God. Serving God. Learning and teaching His Laws. Giving testimony of His existence, His Presence and His revealed will. The condition of being a Nation of Priests implies the privilege of God’s closeness: a closer Divine attention. On the other side this privilege demands from us a higher standard of morality; a high number of obligations to fulfill and precepts to follow.
THE ENGAGEMENT
Then Moshe came down from Mount Sinai and presented the terms of the covenant to the people of Israel. The people listened to the proposal and agreed to enter into a covenant with God by declaring with one voice: (Exodus 19: 8) “We are willing to do all that HaShem has said.” However, this was NOT the final acceptance of the Covenant, but the acceptance of the proposal to enter a covenant. Exactly like “an engagement” in the framework of a wedding. In the engagement the bride and the groom agree to get married. Similarly, the people of Israel here declares its willingness to enter the covenant. This declaration will be repeated a second time after the people listens to the 10 commandments and the Mishpatim. And then, a third time when the Jews verbalize their final consent: “Yes, we do”, by saying the famous words: “Everything God has said, we will do and we will listen”, after that third and final declaration the “marriage”, our covenant with God, “Judaism”, formally began.
PREPARATIONS FOR THE GREATEST DAY
Going back to the people of Israel expressing their first commitment to enter into a Pact with God, HaShem announced then that He would reveal Himself to the entire nation within three days, that is: on Shabu’ot. God told Moshe (Exodus 19: 10-12): “Go and consecrate the people today and tomorrow. Tell them to purify themselves, to wash their clothes and to prepare for the third day, because on that day I will descend on Mount Sinai in full view of the people. ” According to our Sages, the purification and washing of the clothes mentioned in this verse refers to the immersion in a Mikve, the Jewish ritual bath (same as a bride before the wedding). The children of Israel purified themselves during those three days (3, 4 and 5 of Sivan) and were ready to enter into a Covenant with God on the following day.
מתן תורה
THE TERMS OF THE COVENANT
In this covenant God offered to take the people of Israel as HIS people. This means that He will directly supervise the people of Israel. He will not allow the people of Israel to disappear. And He will never cancel or modify this covenant, nor the condition of Israel as the chosen nation. The people of Israel commits to be governed by the Divine Law, the Tora. HaShem will be Israel’s King. Israel will be a Nation of Priests, that is, a people consecrated to God’s service. The Jewish people are also the “privileged” direct witnesses of God’s existence, since they witnessed His revelation in Mount Sinai. The terms of this covenant, which are not few, are detailed extensively in the Tora, the 5 books of Moshe, and are organized into 613 precepts.
THE NIGHT OF THE COVENANT
On the night of the 6th of Sivan (between the 5th and the 6th of Sivan) the covenant ceremony continued with God announcing the 10 Commandments. God began to enunciate directly, and without the mediation of Moses, the first two Commandments. The Tora tells us that the people were not able to tolerate (mentally? physically?) the impact of the Divine Revelation. God does not speak with a voice produced by vocal cords. The Divine “voice” is indescribable. The Tora expressed this unique experience with a very singular (poetic?) phrase: “and the people ‘saw’ the voices “…. They saw the “words”, probably in their mind, when HaShem was speaking to them. The Sages explain that the experience of God’s Revelation was so intense that those present felt that they were going to die. This experience is part of the Jewish genetic memory, has shaped our character, our values and strengthen our belief in God.
AT THE PEOPLE’S REQUEST
After listening to the second commandment, the Jews ask for the mediation of Moshe, to transmit the rest of the Commandments. That same night after hearing all these precepts (Exodus 21-23) the people declared for the second time their willingness to celebrate the covenant and to commit themselves to obey the laws that were presented up to that moment . This is what the Tora says (Exodus 24: 3): “Moshe … transmitted to the people all the words of God and all the laws. And the people answered with one voice saying: All that HaShem said, we will fulfill. “ Moshe remained awake all that night and wrote what God had conveyed to him in a document that the Tora suggestively calls: Sefer HaBerit, the book of the covenant.
קבלת התורה
THE DAY OF THE COVENANT
The next morning, the 6th of Sivan at dawn, Moshe erected an altar, representing the Divine Presence, and 12 pillars, representing the twelve tribes of Israel. Then, he sent the young people to offer sacrifices. Moshe took the blood of the sacrifices and divided it into two. He poured the first half into the receptacles of the 12 pillars and the other half into the altar. The Tora describes the ceremony of the formal celebration of the covenant (Exodus 24: 7) “Then Moshe took the book of the covenant and read it in the ears of the people. And the people declared: “Everything that HaShem has said, we will do and obey.” This means, literally, that the people agreed to obey everything they had already heard, and committed to accepting all the other laws and guidelines they would hear in the future. Then Moshe took the blood of the sacrifices and sprinkled it on the altar, which represents the Divine presence, and on the pillars that represent the people. Moshe said then (24: 8): “This is the blood of the covenant that HaShem established with all of you; (the covenant) which consists of all these words (laws, which you have heard). “
With this formal ceremony our eternal covenant with God was established.
From this moment we Jews committed ourselves, and forever, to obey the Laws of God, the Tora, our Nation’s Constitution.
