In Parshas Yisro, we are finally given
the Torah. The promise made to Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov was finally
fulfilled; by accepting the Torah, we became the nation of Hashem. In
preparation for receiving the Torah, Hashem gave Moshe instructions telling the
Bnei Yisrael what they should do.
In the back and forth between Hashem and
Moshe written over in the Torah, there appears to be one step which is out of order.
“…וַיֹּאמְרוּ כֹּל אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר יְהוָה נַעֲשֶׂה
וַיָּשֶׁב מֹשֶׁה אֶת דִּבְרֵי הָעָם אֶל יְהוָה. וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֶל מֹשֶׁה הִנֵּה
אָנֹכִי בָּא אֵלֶיךָ בְּעַב הֶעָנָן בַּעֲבוּר יִשְׁמַע הָעָם בְּדַבְּרִי עִמָּךְ
וְגַם בְּךָ יַאֲמִינוּ לְעוֹלָם וַיַּגֵּד מֹשֶׁה אֶת דִּבְרֵי הָעָם אֶל יְהוָה” “…And
they (Bnei Yisrael) said, ‘Everything that Hashem says we will do.’ And Moshe brought
the words of the nation to Hashem. And Hashem said to Moshe, ‘Behold, I am
coming to you in the thick cloud in order that the nation should hear when I
speak to you and they will believe in you forever.’ And Moshe told the words of
the Nation to Hashem.” (Shemos 19:8-9). If you follow the flow of the
pesukim, first the People speak and Moshe passes their message along, then
Hashem speaks to Moshe, and immediately afterwards Moshe passes along
another message from the Nation to Hashem. Which message is that? There was no
further message to pass along according to what is written in the pesukim!
The answer, explains
the Kli Yakar, lies in the pesukim beforehand. In pasuk 7, Moshe goes to the
Elders and tells them a message from Hashem; yet, in pasuk 8, it says that the entire
nation responded to Moshe! He explains that the chain of communication was supposed
to be that Hashem would communicate to Moshe who would pass the message to the
Elders who would give it over to the entire nation. When the People realized this,
they immediately rejected this by coming to Moshe directly. They couldn’t stand
to have another link separating them from Hashem; one middle man, Moshe, was
enough![1]
Therefore, the first time
Moshe passed along their message was to tell Hashem that Bnei Yisrael were
ready to accept the Torah with full hearts. The second time he passed a message
was to tell Hashem that Bnei Yisrael wanted to hear the Torah directly from Him
as much as possible. Therefore, in pasuk 9, Hashem tells Moshe that He will
appear in a cloud and speak only to Moshe while allowing the Nation to overhear
their conversation, and in pasuk 10-11, He tells Moshe to tell Bnei Yisrael to
prepare for a full-blown revelation.
The same is true
nowadays. While we may not experience a complete revelation like there was at
Har Sinai, we can also cry directly to Hashem, “Na’aseh V’Nishma! We want to
experience You! We want to hear from You!” And with that cry, there is no way Hashem
can deny us.
Shabbat Shalom!
[1] The
Kli Yakar also explains that Hashem intended Moshe to go directly to Bnei
Yisrael without going through the Elders. But Moshe felt this was
necessary; in my opinion, in order to give respect to the Elders.
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