It's Happening Right Now - Yitro 5786

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 It was the moment all of Creation was waiting for. For 2448 years the universe was incomplete. The purpose of Creation was in the balance. Would the people accept the Torah?  Would they take in the challenge to transform the world from a purely physical place to a home for Hashem?  Would they accept the role of “priests” to teach the world and spread Hashem’s light to all the nations?


Hashem gave the Jews the choice, as he did to all the nations, and the Jews said yes. “We will do and we will learn.”  First we committed to do whatever Hashem commanded, without limit and without question. Then we committed to learn and understand as much as we could about these Mitzvot, in order to bring understanding and excitement to our actions. 


The “Sinai Experience” that culminated in the giving of the Ten Commandments began six days earlier. “In the third month after the Israelites had left Egypt, on this day they came to the Sinai desert.” (Shemot 16:1.) Which day exactly was it?  Rashi tells us that it was the first day of the month of Sivan. “This day” means the first day. 


So why does the Torah not just say “on the first day” which would be consistent with many other places in the Torah?  And anyway, why “this day,” the word “this” implying that it is a day we already know about. Perhaps it could have said “on that day,” meaning that great day that changed the world.


Hashem embedded many layers of meaning in every word of the Torah, and this phrase is no exception. This day means today, this day in which you and I are reading it, in the year 2026. In Rashi’s words: “On this day indicates that the words of Torah should be new to you as if they were given today the first time.” How is it possible for us to really connect with this idea that an ancient story is actually happening today?


Perhaps a school child learning about the Declaration of Independence for the first time can feel that excitement. But we learn the Torah again and again and repeat the stories every year. How can it be new, just given today for the first time?


The Giving of the Torah was not only “an event” that happened 3,338 years ago. If the Torah would be a story book or a history book, it would have aged out centuries ago, showing up as a dusty classic in some people’s libraries. But that is not what the Torah is. It is Hashem’s teaching and guidance for all generations. It is the “user manual” for the world. 


Hashem is eternal. This means not only that He exists forever, but that the very act of creation is constant. Hashem’s “energy” is continuously keeping everything going. What appear to us to be the laws of nature are actually Hashem doing the same thing again and again. The sun rises in the morning because Hashem wills it to rise. Etc. 


The same is true of Hashem’s word. It is constantly energizing the world, and Hashem is speaking to us and giving us the Mitzvot at this very moment. Our eyes don’t see it, but our soul does. There are moments when we experience this deep in our psyche, like for example on Yom Kippur evening or sometimes even at a Shabbat dinner. But it is happening all the time, even though it may be under our radar. 


If we can stop and meditate about this a little once in a while, I think it makes a lot of sense, and we can begin to experience a sense of excitement in this immediate relationship we can have with our Creator, fulfilling a commandment that He has just given us. It is this vibrant, living and in the moment relationship with Hashem that has kept our attention and our commitment through the ages.


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