Let me admonish you, first of all, to go alone; to refuse the good models, even those most sacred in the imagination of men, and dare to love God without mediator or veil. (Ralph Waldo Emerson, Divinity School Address)
The above quote from Emerson is one I might have expected to find upon a greeting card, calendar, bookmark, coffee mug, or any number of inspirational items that inundate the American marketplace and especially the sector aimed at Christians in general. But to my surprise this quotation was brought to my attention this past week by a most unusual and unexpected source, an observant Jew living in Jerusalem who has been submitting responses to my posts from time to time. This individual used Emerson’s quote as a concluding point regarding the inherent imperfection in the tzaddik/disciple relationship as a means of drawing close or “cleaving to” HaShem. Quoting from a Christian source perhaps was a subtle way to show that even those who claim Yeshua as the perfectly righteous intermediary between G-d and man yet realize that a non-mediated love of G-d is superior above all else.
Ironically this ideal, to love G-d without mediator or veil, is one that presents itself in Parashah Yitro at the giving of Torah to the Children of Israel upon Sinai. Amidst the incredible scenario of miraculous drama lies a subtle and easily missed desire of the heart that was found among the nation on that most famous of days. This desire is hinted at beginning in Exodus 19:13b
. .upon an extended blast of the shofar they may ascend the mountain (Stone Chumash)
According to Exodus 19 and 20 Israel never ascended the mountain. Instead, the base of Mt. Sinai was cordoned off and the people were instructed to not touch it or attempt to break through the base of it to see HaShem for “whoever touches the mountain will surely die”. Yet, in-between these two prohibitions HaShem indicated that when a long blast of the shofar was sounded the nation may ascend the mountain. As the sound of the shofar grew continually stronger and the Presence of HaShem descended upon Sinai the people were not invited or encouraged to ascend, but instead seriously warned not to break through the pre-set boundaries (cf. 19:19-22). How are we to understand this?
Before the mountain was cordoned off and HaShem descended to give the Torah to Israel the intentions of the people were considered. Would they agree to this covenant and to the role of a kingdom of priests and a holy nation for HaShem? The people responded; “everything that HaShem has spoken we will do!” and Moses related their enthusiastic reply to HaShem (19:5-8). After the people’s willingness was confirmed HaShem explained the manner in which He would give the Torah to them. He would speak directly to Moses and the people would hear the sound of His voice. Moses would then speak the commands of G-d to the people himself. In this way, Moses would act as their intermediary. After this procedure was explained the text goes on to say; “Moses related the words of the people to HaShem” (v.9)
What words of the people are being referred to here? Moses had already told HaShem that the people were willing to do everything He would speak to them. It would be redundant for Moses to reiterate that same response to HaShem a second time. Therefore, it would seem that after the people were given the procedure for receiving the Torah they responded in some way which Moses related back to HaShem. Torah does not reveal what the people said but only that Moses related their words to G-d.
Rashi understands that when the people were told Moses would be their intermediary they expressed a desire to hear from HaShem Himself, and to actually see Him, without a mediator or “veil” of any kind. This high level of sanctity would require three days preparation including mikvah (washing of clothes) and abstention from marital relations. Boundaries were set around the mountain during those days for it too must be sanctified for such a holy occasion. The people were instructed that at the extended blast of the shofar they would be permitted to ascend Sinai in order to interact directly with HaShem.
When that fateful day arrived, the shofar sounded loudly and Moses assembled the people at the base of Sinai. As G-d’s awesome Presence descended amidst incredible fire and smoke the sound of the shofar grew louder and louder. Moses alone ascended the mountain and G-d spoke to him directly as the people below overheard the conversation. Moses then descended to warn Israel not to attempt to break through the boundaries. Although the people desired direct revelation without an intermediary, they were not to ascend the mountain in an attempt to see G-d.
Rashi understands the reason for the people’s failed aspirations to be found in Exodus 20:15-16.
The entire people saw the thunder and the flames, the sound of the shofar and the smoking mountain; the people saw and trembled and stood from afar. They said to Moses, “You speak to us and we shall hear; let G-d not speak to us lest we die.” (Stone Chumash)
Rashi, Chizkuni and Ramban all agree that Exodus 20:15-16 is not given in chronological order but describes the people’s reaction while receiving the Ten Commandments, not after receiving them. Both Rashi and Chizkuni understand that this reaction occurred after the first two commandments were spoken to the people directly by HaShem.
Since the numerical (Gematria) value of the Hebrew word Torah equals 611, chazal deduce (BT Makkot 24a) that Moses taught 611 of the 613 mitzvot of Torah to Israel and that the first two commandments were given directly by G-d to them. This understanding helps explain an oddity within the Ten Commandments not recognized in the English translation. In the Hebrew there is a change in person from the first two commandments as compared to the remaining eight commandments. The first two are written in the first person while the last eight are written in the third person.
Being in the first person, the first two commandments were given directly to the people by HaShem without any intermediary involved. The extreme supernatural intensity of this experience was more than the nation could bear and they feared for their lives. Instead of being eager to ascend Sinai they literally stepped back from their original position at the base of the mountain (20:15). Therefore they asked Moses to intercede for them in exactly the manner HaShem had proposed at first. After the remaining eight commandments were given, in the less direct third person, Moses descended the mountain and warned the people not to break through the boundaries. They were not invited to ascend or to see HaShem because they were unable to bear it.
This understanding of Matan Torah is also related in Deuteronomy 5:4-5;
Face to face did HaShem speak with you on the mountain, from amid the fire. I was standing between HaShem and you at that time, to relate the word of HaShem to you – for you were afraid of the fire and you did not ascend the mountain . . . (Stone Chumash)
“Face to face” was the heart desire of the people according to Rashi’s view which found fulfillment in the direct speaking of the first two commandments to the nation. After this Moses related the word of HaShem to them and they ultimately did not ascend the mountain.
Because the people did not ascend the role of the shofar in Exodus 19:13 is questioned by the commentators. What was its purpose and when was it sounded? Rashbam understands that when the long blast of the shofar upon the mountain ended and the lightning and thunder ceased, the people then could ascend safely. This is based on the Hebrew word bimshoch (בִּמְשֹׁךְ), translated “long blast” which literally means “pull” as in “the pull of the horn” and understood by Rashbam to describe the end of a long blast. [1]
Ibn Ezra understands the blast of the shofar upon Sinai to be different than the sounding of the shofar as described in 19:13. “One long blast” was the quality that would indicate the people may ascend the mountain. However, at Matan Torah the shofar sound grew “louder and louder”. This is understood to be a miraculous phenomenon for normally a horn begins loud and grows weaker as it is blown, while the sounding of the shofar in v. 13 describes the natural occurrence of a long blast.
According to Chizkuni, Saadia Gaon distinguishes the shofar of 19:16 & 19 from the shofar of 19:13. This is based on the literal Hebrew in which the trumpet of v. 13 is called a yovel (יֹּבֵל) while the trumpet that sounded upon the mountain is referred to as shofar (שֹׁפָר). Although both yovel and shofar describe a ram’s horn instrument the different terminology used in Torah alludes to two separate events. [2] Citing Samuel B. Hophni’s opinion, Ibn Ezra points out the traditional understanding that G-d’s Presence remained on Sinai continuously until it filled the Tabernacle (Exodus 40:34). Therefore, the long blast of the shofar was likely sounded by Moses at the inauguration of the Mishkan, a time when the people could freely ascend the mountain. [3] Saadia Gaon and Abarbanel understand the long blast of the yovel to have occurred on the Day of Atonement when Moses descended Sinai with the second set of tablets, indicating an “all clear” signal for the people to ascend the mountain. [4]
Despite the conjectures, the Torah itself does not tell of a time when Moses blew a long blast on the ram’s horn indicating that the people may ascend the mountain either on Yom Kippur or at the dedication of the Mishkan. Although the shofar sounding ceased after the commandments were given, the people were not free to ascend the mountain, as indicated by Exodus 24, in which the 70 elders were invited to ascend and the remainder of the people were forbidden to come up.
Interestingly, the long blast of the yovel is found again in Torah, in Joshua 6:5. It was the “long blast with the ram’s horn” (בִּמְשֹׁךְ בְּקֶרֶן הַיּוֹבֵל) that would signal the army to shout, causing the walls of Jericho to fall, after which the people would ascend into the city. Prior to the battle, Joshua encountered a “man with a drawn sword in his hand” described as “the captain of HaShem’s legion” (5:14). This angelic messenger instructed Joshua to; “remove your shoe from upon your foot, for the place upon which you stand is holy”, the same instruction given to Moses when encountering the Shekinah in the burning bush.
This parallelism in language alludes to the battle of Jericho as a type of exodus. Instead of coming to a mountain that could not be ascended, despite the heartfelt desires of the people, the nation would come to a city that could be ascended and that was totally consecrated unto HaShem (as no booty was to be taken from Jericho, for the gold, silver, brass, and iron were to go to the treasury of HaShem, 16:18-19).
Although Rashi’s viewpoint regarding the people’s desire to experience HaShem apart from a mediator at Matan Torah is disputed by some of the commentators, considering this view in light of Hebrews 12:18-29 is quite amazing. The author of Hebrews describes the event of Sinai as Israel coming unto a mountain “that might be touched” or “that may be touched” (v.18), although the most literal rendering of Exodus 19 indicates that Sinai could not be touched except under pain of death. Perhaps this wording describes the inner heart of the nation that they might touch the mountain, ascend it, and see HaShem for themselves. This desire could not be realized for such an encounter with the Almighty would result in death, an unbearable consequence that caused the mountain to be non-ascendable.
But such a mountain is not the experience that Yeshua has brought to his disciples. Instead, like his namesake (Joshua), Yeshua leads his own to a city that may be ascended, the heavenly Jerusalem, a future reality (Olam Haba) in which G-d will dwell with men, and man can love HaShem “without mediator or veil”. Although this is indeed the most superior of all relationships, it is one that Matan Torah clearly illustrates, is not possible in this present human existence (Olam Hazeh). Human mediators can aid individuals in drawing closer to the mountain of G-d’s Presence, but they cannot enable an ascent to Him (experience of direct interaction), even the great teacher Moses could not bring this about for Israel. Yet, on the other hand, zealous individuals who desire to break through the boundaries on their own and love HaShem without the aid of mediation are helpless but to die trying.
In this way Yeshua is uniquely both a mediator and an enabler, drawing his own close to HaShem through the giving of the Holy Spirit, while yet enabling them to ascend to Him in an intimate relationship through the re-creation of the body at the resurrection from the dead. To suggest that men “dare love G-d without mediator or veil” presently, may have caused Emerson’s Divinity School audience to sigh and inevitably provided sentiments that are ever so pretty upon cards and mugs and bookmarks, but such words have no basis in the reality of this world. That’s why they are called “inspirational”, because they inspire the listener or the reader toward greater things.
. . . . . . . . . .
In illustrating his point that a mediated relationship with G-d is inferior to a direct relationship with Him, Mr. Ne’eman used an example of a tour guide in Jerusalem. How can one know if the guide is giving correct information about the city, for it is possible that he might be in error. Therefore it is better to explore on one’s own or at least not to develop an “unhealthy reliance and self-dependence” on the guide exclusively, for he is not indispensable.
Regarding touring Jerusalem, in an eschatological sense, I agree completely! For the heavenly Jerusalem, the World to Come, is a place void of reliance and self-dependence upon mediators, a place in which one may explore a direct relationship with HaShem as known in Gan Eden and even beyond that experience, in ways that “no eye has seen, nor ear heard”. But one cannot ascend the city if the walls still remain. For this a mediator is necessary to gain entry into a place totally consecrated unto HaShem.
If a person is not bound to a true Tzaddik, all his devotions are nothing but twisting and turning and pretending to be something he isn’t, as if an ape were pretending to be a man. Service of God is nothing without the true Tzaddik. (Rabbi Nachman’s Wisdom #111)
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[1] Rashbam, as cited in, Michael Carasik (editor), The Commentators’ Bible (Exodus), The Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia, PA, 2005, p. 151.
[2] Chizkuni, as cited in, ibid., p. 150.
[3] Ibn Ezra, as cited in, ibid., p. 151.
[4] Abarbanel, as cited in, ibid., p. 150.

