We recently read in Parshat Yitro about our experience at Sinai and the giving of the Torah. Our tradition teaches that all of us were there for this historic event. Yes, that means all of us, the Hebrews who left Egypt, our ancestors, us, and our descendants. Not only do we view Sinai as an event that all of us attended, but it is a moment in time that every single one of us also experienced on a personal level. This idea is expressed in a midrash (Tanhuma, Yitro 17) which states:
Rabbi Levi said: The Holy One, Blessed be He, appeared to them as an image with faces in every direction. One thousand people looked at it, and it looked at all of them. So it was the case with The Holy One, Blessed be He, when He spoke. Every individual Israelite said, “With me, he spoke.”
The idea expressed in the midrash is that even at a mass community event, God spoke with each individual personally, in essence directly giving the Torah to each person. One takeaway of this message is that each and every Jew owns a part of the Torah and has their own relationship with it.
In Parshat Teruma, we find a similar idea surrounding the building of the mishkan, the portable sanctuary which the Jews built in the desert and which traveled with them as they made their way to the Land of Israel. Throughout this parsha, the main language of instruction for bringing or building items is “ועשית” - meaning “and you shall make,” in the singular form. Yet, when we reach the directive to build the ark for the Torah (Shemot 25:10), the language changes to “ועשו” - “and you shall make,” in the plural form. The Alsheich (16th century commentator) offers a beautiful idea on this verse and the change of language. He writes that with respect to the construction of all the ark which would house the commandments, that the crown of Torah is different from all other crowns which only a select few might inherit. The crown of Torah is something which all of Israel inherits. And therefore, the verse must speak of the construction of this object in the plural form.
It is a simple yet important and powerful message which is shared by the change in language from “ועשית” to “ועשו” and the Alsheich’s understanding of this change: Torah belongs to every single Jew.
May all of us be inspired to find our connection with our holiest of texts and with it, to forge a deep, lifelong and meaningful relationship.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Lesack
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