Powerful Perimeter
Adapted by Channie Koplowitz Stein
Parshat Yitro is best known as the Parshah of revelation at Har Sinai and of receiving the Torah. However, preparations have to be made and instructions given before the actual momentous event. Included in these instructions was the prohibition of touching the mountain or even getting close to it. Hashem instructs Moshe: "You shall set boundaries for the people roundabout, saying, 'Beware of ascending the mountain or touching its edge; for whoever touches the mountain will surely die... for he will surely be stoned... Upon an extended blast of the shofar they may ascend the mountain..' Moses descended... to the people [and instructed them]. Hashem summoned Moses to the top of the mountain, and... Hashem said to Moses, 'Descend, warn the people lest they break through to Hashem to see, and a multitude of them will fall...' Moses said to Hashem, 'The people are unable to ascend Mount Sinai, for You have warned us, saying, 'Bound the mountain and sanctify it.' Hashem said to him, 'Go descend, then you will ascend... and the people – they shall not break through to ascend to Hashem, lest He burst forth against them.' Moses descended to the people and said it to them."
There seems to be a lot of redundancy in this passage. In Mesillot Bilvovom, Rabbi Eisenberg picks up on this and asks why was this commanded repeated twice. Further, certainly Hashem knows that Moshe Rabennuhad already instructed Bnei Yisroel. This, beyond the thunder and the lightning, and the shofar blasts is the introduction to receiving the Torah. Seeing the intensity of the warning and the instructions to set a boundary around the mountain, it is important to understand the essence and purpose of a boundary.
We get our first understanding from Rabbi Reiss in Meirosh Tzurim. In contrast to the modern world that advocates complete freedom without constraints, Judaism demands discipline. Therefore Hashem presents this idea even before giving us the Torah. The boundary around the mountain is an allusion to self discipline. As Rabbi Zaks zt”l, the Menachem Zion adds, it is easy to slip in mitzvah observance. Therefore one must set additional boundaries to keep from sinning. As proof, Rabbi Zaks cites the Torah prohibition against lying not as, "Do not lie," but as, "midvar sheker tirchak/Keep far away from falsehood."
This admonition is important advice for our homes, teaches Rabbi Walkin zt”l. Surround your home with an imaginary protective fence. Keep negative material out, for, once they are in the house, the family, especially children, has easy access to negative influences.
The most egregious example of the desire for an undisciplined life, a life without boundaries, is in the worship of Baal Peor, taught Rabbi Shmulevitz zt”l. This worship represented the destruction of every moral or religious code, even over the exercise of the most primal, physical functions. The Torah is the fence against such unconstrained, depravity. As such, if someone pulls away even one slat of the fence, removes even one mitzvah from his life, he leaves himself open to any danger that may enter.
In Mesillot Bilvovom, Rabbi Eisenberger begins by citing Rashi that the first warning was also echoed from the mountain itself, "Keep away for safety," The Aseret Hadibrot/the Ten Utterances/Commandments at Sinai parallel the ten utterances through which Hashem created the world. Therefore, the God of creation is now issuing a warning to Bnei Yisroel: The continued existence of the world depends on your accepting and practicing the Torah. Just as the laws of nature that Hashem created are immutable, so too are the laws of the Torah. The boundary itself is screaming out the warning. When Moshe Rabennuasks why he needs to warn Bnei Yisroel again, Hashem is explaining to Moshe Rabennuthat with the acceptance of Torah, this became their new reality, that their very existence is dependent on Torah. Hashem had given all the nations a choice. Only Bnei Yisroel accepted. Now Bnei Yisroel no longer have a choice. Symbolically, the mountain was now suspended over them. If they now or in the future refused, they would die, be buried underneath it. Therefore, with that acceptance, the boundary was necessary to protect Bnei Yisroel.
At the time of Moshiach, Bnei Yisroel will no longer feel enticements to sin; we will choose to follow Hashem's will naturally. According to the Chidushe Harim, Moshe Rabennuis not telling Hashem that Bnei Yisroel already knows about the boundary; he is asking Hashem to make this their eternal reality, that they should never want to go against Hashem's will.
Hashem's response is to go down and tell them again. The time of Mashiach has not yet come, and the people still have free choice to disobey what is their eternal truth. They will continue to have the choice, and there will be rewards and consequences. Sometimes they will fail, but they can still ascend. Every person on his own should choose not to go against Hashem's will.
While Moshe's exalted reality prevented him from any transgression of Hashem's will , Hashem tells Moshe Rabennuthat Bnei Yisroel are not on that level, "Descend, this is not yet the reality for Bnei Yisroel," writes Rabbi Gifter zt”l. They do not yet consider Torah as an absolute real part of their lives. The warning, suggests Rabbi Uziel Milevsky zt”l, is that one must not "rush up the mountain," must take growth step by step lest, by running too fast, he trips and falls. Hashem understands the human psyche, explains Rabbi Weissblum in Heorat Derech. People want more than they have the capacity to absorb. It can become an obsessive desire. Don't run up the mountain.
The world is made up of minuscule atoms that come together to create a larger whole. We too are built to take small steps, to grow, writes Rabbi Wolbe zt”l. Take on a small resolution that is within your current capability, and grow from there. Taking on too much, like taking too much medicine instead of the appropriate dose will be counterproductive and harmful. By keeping it small, you will remain under the radar of the yetzer horo, remain undetected, and achieve your goal.
All of Bnei Yisroel were present at Har Sinai, yet each needed to stand at a prescribed distance from the mountain. While Moshe Rabennuascended fully and Aharon accompanied him part of the way, the Kohanim were further back, and the rest of Bnei Yisroel were furthest. The lesson here, writes the Taam Vodaas, is that each of us must recognize his prescribed place. Hashem knows where each of us is "at", and Hashem modulated His voice so that each member of Bnei Yisroel heard Hashem's voice customized to what he could absorb. While Bnei Yisroel camped in unity "as one" at the foot of the mountain, each of us still maintains his personal position in service to Hashem, writes Rabbi Pincus zt”l. Citing Rambam, every Jew has the capacity to be as great as Moshe RabennuRabbenu, meaning that when one actualizes his full potential in Hashem's service, he is on the level of Moshe RabennuRabbenu who also actualized his full potential. Unity does not mean uniformity, but individuality toward the same purpose.
Rabbi Parness differentiates between the two warnings. The first warning represents a physical touching the mountain or ascending it. That will be punished by stoning. The second warning is a warning not to ascend spiritually, not to yearn to go into the kodesh kodoshim, the holy of holies, beyond your spiritual readiness, not to be like Nadav and Avihu who sought to capture Godliness more for their own edification than to serve Hashem. That unlawful ascent will be punished by God Himself.
The mountain itself upon which the Torah was given carried no inherent sanctity, and once the shofar sounded and the Torah left the mountain, the people were free to ascend at will. In contrast, the sanctity of a shul is eternal, for it was a place of Torah study, writes Rabbi Ruderman zt”l. In essence, sanctity accompanies the Torah wherever it is and wherever it its studied.
Rabbi Bernstein, explicating the words of the Meshech Chochmah, presents a beautiful interpretation of this scenario. The scene at Har Sinai was a physical representation of what would later become the Mishkan/Tabernacle. At the center, the mountain itself, was the Holy Ark containing the luchot, the tablets with the Ten Commandments etched in them. Surrounding it was the courtyard with the people acting as the partitions. Wherever the Mishkan was erected became holy ground. But when the Mishkan was disassembled and moved, the site lost its sanctity, but the components of he Mishkan retained their sanctity even in transit. This is the symbolic meaning of Hashem's directive, "Make for Me a Mishkan [literally, a place in which to rest] that I may dwell among them," among Bnei Yisroel, wherever they may be, in transit, even in exile. Wherever they are, that is where I will be, says Hashem. Bnei Yisroel are the walking Har Sinai.
According to the Baal Shem Tov, as Rabbi Dendrowitz tells us in Imrei Chemed, that first warning comes constantly from the Mountain, "Don't come close, don't overstep, listen to Hashem." Since we are the mountain, that voice is our inner voice urging us to be better; sanctity resides in us. It is the stirrings of teshuvah. If we are listening, we hear that voice, but we let other sounds drown it out. Tell them, if they go up, they will be destroyed; if one Jew moves away, the whole structure disintegrates. Tell them how important each of them is to Kllal Yisroel and to Me.
Hashem is with each Jew, sanctifying him. The place of a Jew is a boundary that retains that sanctity. Rebbetzin Smiles related a story she recently heard from Rabbi Y. Y. Jacobson. It is a story of a Holocaust survivor who, at the age of eighty-six, celebrated his bar mitzvah in the Chabad House in the Jewish Ghetto in Rome. The following night, he joined Chabad in lighting a Chanukah candle. After the ceremony, he related his story to the Chabad Rabbi.
He was four years old when the Nazis overran Italy. He and his sister were playing outside when two Nazi soldiers passed by and started dragging the children to Nazi Headquarters and then to certain death. Along the way, as they passed a milk factory, the Italian owner, understanding what was happening, ran our and, slapping the girl, started yelling at the children."Where have you been? Your mother and I have been frantic." The Nazis released the children, apologizing to the Italian, saying, "We thought they were Jewish children."
The Holocaust survivor pointed to the menorah, and told the Rabbi, "This was the place I was saved. And the Chabad House is located where our savior's milk factory used to be."
A Jew is a walking Har Sinai, is invested with sanctity, and he has the ability to impart sanctity wherever he goes.