A thought on Parshas Yisro

"...Anochi HaShem..." "...it is I G-d your Lord..." (20:2) When HaShem speaks to us, as we wait gathered at the foot of Sinai, He proclaims in this first of the "10 Commandments" in direct and intimate terms "it is I, your G-d." You can imagine, I think, the scene: thundering, flashes of light, luminous cloud cover and a celestial voice unparalleled and never to be repeated in history! We hear and can discern words and terminology, yet the introductory message is very personal and direct. HaShem presents Himself audibly, in first "person." Invisible yet intimate. From the standpoint of the millions of Jews below, what was this like? How can you feel that someone or something is connecting with you on a first-name basis if you cannot see or touch him or her? I don't intend this as a joke, just as an analogy, but if you got a fortune in a cookie and it said, "Howdy, Avrumi (or whatever your name was), this is Fortuna and here is your individualized good news", you would be baffled since you don't know this Fortuna, you will never meet her, you don't know what or who or if she really is, and have no idea what she looks like. It would seem like an awkward way of communicating to you. You cannot answer back in a direct and personal way. How could you make use of that introduction in any meaningful way? Rabbeinu Avigdor opens our eyes. He begins with some remez, that approach to probing the deeper allusions of the Torah through parallel meanings. The word for "it is I" (Anochi) is equivalent, in numeric gematria, to the word for Throne (kisae). They both add up to 81. What this hints to is that the phenomenon of Mattan Torah included the parting of the Seven Partitions which demarcate each level of the Seven Firmaments (known in English lore as "the Seven Heavens" - we sometimes hear the expression "I was in seventh heaven"). With the removal of atmospheric conditions, we Jews were able to see into eternal space, past the galaxies and the celestial plane. In our mystical kabbalistic tradition (of which our Rabbeinu Avigdor was a master), the Kisae haKavod (the Throne of HaShem's imaginal Presence) sits beyond outer space. In declaring "This is I, HaShem your Lord", we had a momentary spiritual glimpse or encounter with that sense of the Sacred. We felt as if we were "meeting" the Divine. That is why the familiar and intimate Self-description was used. Why was that important? Why was that a necessary image for us to sense and behold? Rabbeinu Avigdor goes further. In receiving the Torah, we all needed clarity that there is no one and no thing other than HaShem. HaShem is One and there is no other one, no other entity in inner or outer space. This is what is meant when we are told later in the Torah (Devarim 4:34) "ata hor'aisa la'daas ki HaShem Hu haElokim, ain od milvado" - you have been shown to know that it is HaShem Alone who is Lord, there is none other. That verse recaptures the moment of the giving of the Torah, when the vision which accompanied the sound of the Voice was that of the supernal Throne of HaShem's One-ness. On the basis of this interpretation, Rabbeinu Avigdor now returns to pshat and psak - the direct and practical lesson of this midrashic lesson. We exercise the custom, he writes, on Simchas Torah, of saying that very verse as we prepare to receive the Torah from the Holy Ark. All of you who have assembled at the Aron Kodesh on that day remember how we chant the resounding "Ata ho'raisa." Rabbeinu Avigdor teaches us the origin of that practice. We say this verse to help us envision that first Giving of the Torah when we saw that HaShem Alone is the One G-d, indivisible and supernal, yet through His Torah, very intimately a part of each one of us who receive His teachings. Rabbeinu Avigdor adds that in Mesechta Sofrim (13), there is another custom brought to say that verse every Shabbos as the Torah is brought out. This was a practice introduced by the Jews of Sfarad, and is mentioned in Sefer HaManhig by Rabbeinu Avraham HaYarchi, who was one of the baalei Tosfos from Lunel, France. Our own master Rabbeinu Avigdor usually cites the customs of Ashkenaz, and those of us who follow those traditions say this verse only on Simchas Torah when we commemorate that moment at Sinai when all was clear. Good Shabbos. D Fox