A Thought on Parshas Mishpatim

"..v'el atzilei Benei Yisroel lo shalach Yado va'yechzu es Ha'Elokim va'yochlu va'yishtu..." "...and against the great ones of the Children of Israel He did not stretch out His Hand and they gazed at HaShem and ate and drink..." (24:11) This verse is among the more mysterious ones in the Torah, in my mind at least. We have this virtually isolated reference to these " atzilei Benei Yisroel" - "the great Jews" - who seemed to have been eating near the base of the mountain during the time that the Torah was being given. Our verse ominously declares that HaShem did not punish them. As to who they were, what they were doing, why they were doing it and why we might have anticipated that they would be punished by Divine wrath, is not revealed. Something more awaits us within this verse, for which we must comb through our great mefarshim. The Gan offers an interpretation which provides a "spin" on our very understanding of the verse. We know that the event at Sinai - the moment when Shomayim appeared to make contact with Earth - was a point of revelation which the world had never experienced, and one which will never again occur. It was a moment of awe, of terror, of thrill, of ecstasy, of excitement and wonder! Mystic clouds, thundering clashes, flashes of light, Divine declarations which suspended time and altered consciousness - this was the spectacle of Matan Torah. People were reaching for the heavens and at the same time were petrified and faint with an unprecedented shuddering of the spirit. People were afraid of what they were experiencing, and trembling over what they were encountering. The Gan writes that amidst all of this intensity, there were people who, although they felt as if they were speeding upward in the ascendant fervor of the soul, also feared the inevitability of being damaged, or being deeply harmed by the pull of energy at the fibers of their beings. As Manoach cried ( Shoftim 13:22) , mos namus ki Elokim ra'inu - we are bound to die for we have envisioned HaShem! The human response to a rush of holiness can seem as if one is being drawn to the edge of mortality. A profound surge of kedush within the human being can draw the senses beyond the mind's limits. (There is ample description of this in other sources; those who are intrigued by this idea can contact me). The Gan then writes that once the people realized that they had survived this encounter with the Above, and that they were intact and functioning, once they could accept that they had experienced the Divine Presence of the Shechina yet were unharmed and whole, they exulted in joy and simcha. They celebrated that moment of insight, and of learning about their having the capacity to commune with Shomayim and to feel increased sanctity and spirit. They did what each of us would do upon making a seudas hoda'ah, or on celebrating a siyum, or attaining an auspicious goal in our ruchnius growth. They sat down and ate a festive meal in the service of HaShem. Once the body and mind have merged with their higher soul, mortal activities, such as eating and drinking, can become more than base activities. They can be elevated into acts of holiness, which is what we all try to aim for when we pray before eating and bring other elements of sanctity to the table. According to the Gan, our verse is transposed and means "the enlightened people held a feast in proclaiming that the body and mind had synthesized, and not dis-integrated, as they saw that being enveloped with kedusha brings awe but not terror and destruction." Good Shabbos. D Fox The Gan was written by 13th century Rabbeinu Aharon ben Yosi haCohen, Baal Tosfos More pirushim presented by Rabbi Dr. Dovid Fox at http://thoughtonparsha.blogspot.com/