Modern Masters: Shavuot: Sinai Revisited | Rabbi Sam Shor May 29th 2025

All right, good afternoon everyone. First of all, I want to thank our sponsors, our sponsor for this morning, this afternoon actually all the shiron today throughout the entire morning and into this afternoon are sponsored by Estelle Harris in memory of her dear husband Rafal mayor Benhir Zraa Richard Mark Harris on the occasion of his 13th yard site loving father and grandfather Yehi Zikro Barak. Okay, we are just a few days to the awesome Yan of Kagmatenu and uh I wanted to spend our time this afternoon to look at a very very interesting aging uh Talmudic passage in the Gar in Mess Shabbat where it describes where describe that awesome moment when we sit at Sinai to receive the Torah. And of course this is an agata which means it need not be taken literally. Uh according to most most the agata these agata these rabbitic parables and teachings are meant to teach us some kind of lasting eternal message or sometimes multiple messages but they need not be taken literally. And as we're going to see very quickly um how this is a classic example of an agata that need not be taken literally but certainly has fascinating messages encrypted within it. So, we're going to just dive right in, jump right in, and we're going to learn this gumar together. Okay. The gumar says the garbatu Yeshua Levy said at that moment when Moshe ascended on ice. So, what's the first thing we have to that have to question? What is that? What is the significance of that statement? What does it mean that Moshe ascended to mar in the heavens? The the ministering angel said to Hashem before he how could this person this human being born from a woman be here amongst us amongst the angels answers the angels he he came to receive the Torah. They the angels say, "Wait a minute. This treasured gift of yours that you call the Torah that you've had hidden away in your private genea, your private storehouse for 974 generations before you created this world. You want to give this to a human being, flesh and blood. Okay. And then they quote the Okay. Who what is what is immortal that you are mindful of him? The son of man that you recall him. How majestic is your name throughout all the earth. you who placed your you who hovered, okay, above the heavens with your splendor. Okay, so now we're going to get into the the bulk of the important part of this Gabbar the Moshe. So the angels come to Hashem and say, "What Hashem? Why is Moshe here?" And Hashem tells them tells the angels he's here because I'm going to give the Torah to humanity. He's here to receive the Torah. And the angels are not pleased with this. And they question, how could it be? So how what what what's the next part of the gamarra? It says that mo that Hashem turns to Moshe and says to Moshe, Moshe, you're going to answer the angels. Moshe, you're going to reply to them and give them the answer. And that, by the way, that expression is a little redundant. doesn't just say or or okay, reply to them or answer them, but it says you're going to reply to them with an answer. And we're going to come back to that expression later on. So Moshe says, "Wait a minute. I'm not going to answer the angels. I'm afraid to. Why?" He says, "They're they're celestial beings. They're going to burn me up with this with a steam of their of their proverbial breath. So, Hashem says to Moshe, he says, "Grab on to my proverbial royal throne." And once again, that expression reply to them and answer them. Okay. So, I just jump ahead. Omar funov. So, now mo apparently Moshe grabs on to the proverbial royal throne. Whatever that that expression means. We're going to we're going to analyze this as we go. We're just going to first read through the story the first time. that says before God, master of the universe, the Torah that you've given to me or that you're about to give me, what is written in it? And Hashem replies, I am the Lord your God who took you forth from Amaren. So Moshe says to them, Did you angels go down to meet? Did you angels serve farro? If not, then how is this Torah relevant to you? Again, this Torah that you giving me, what's written in it? You should have no other gods before me. Okay. So Moshe turns to the he says, "Were you ever amongst dispersed amongst the other nations of the world that were invol involved in worshiping idols that you might become influenced by their culture?" Once again, he asked God, "What's written in your Torah?" He and and Hashem replies to Moshe, "Remember Shabas and sanctify it. He says says to the to the you've never done any in your life physical activity in your life that you need a day of rest. You shouldn't swear. Okay. Do you have any business dealings that you would make a promise to someone else? What else is written in your Torah? Honor your par, your mother, your father and your mother. Do you have do you have a father or a mother? What else is written there? You shouldn't murder. You shouldn't commit adultery. You shouldn't steal. Is there rivalry and jealousy amongst you here in the heavens? to any of you angels have and they immediately give up their claim and they acknowledge that Hashem was right to give the Torah to humanity. Okay. So, what are the messages encrypted in this story? And we're going to learn from over the next few minutes together a number of the masters of Jewish thought who are going to help us unpack this agata. But I just have a list of four questions just right off the bat that I came up with. Number one, why are theat that Moshe has come to receive the Torah? Number two, what does it mean that Moshe All Moshe ascended on high to the heavens? Number three, what does it mean when God instructs Moshe to grab onto his kiaak co to gain conf to gain the confidence? How can we grasp Hashem's proverbial throne? What is the message inherit in this in this divine instruction? And finally, why does Hashem instruct Moshe? You shall reply to them and answer. Isn't that expression itself redundant? And the fact that Hashem has to tell it to Moshe twice means that it's what? It's reiterated a second time which means it also seems redundant. So what's the significance of all of these ideas? Okay. So we're going to begin. We're going to learn the first text we're going to look at is text number two on our sheets is from the Oh Yakov. Rabbi Yakov Freeman. The Rebi of Hatyatan lovingly known as the Admir Hationi. Rabak Freeman came an aliyah in 1938 from Poland. lived the last 19 years of his life from 1938 to 1957 in downtown Tel Aviv on Bial Street, number 19 Balik Street in Tel Aviv. And what's fascinating about his safer is that he often gives us a either a glimpse or a hint at what's going on in Jewish history at that at that that moment. So this is a var that he shared in Shàuot in the 1940s and more specifically he's talking about the claim and the battle diplomatically to establish and sustain the state of Israel and how the nations of the world some of them are saying that you know who are you the Jewish people to have a claim to this land you haven't been here in thousands of years. So what's fascinating is he's going to take this agata which talks about how how the angels had a claim on the on Moshe for receiving the Torah. And he's going to point out a specific a specific word that's used in the question of the angels and a specific expression that's used in Hashem's instruction to motion in terms of how he how he should reply to the questions of the angels which is going to give us a beautiful insight not not only in terms of why the Jewish people were deemed relevant to receive the Torah and not the malim but also why the Jewish people are relevant deemed relevant to receive receive the land of Israel. So we're going to start one, two, three, four, five, six lines down. The first five lines are just quoting our Okay, so this is what the Rebi says. Okay, the fact that the say why are you giving the Torah to this woman, this human being born of a woman? Why are you giving the Torah to a Basar Vadam to a human being that's flesh and blood? Doesn't say why are you giving the Torah to this this this leader of the Jewish people Mosher Rabenu. He says that the Mahim are making a a misquation. They're equating what? The Jewish people with the rest of humanity with all the other nations of the world because every single human being is flesh and blood not just the Jewish people. And that's why Hashem says to Moshe, "Grab onto my royal throne, my proverbial royal throne." Why? That you, Moshe, should have the courage, the fortitude to answer them, to reply to them with an answer. What are the words? What do these words that expression grab on to my royal throne really mean? Israel. It's a rem. It's an illusion to what separates the Jewish people from all the other nations of the world. The image of Jacobu's face is engraved so to speak on the proverbial throne of God. And by grabbing by grasping onto the proverbial throne of God which has that imagery of Yakov. But if the Jewish people hold on to that imagery of Yakovu as a source of our of our nation, the father of a nation, he's called Israel. If the Jewish people hold tight to that idea, okay, with pride and recognize and remember from where we come, who are we descended from, okay, not only will we merit the Torah as as this agatha teaches us, but the Rebi of Hiatan uses this this same message to say we should have the confidence to answer the nations of the world when they come to us and say, why are you better than any other nation? Why are you deserving to have this land? And the answer is what? Have the confidence to answer that we're descended from Israel. This land was promised to and we're we're their descendants. Okay, that's the first the first piece. We're now going to learn from the Rebi of Kajits. Now the Kajit Rebi also came in Aliad in the 1920s. He's actually the the Ohal Yakov um is buried in the an in the ancient cemetery in Tavaria where there are numerous masters that are buried there um including some of the Tam of the Bashtov um the the pre the pre the pria the Pria arts is buried there and others and um the kajitzer is actually buried in this in the Sanhedria cemetery which is not far from our our new offices our new oy headquarters Perhaps one day we'll take a tour of the Kate Sadikim in in the Sanhedria cemetery. There are many great sadikim that are buried there. But he's a fascinating personality. He also ends up in Tel Aviv. But he initially makes Ali is one of three masters that are involved in the formation of the village. Kafarasim is a is a small village outside of Khifa in the north. was established originally as a kidic um enclave farming enclave. The goal was that there were these threeidic rebies who were involved in founding founding it with a goal that it would become an opportunity for to make aliat is and fulfill all the mitzvah all the mitzvah that are connected to the land of Israel to really fulfill the Torah and return amrarian society based on agriculture. And that was the that was the very um the very um important and and beautiful vision of of these and altruistic vision of these threeid rebies. Except there's only one problem. Within a year they had failed miserably because were not trained in agriculture and they really did not succeed and there was a terrible plague of malaria and eventually the poisi the religious Zionist worker work workers had to take over the enterprise and save the village. But the salaz ends up moving to Tel Aviv also downtown Tel Aviv. His grandson continues to be the rebi of Kashitz in downtown Tel Aviv today. He splits his time between Tel Aviv and the upper west side of Manhattan. I guess you could call him a very cosmopolitan rebby. And we're going to now learn this piece from Yavazar about how he interprets the message encrypted in in this agata. So we're going to start from the second paragraph because the first paragraph once again is just quoting Argamara. So it's we're going to start with the three letters. It's possible to explain this as follows that the the the complaint of the was that it wasn't appropriate to give the Torah to human beings. Okay? Because human beings are not perfect. And therefore, what? There's a very real possibility that they will transgress the words of the Torah and they won't they won't satisfactorily safeguard the Torah. There's no way true way to truly protect the Torah unless it what remains remains here in the heavens with the angels. That's why they ask spread out your splendor over the heavens. And this is why how Mosha why Moshe answers them the way he does. None of you have been to Egypt. None of you have been enslaved. None of you have done any physical. Listen to what the Rebi says. Because if the did in actually go down to and become enslaved in Egypt, then certainly they too would also what? Transgress there. They would not be perfect here on earth. Just as we see that there were that Hashem sent down to earth during the time of the darabble to try to help Noah in his mission to what? To to save humanity and to save the world. And what happened and they did not succeed in their missional im. And the entire world was destroyed as a result of their failure. Mash medish. We can also learn this. He says from a very famous midrash a famous related to okay says to the you're not deserving to receive the Torah. Why? Because when the show showed up, we'll take questions at the end. Okay. When the Malim showed up to visit Au after his Aram runs and has Sah prepare a meal, a feast and what's first he tells Sarah to bring bread with butter and then then he tells Sarah to what? To bring to bring calves calves tongues. And so says the medbues the if you were on earth you also would transgress and he says as a matter of fact I have two examples when that happened when I sent mim down to earth during the dora mabble okay for to to have no back to help save humanity those malim did not were not successful they failed and therefore the world was destroyed and also in the subsequent generations when bio Abraham when the Malik came to visit Abraham and Abraham ran and he brought them food and of course he the puss tells us that he served them butter bread and butter together with castings. So there are numerous answers to that how to understand that puk. Okay. The most famous answer of course is rashis where he says well no the first course was butter and the second course was the second course was meat which is similar to what we do many of the practice on shave. By the way it's very interesting. We talked about this medish before shu. Many of their practice on shus to make kdish have a milk a milk taste in the morning and then have a fleshic a fleshic lunch and to accomplish both these goals. But anyway, in this medish, it's part of the answer to the malim. Okay, Hashem doesn't want to give the Torah to me because the malim also are imperfect. And the malim the two times and Hashem answers the who are you to complain about me giving the Torah to humanity when we know that two the two times when that I can you're I'm sure Hashem has endless examples of this, but two specific times when I sent Malahim down to earth to aid humanity. Okay. Both times those malahim failed in their mission or seemingly transgressed as part of their mission. Okay. So, so far we have the idea of the Jewish people knowing who they're descended from and gaining strength and confidence by knowing they're descended from from Yakovu. That's what it means to grasp up the the heavenly throne. And the second message we have so far is the answer to the Malik and why Hashem decides that humanity and specifically the Jewish people are worthy to receive the Torah. Certainly that the Malikim are not the ones who are going to safeguard the Torah because they've also transgressed here down on earth. Okay, we're now going to just quickly read read I'll just read in English. This is my translation of a very complicated piece from okay is the is the tama muak one of the closest students of ravk zatsal and of course he also was the first roshiva of of the yeshiva me kazi which became known as yeshiva kazarav he was the rav of the neighborhood of shahassim and ra klap explains contains the message encrypted in Aramar as follows. He says once Moshe was able to connect him himself to the divine throne so to speak right to grab onto Hashem's divine throne. That's to cling to the source of all creation and renewal. He gained the confidence to answer the angels. Okay. What what did what did Moshe need? But to believe that he is inextricably bound to that Hashem so to speak has Mosha's back. So too for each and every one of us the essential preparation for the festival of receiving the Torah is to ascend to the highest heights until we are able to grasp the proverbial divine throne. And the more we able to ascend before the giving of the Torah so to our reception and understanding of the Torah will also be renewed and elevated. the the of these days leading up to Shàuote says is to be gleaned and learned from our gamarra that just as Moshe had to feel confident that Hashem is indeed with him that he's worthy to receive the Torah because Hashem loves us and loved him and trusted him with that gift. So to each and every single one of us has to strive in these days to feel that closeness with Hashem to gain that confidence to prepare ourselves to experience that that awesome moment when we stood at Sinai to reexperience to revisit Sinai so to speak and receive the Torah okay that's the okay the great earlier umic Pastor reclamus commie abstein may his merit be beset upon us also we're just going to do this quickly in in English he he also echoes what uh the what the hiati said in piece number two our sages teach us in numerous places that the expression the divine throne the kayak is a reference to whom are patriarchs when hashem instructs Moshe to grab onto the divine throne he is in essence reminding Moshe that we are all descendants of those giants of faith Abraham and Yakov and in their merit as part of their progeny when we hold tight to that reality each one of us has the strength and potential to answer the angels we can ascend to spiritual heights higher than the angels because we are what descendants who are we were the descendants of Abraham and Yakov and if we are reminded of that and con are conscious and aware of that and we shed the spiritual fortitude and confidence to achieve the highest heights. Okay. So, so far we've got a few different beautiful takes on the sagata. We're going to learn one last piece together and then maybe I'll share another idea just to bring this all together at the end. We're gonna learn this piece together inside. This is Rabbi Gdalure blessed memory. May his merit be beset upon us. of Gdalia Shore in his beautiful say for Oridal Yahu um gives us a a beautiful and original interpretation of what he first thought was an original interpretation but he realizes afterwards that there was actually an earlier source that said the same idea as we're going to learn together of course is the great 20th century Roshiva of Ishiva Tarvadas in Brooklyn New York and we're just going to read this piece from Oradelo together and he's going to quote the line that Hashem says twice to Moshe and you shall reply to them and with the answer. Okay? And he says that expression seemed strange to me and I thought about I came up with a sharp insight that what is it that Hashem is instructing Mosherenu a blessed memory to do? He should answer the angels and say what? Teach them about the concept. Teach the about the concept of chuva. What is chuva all about? Because the malim don't have this concept. What is a malik? A malik is a celestial being that Hashem brings into existence and s sends into the universe with a particular limited and either they can either accomplish that m that mission or sadly as we learned from a medish we learn learned together a few moments ago sometimes what they don't succeed in in that mission and but that once once that mission is complete either successfully or unsuccessfully then they're done there's no opportunity to to do chuva. There's no moving forward. There's no growth opportunity. And so, listen to what he says here. And through the power of chua, a human being has the capacity to grab on to the proverbial royal throne, divine throne. What does teach us that the capacity of chuva allows us to ascend to the highest heights even all the way to where toe's divine royal throne okay and after I came up with this beautiful what I thought was aesalu the shalah kadosh he says I see that the shaladosh the great 17th century um um mubal he said the same idea and Let's explain this idea. He says further we have the capacity and the understanding to achieve chuva that and chuva the concept of chuva is only relevant to what to someone who's made a mistake and then what moves forward and grows in that mistake and faces whatever the consequences might be of that mistake and learns from that mistake and approves proves our oursel and and proves oneself after making that mistake. But even the righteous ones also have an appreciation for chuva. We know that for one to be about chuva, it requires an unbelievable extra courage. It takes great strength and fortitude to what? To get back to that place where our nishama was before we we transgressed. Because sometimes our transgressions can create what? Great stumbling blocks and obstacles and and and which kind of block our path forward. And only through great courage and strength we have the capacity to get back to where we once stood. Alu and we, every single Jew, every single one of us has the capacity to lift ourselves up to do chuva to rise to the highest heights to ascend even to as the say even to the proverbial divine throne. Every single per human being has this capacity to do and grow. Every single one of us has the capacity and the and the ability to use those innate great hidden powers hidden within every single one of us to reach the highest heights and every single human being therefore can be a bachuva a person of growth of transformation elo to turn to their source to ascend to the highest heights to get to the proverbial divine throne from the place where his soul was formed and emanates from. And this is what Hashem instructs Mosenu to answer as he answers the a human being has the capacity the power to of transformation that even though he's formed out of physical out of physicality every single human being has the capacity to reach the highest spiritual heights to reach all the way up to Hashen's proverbial divine throne. Okay. Cohen of Lublin famously taught in that just as a person has to put their faith and belief and trust in Hashem. Okay. The necessary to the necessary outcome of our of our full trust putting our faith and trust in the rebonal has to be what? that we also believe in ourselves, that we have the capacity and the confidence to believe in this idea of chuva of of ascending to the highest heights of overcoming our challenges and mistakes and growing and propelling ourselves even further and even higher. And therefore, if we take all these messages together, okay, that we glean from this beautiful and face value kind of challenging Gamarra Shivus really is a day where we're reminded to know our worth, to know from where we descend, who are we descendant from, to have the confidence and the ability to let go of the guilt of past transgressions, to experience renewal, to return, so to speak, to Sinai, to return to ourselves to receive the Torah with clarity, renew purpose and passion. My braha for every single one of us is that we should indeed have the confidence to receive the Torah. This shàuote to believe in ourselves to rise up and reach our full potential. Okay, now you can close it. I'll take questions. Now I'll take