THE ETERNAL TORAH (VIDEO)

Parshat Yitro contains the foundational text of Jewish faith, known as the Decalogue or Ten Commandments. In describing the awesome event at Mount Sinai, the Torah introduces the text of the Decalogue by telling us that God spoke all of these words to be said over, implying that those who heard them would need to repeat them to others.

This presents us with quite a puzzle, as there were no others! Everyone who could have been there was there, and all of them heard all of the words of God very clearly. Why, therefore, did the Torah use this phrasing when introducing the Ten Commandments?

Rabbi Dunner shares a beautiful piece from the Nesivos Sholom, delivering a powerful and foundational message of Jewish faith regarding the eternal nature of God’s word, as received by the Jewish people at Mount Sinai. He also looks at a beautiful essay from the late Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz z”l, who differentiates between the “giving” of the Torah by God and the “receiving” of the Torah by the Jewish people.

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