וַיֹּאמֶר ה' אֶל מֹשֶׁה הִנֵּה אָנֹכִי בָּא אֵלֶיךָ בְּעַב הֶעָנָן בַּעֲבוּר יִשְׁמַע הָעָם בְּדַבְּרִי עִמָּךְ וְגַם בְּךָ יַאֲמִינוּ לְעוֹלָם

Hashem said to Moshe, “Behold, I am coming to you in the thickness of the cloud, so that the people will hear as I speak to you, and they will also believe in you forever.” (19:9)

Moshe’s Level of Prophecy – Experienced by the People

The Rambam explains the idea of this verse as follows.[1] With other prophets, the Torah states that if they predict a sign and it is fulfilled, then they are to be relied upon as prophets.[2] However, with this method, it is possible that a person will yet have doubts concerning that prophet. The exception to this is the prophecy of Moshe, for the Jewish people at Har Sinai were elevated to a state where they were able to hear themselves Hashem communicating with him on his unique level of prophecy. The result of this is that no prophet can subsequently ever suggest a change in any of the mitzvos of the Torah, for our direct experience of Moshe’s prophecy will countermand and nullify any contrary claims made by another prophet.

The Aseres Hadibros and the Word “Leimor”

The introductory verse of the Aseres Hadibros reads:

וַיְדַבֵּר אֱלֹקִים אֵת כָּל הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה לֵאמֹר

God spoke all of these words, saying.[3]

The word “leimor” is understood by the Meshech Chochmah, as it is by other commentators, as meaning “to say”.[4] In other situations, when the verse says that “Hashem spoke to Moshe ‘leimor’”, it refers to the command for Moshe to then say those words to the people. At Har Sinai, however, Hashem Himself was already speaking to the people! What then, is the meaning of the word “leimor” there? To whom are the people meant to say these words?

The Meshech Chochmah draws our attention to a similar “leimor”, at the end of the introductory verse of Az Yashir.[5] There, too, the song was sung by the entire people, seemingly rendering the word “leimor” redundant. The Yerushalmi comments that in that case, the word “leimor” means “to say in subsequent generations (לדורות)” i.e. that when the people in future generation are redeemed from situations of danger, they should likewise respond with song.[6]

Applying that idea to our case, the word “leimor” likewise indicates that the Revelation at Har Sinai should be transmitted by those who experienced it to the next generation, and from them to the generation that follows, and so on. For the direct experience on that occasion of the level on which Hashem communicated with Moshe established the authenticity of the Torah that Moshe subsequently transmitted.

The Mountain Suspended Over Their Heads

The level of prophecy that Moshe attained was one where all forms of confusion, obstruction or denial in the face of revealed truth were nullified, leaving the prophet unable to ignore or avoid it. Effectively, in this state, the prophet’s faculty of free will has been incapacitated. It was to this state that the people were elevated at Har Sinai. Commenting of the words “וַיִּתְיַצְּבוּ בְּתַחְתִּית הָהָר – they stood underneath the mountain,”[7] the Gemara famously says that Hashem suspended the mountain over them like a barrel and said to them, “if you will accept the Torah, well and good, and if not, here will be your graves.”[8] This reflects the fact that, through the absolute clarity with which the people beheld Hashem’s communication, and the removal of any possibility of denying and avoiding its truth, they were as compelled to accept it as if the mountain had been held over their heads and threatened to be dropped on them if they refused.

In a similar vein, the Gemara states that at the time that the people heard the Aseres Hadibros, their souls left them. This, too, refers to the idea that the clarity with which they perceived Hashem’s words was not in any way constrained or impeded by the muddying aspects of their physical existence. All of this was done for the purpose of establishing the truth of the Torah within the people’s hearts on the historic and formative occasion of Matan Torah.

Aftermath: “Return to your Tents… ”

However, as crucial as it was for the people to experience Moshe’s level of prophecy during the revelation at Sinai, it is equally necessary that their power or free will not be suspended permanently. For the ultimate value of receiving the Torah is that its mitzvos will then be fulfilled using free will. Thus, in Chumash Devarim, the verse relates that subsequent to Matan Torah Hashem instructed Moshe to tell the people “שׁוּבוּ לָכֶם לְאָהֳלֵיכֶם – return to your tents.”[9] This command includes not only leaving the physical setting of Har Sinai and going back to their dwellings, but also a return to their previous physical mode of existence. The body is the “tent” in which the soul resides, and contains within it all the various forces that affect human beings. It is from within this tent – with all its inherent flaws and potential obstructions to the truth – that the commandments of the Torah will be fulfilled in the true and meaningful sense of the word.

“ …Yet you remain here with Me”

At the same time, Moshe himself was commanded in the next verse, “וְאַתָּה פֹּה עֲמֹד עִמָּדִי – Yet you, remain here with Me.”[10] This means that, unlike the rest of the Jewish people, Moshe was to remain with his unique level of clarity and prophecy. This, however, had major implications. As we have seen, that level of clarity effectively removes a person’s free will; as such, it emerges that Hashem removed Moshe’s free will from that point onward!

The Meshech Chochmah explains that not only was this development appropriate, it was also necessary. Since Hashem had issued a Divine promise that the people would believe in Moshe forever, it then had to be made impossible for Moshe to decide to add on something to the Torah from himself – in other words, his free will had to be removed. However, unlike the rest of the people who existence would be meaningless without being able to exercise their free will, Moshe had already achieved the pinnacle of human existence through exercising his free will, so that it is now appropriate to graduate to the state equivalent to an angel without free will.[11]

[1] Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah 8:1.

[2] See Devarim 18:21-22.

[3] Shemos 20:1.

[4] Meshech Chochmah ibid.

[5] Shemos 15:1.

[6] Yerushalmi Sotah 5:4

[7] Ibid. 19:17.

[8] Shabbos 88b.

[9] Devarim 5:26.

[10] Verse 26.

[11] From the Meshech Chochmah’s Introduction to Chumash Shemos.