A TRIBUTE TO PRESIDENT RICHARD M.

JOEL

Consent and Coercion at Sinai

T he most iconic image
associated with matan Torah
is surely the one described in
the Gemara (Shabbat 88a):
Rabbi Dr. Jacob J. Schacter
University Professor of Jewish Thought and Jewish History
Senior Scholar, YU Center for the Jewish Future


. Israel and we [still] declined to accept the Torah, they all made up their minds
And they stood bi-tahtit of the it?, and, in support of this argument alike to accept the kingship of God
mountain (Shemot 19:17). Rav Avdimi the Talmud cites this statement of with joy, and goes on to note that
son of Hama son of Hasa said, This Rav Avdimi son of Hama. Similar God appeared on Mount Sinai like
teaches us that The Holy One, Blessed be descriptions can be found elsewhere an old man full of mercy.3 This very
He, suspended the mountain over them in rabbinic literature,1 with the most different sentiment is also reflected in a
as a vat (gigit) and said to them, If you pointed and powerful formulation number of other rabbinic texts as well.4
accept the Torah, good. But if not, there appearing in Midrash Rabbah Shir ha- For me the most compelling expression
will be your burial place. Shirim (8:1:5): of this perspective is found in the
Rav Avdimi interprets the unusual comment of Mekhilta de-Rabi Yishmael
word tahtit as if it were tahat, meaning , on the verse, And they stood bi-tahtit
under, probably influenced by a ... of the mountain (Shemot 19:17):
verse later in the Torah where that ,
.
image is explicitly indicated, And you ,
Paltion, a man of Rome expounded,
approached and stood under (tahat) .
Har Sinai was uprooted and stood in
the mountain (Devarim 4:11). In this .
view, at matan Torah, the Jews stood, the height of the heavens and [the people It teaches us that the mountain was
literally, under Har Sinai and were of] Israel were placed under it The uprooted from its place and they
presented with an ultimatum: either Holy One, Blessed be He, said, If you [the people of Israel] came near and
you accept the Torah or you will die. will accept My Torah upon yourselves, stood under it, as it is said, And you
good, and if not I will press the mountain approached and stood under the
This vision of the ultimatum offered down upon you and kill you.
the Jews under the mountain at the mountain (Devarim 4:11). Of them
moment of Revelation is also found Simply put, the Jews were forced to it is declared in the traditional sacred
elsewhere in rabbinic literature. In receive the Torah; indeed, there is no writings, O my dove in the clefts of the
describing how the Nations of the coercion greater than the threat of rock (Shir ha-Shirim 2:14).5
World will seek reward from God at death.2
This verse in Shir ha-Shirim, invoking
the End of Days, the Talmud (Avodah But at the same time, rabbinic literature the image of the Jews under the
Zarah 2b) records that their claim presents an entirely different scenario mountain at Revelation like a dove is
will be rejected because they refused of Revelation, highlighting the love and found in the clefts of the rock, is also
to accept the Torah even after being joy experienced by the Jewish people found in Mekhilta de-Rabi Shimon ben
offered it by God. Their retort, in the at that most transcendental moment. Yohai and Midrash Rabbah Shir ha-
words of the Sages, will be, Master The Mekhilta de-Rabi Yishmael states Shirim.6
of the Universe, did You suspend the that, When they [the people of Israel] Why is a dove found in the clefts
mountain over us as a vat as you did to all stood before Mount Sinai to receive of the rock? It is fair to assume that

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Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series Shavuot 5777
it is seeking protection from the the one hand, it is imperative that view of Rav Avdimi, God held the
elements rather than continuing to we submit to Gods will and devote mountain over the Jewish people
feel vulnerable to them; resting under ourselves to following what we believe at Sinai and said, If you accept the
the outcropping of the rock enables to be His commandments. We should Torah, good. But if not, there will
the bird to feel safe and secure. Now experience our commitment to Torah be your burial place (sham tehei
imagine the Jews standing at the and mitzvot as if we were coerced kevuratkhem). There will be your
foot of Mount Sinai exposed to the into observing them, as if we have no burial place? Should He not have
merciless heat of the summer sun in choice in the matter at all. And, at the said, Here will be your burial place?
the desert. How uncomfortable they same time, we should appreciate the Would it not have made more sense
must have felt. How unpleasant and gift that God kindly bestowed upon for the text to have read, If you will
even painful the experience must have us by granting us the opportunity to not accept the Torah, I will drop the
been for them! Who can concentrate live our lives blessed by the warmth mountain on top of you and you will
on hearing the words of Moshe, or and the specialness of Jewish life and die right here? True, it is interesting to
even God Himself, in such a distressed Jewish living. To borrow from Rabbi note that the version of this statement
position? And so, sensing the Joseph B. Soloveitchiks description in the Mekhilta de-Rabi Shimon ben
aggrieved state of the Jewish people, of what he learned from his mother, Yohai does in fact read, If you accept
God lifted the mountain over them Judaism expresses itself not only in upon yourselves the Torah [good],
to provide shade for them, to protect formal compliance with the law but and if not here (kan) will be your
them from the sun, like the dove is also in a living experience. She taught burial place.10 What is the significance
protected by finding shelter in the me that there is a flavor, a scent and of the there (sham) in the Talmudic
clefts of the rock. Now, as a result of warmth to mitzvot.8 Judaism is both, version?
Gods kindness, they were in a much requiring compliance and providing The answer lies in understanding
better position to focus on what they warmth. the particular choice of the kafah
were hearing. Yes, the image is the On this holiday of Shavuot, then, when aleihem har ki-gigit image adduced
same. The Jews were, indeed, under we invoke the image of our ancestors here. Gigit means vat or something
the mountain, but gone is the sense of under Har Sinai at the great moment arched, roofing, a huge vessel, tub,
ultimatum, coercion, compulsion or of Revelation, we reaffirm that our tank (for brewing beer).11 Kafah,
duress. In its place we have Gods love, observance of mitzvot is motivated by similar to kipah, or dome, gives the
Gods sensitivity, Gods protection. these two dimensions. We do so, one, impression that the Jews were not
We can now better appreciate a because we have no choice, and two, under the vat or mountain, but in the
different statement in the Midrash, because we appreciate how meaningful mountain, surrounded on all sides
, , they are for our lives. Indeed, we would by the mountain. The Maharsha,
. choose to observe them even were we in his commentary on this passage
I [the Jewish people] am a rose of not obligated to do so.9 in Shabbat uses the phrase betokh
Sharon (Shir ha-Shirim 2:1). I am the ha-tahtit. Perhaps, then, we can
one and beloved am I. I am she who was understand the choice of the word
hidden in the shadow of Sinai.7 It is my pleasure to contribute to sham. Imagine trying to kill a fly not
Gods arranging for the Jewish people this collection of essays in honor of by hitting it but by trapping it inside a
to be in the shadow of Sinai was, Yeshiva University President Richard glass. It will live for a while but, soon,
indeed, a most clear indication of how Joel as he completes his tenure as the it will tire and die. So too the Jewish
beloved they were by Him. leader of our institution. Reflecting people, suggested my father zl. God
upon his many very significant was telling them, If you accept the
So which is it? Were the Jewish people contributions, I want to conclude with
Torah, good. But if you will not do so,
forced into accepting the Torah or did an insight on this Talmudic passage
you will continue to live for a while
they accept it voluntarily, with great that I heard from my father, Rabbi just like all the other nations around
joy? Was God being coercive or was Herschel Schacter zl. you, the Hiti, Hivi, Yevusi, Emori,
God being kind? This is the subject of
There is one word that is out of place and Girgashi. They too will continue
much discussion but I would suggest
in this rabbinic formulation. In the to exist without the Torah. But sham,
that, ultimately, both are true. On

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Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series Shavuot 5777
there, in the future, down the long Edition, vol. 2 [Philadelphia, 2004], 314). of the Jews experience under Har Sinai many
road of history, tihiyeh kevuratchem, See also the similar formulation in Midrash years ago when I read Gerald J. Blidstein, In
Tanhuma, Parshat Yitro 13; Mekhilta de-Rabi the Shadow of the Mountain: Consent and
you will be buried. You will not be Shimon ben Yohai, Yitro 19:19 (Hoffmann Coercion at Sinai, Jewish Political Studies
able to sustain eternal existence edition, p. 101). Review 4:1 (Spring 1992):41-53. My thanks to
without the Torah. At some point I 4 Midrash Rabbah Shir ha-Shirim 1:2:2; 1:2:3; Professor Blidstein for first bringing this most
guarantee you that you will disappear, Pirkei de-Rabi Eliezer, Chapter 41; Mekhilta interesting conflicting set of understandings
just as all those other nations will de-Rabi Yishmael, Masekhta de-ba-Hodesh, to my attention. See, in addition, idem., Kafah
Aleihem Har Ki-Gigit Mekorot Hadashim,
disappear.12 Yitro, Parshah 6, beginning (Weiss edition,
Bar Ilan: Sefer ha-Shanah 26-27 (1995):131-
p. 74b; Lauterbach edition, p. 319). See too
Torah assures the eternity of the Rashi, Shemot 19:9, s.v. et divrei ha-am. 34; Yosef Heinemann, Agadot ve-Toldoteihen
Jewish people. Creating, sustaining ( Jerusalem, 1974), 170-74; Avraham
5 Mekhilta de-Rabi Yishmael, Masekhta de-ba- Kurman, Yeziat Mizrayim u-Matan Torah
and nurturing institutions of Torah Hodesh, Yitro, Parshah 3, end (Weiss edition, (Tel-Aviv, 1978), 354-61. There is a large
assures the future of the Jewish p. 72b; Lauterbach edition, p. 307). body of literature relevant here. For example,
people. And here we are in President 6 Mekhilta de-Rabi Shimon ben Yohai, Yitro see Tosafot, Shabbat 88a, s.v. Kafah aleihen;
Joels debt. He has devoted a lifetime 19:17 (Hoffmann ed., p. 99); Midrash Rabbah Maharal, Tiferet Yisrael, chapter 32; Menahem
of service to the Jewish people, Shir ha-Shirim 2:14:4. M. Kasher, Torah Shleimah, vol. 15 (New
York, 1953; repr. Jerusalem, 1992), 102-04;
culminating in the last fourteen years It is interesting to note that it appears that
Shlomo Goren, Torat ha-Moadim (Tel-Aviv,
at the helm of our institution. We Rashi conflates both of these sources (the
1964), 374-76; Ephraim E. Urbach, The Sages
Talmud in Shabbat and the Mekhilta de-Rabi
are deeply grateful to him for all his Yishamel) in his commentary to the verse,
(Cambridge, 1975, 1979), 327-28; Joseph
accomplishments on our behalf, and B. Soloveitchik, The Lonely Man of Faith
And they stood bi-tahtit of the mountain
we wish him good health to enjoy (Northvale and London, 1997), 45-46.
(Shemot 19:17). He writes, According to the
with his exceptional family and many simple meaning (lefi peshuto) [it means] at For a different interpretation of the image of
the foot of the mountain. And its midrashic yonati be-hagvei ha-sela, see Eliyahu Katz,
years of continued service to Klal
interpretation [is] that the mountain was Kafah Aleihem Har Ki-Gigit, Shemaatin 39
Yisrael. uprooted from its place (she-nitlash ha-har (1974):56-57.
mi-mekomo) and was held over them like I have dealt with the contemporary challenge
Endnotes a vat (ve-nikhpah aleihem ki-gigit). Notice of experiencing submission to Gods
that the source Rashi gives for this second commandments while at the same time seeking
1 Midrash Tanhuma, Parshat Noah 3; ibid., interpretation is a midrash and not a Talmudic to make them personally meaningful and
Parshat Shoftim 9; Mekhilta de-Rabi Shimon ben text. Indeed, the first half of his comment, the resonant in my article, Halakhic Authority in
Yohai, Yitro 19:17 (David Zevi Hoffmann, ed., words she-nitlash ha-har mi-mekomo, appear a World of Personal Autonomy, in Michael J.
Mekhilta de-Rabi Shimon ben Yohai [Frankfurt in the midrash (Mekhilta de-Rabi Yishmael) Harris, Daniel Rynhold and Tamara Wright,
a. M., 1905], 100). For a later version, from the and not in the Talmud. The second half, ve- eds., Radical Responsibility: Celebrating the
writings of Pirkoi ben Baboi in the eighth-ninth nikhpah aleihem ki-gigit, invokes language Thought of Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks
century, see B. M. Levin, Mi-Seridei ha- found in the Talmudic passage and not in (New Milford and Jerusalem, 2012), 155-76.
Genizah, Tarbiz 2:4 (1931): 395. the midrash. I thank my son-in-law, Corey
Tarzik, for drawing this interesting point to 10 See above, n. 1.
2 The Talmud itself is sensitive to this my attention many years ago. See too Rashi, 11 Marcus Jastrow, A Dictionary (New York,
assessment because it immediately wonders Devarim 32:10, s.v. yesovevenhu. 1950), 234. Rashi, Shabbat 88a, s.v. gigit,
(Shabbat, ibid.) why any Jew can ever be translates it as a vessel in which beer is
faulted for not observing the Torah since it 7 Midrash Rabbah Shir ha-Shirim 2:1:1.
placed.
was originally accepted only under duress. 8 Joseph B. Soloveitchik, A Tribute to
the Rebbetzin of Talne, Tradition 17:2 12 I am reminded of the formulation of the
3 Masekhta de-ba-Hodesh, Yitro, Parshah 5, Rambam (Hil. Melakhim 5:4) in connection
beginning (Isaac Hirsch Weiss, ed., Mekhilta (1978):77.
with The Seven Nations, their memory has
[Vienna, 1865], 73b; Jacob Z. Lauterbach, 9 I was introduced to this dual appreciation already been lost (u-kevar avad zikhram).
ed., Mekhilta de-Rabbi Yishmael: A Critical

Find more shiurim and articles from Rabbi Dr. Jacob J. Schacter at
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Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series Shavuot 5777