וַיּוֹצֵ֨א מֹשֶׁ֧ה אֶת־הָעָ֛ם לִקְרַ֥את הָֽאֱלֹהִ֖ים מִן־הַֽמַּחֲנֶ֑ה וַיִּֽתְיַצְּב֖וּ בְּתַחְתִּ֥ית הָהָֽר׃
Moshe brought the people out toward God, from the camp, and they stationed themselves beneath the mountain. (Exodus 19.17)
Shabbat Yitro records our ancestors’ story of the ultimate moment of revelation between the Jewish people and HaShem. This moment is so overwhelmingly interesting to theologians that most of the commentaries focus on the experience of the “numinous”as Rudolf Otto defines it.
[Otto] calls this experience “numinous,” and says it has three components. These are often designated with a Latin phrase: mysterium tremendum et fascinans. As mysterium, the numinous is “wholly other”– entirely different from anything we experience in ordinary life. It evokes a reaction of silence. But the numinous is also a mysterium tremendum. It provokes terror because it presents itself as overwhelming power. Finally, the numinous presents itself as fascinans, as merciful and gracious.
But, as Emanuel Levinas, another philosopher of religion, reminds us, Jewish spiritual experience is based upon the moment of communication – of meeting, and that Jewish ethics can be defined as our response to that moment. This means that the moment at Sinai is not only about HaShem being revealed in some mysterious and fascinating way; Sinai is also about who is doing the meeting, and how?
Who is that, at the foot of the mountain? In the Torah, this group is referred to as they come out of Egypt as an erev rav, a motley and diverse group: some descendants of Jacob, some not. Ancient Egyptians slaves were Nubians, Canaanites, Libyans, and of course surviving losers on any Egyptian battlefield – all those were possibly along with us for the ride – even Egyptians.
Yet after this moment, whatever its content, we are one people. The word in Hebrew used to define the group that stood at the mountain is עם am, which has a wide range of uses in Hebrew:
Nation, people, folk, community, tribe.
Populace, inhabitants, natives.
Crowd, multitude, mob.
Common, ignorant, boorish people.
Common uses of this term in Jewish culture include HaShem calling us by the frustrated label am kashe oref, a “stiff-necked people,” and the intimate term amkha, which literally means “your people”.
Who are these people, this am sharing in this holy moment of meeting? And since we are bidden to consider this moment of revelation as constantly a present moment of our own experience, who, it must be asked, are we?
The Jewish people is learning over the past few months that we are a community that needs each other, and where we seek safety to ask our questions and feel big feelings. An unscientific poll reveals many different shades of meaning for that belonging. On this Shabbat, I invite you to consider these different definitions and to imagine yourself, a Jew, among this diverse, yet one, am. One people whose experience of life’s meaning stems from one moment, standing together in the face of something beyond us, something that offers us belonging, in all our diversity, in an endless mystery of becoming.
The difference between unity and harmony
Being there; showing up
Friendship
Something beyond choice
“Who you’re stuck with”
Bonding through blood and reciprocity
Family; chosen family
Trust that allows you to come as you are
Closeness and camaraderie
Similar values and rituals
People you want to be with
Lifeline: who I do life with
Helping me get out of my own way
Belonging
Where I don’t have to code switch
Reciprocity
Something more than just a group
An improbable existence
Trust; safety; reliability
Born into; placed into; chosen
Takes work
You are standing here, with us, all together. Where do you stand?
Torah for the 21st Century by Rabbi Ariel Stone 