Shabuot- Seeing the Sounds of Matan Torah

The Gemara in Masechet Shabbat (88b-89a) famously tells of Moshe Rabbenu’s experiences when he ascended to the heavens to receive the Torah. We can imagine that he expected to be greeted by the heavenly beings with great honor and fanfare, but this is not what happened. The angels vehemently protested Hashem’s decision to give the sacred Torah to human beings. They contended that something as holy and precious as the Torah needed to remain in the pristine environs of the heavens, and not be entrusted with physical, flawed creatures. Hashem instructed Moshe to respond to the angels’ claim, and convince them why Am Yisrael should be given the Torah. Moshe told the angels about the Ten Commandments, and showed that they are entirely irrelevant to the angels. For example, pointing to the prohibition against worshipping idols, Moshe noted that the angels do not live among pagans such that they need to be commanded not to worship foreign deities. Likewise, the Torah forbids swearing falsely – but the angels do not engage in commerce, and thus they would never need to come to court for a case and take an oath. The Torah commands desisting from work on Shabbat – but the angels never work. The Torah commands respecting parents – but the angels have no parents. The Torah forbids murder, but angels do not grow angry, and thus have no reason to kill. And so on. The angels accepted Moshe’s argument, and conceded. Upon reading this story, we must wonder, what were the angels thinking? Did they really think that the Torah was for them? Was it not obvious that the Torah is meant to be studied and observed by Beneh Yisrael here in this world, as it relates entirely to human life? What did the angels think before hearing Moshe’s response? I would suggest that the angels’ argument revolved around not the question of for whom the Torah is intended, but rather the question of who should be entrusted with the job of teaching it. The prophet Malachi (2:7) describes the ideal teacher of Torah, and says, “Ki Malach Hashem Seva-ot Hu” – “for he is an angel of the G-d of Hosts.” The Gemara (Moed Katan 17a) infers from this verse that one may learn Torah from a Rabbi only if the Rabbi “resembles an angel of G-d.” The angels, understandably, wondered, why should Torah be taught by a human being who “resembles” an angel, rather than by an actual angel? They argued that they, as pristine, pure creatures, who have no flaws and never make mistakes, would clearly do the best job as educators. Instead of giving the Torah to Moshe who would then teach it to Beneh Yisrael, the angels felt, G-d should instead have them teach the Torah to Beneh Yisrael, because they are perfect and unflawed. Moshe responded that to the contrary, human beings would make much better teachers than the angels, because human beings actually observe the Torah, and put it into practice. For students to learn how to observe Shabbat, they need to not just learn the laws and principles of Shabbat from their teacher, but also learn about how the teacher spends Shabbat. They need to not only learn about honoring parents, but also hear about how their teacher honors his or her parents. It is not enough for students to learn about the Torah’s laws and values – they need to see a real-life example of how they are put into practice. And this can be done only by human beings, to whom the Torah’s laws are practically relevant, and not by angels, who do not live a worldly existence that is governed by the Torah. Indeed, human beings are better educators than angels, because they can model the Torah’s teachings for their students, whereas the angels cannot. This might answer a different question that arises from the story of Matan Torah. We read that as G-d spoke to Beneh Yisrael at Mount Sinai, “Ve’chol Ha’am Ro’im Et Ha’kolot” – the people “were seeing the sounds” (Shemot 20:14). The Rabbis explain that miraculously, in a manner that we cannot possibly even begin to understand, Hashem’s “voice” which He sounded at the time of Matan Torah was not only audible, but also visible. The sounds were both heard and seen. As mentioned, we will never fully understand what this means. But regardless, we need to ask ourselves why such a miracle was performed. Tradition teaches us that G-d does not perform miracles for no reason. There must have been some purpose for which the sounds of Sinai were made visible to the people. The answer might be that the Torah must be not only studied, but seen. In order for the Torah to be taught and preserved, youngsters must be shown the Torah. It does not suffice for them to “hear” the words, to learn about what the Torah says. They need to see the Torah come to life through living examples and role models. This is the responsibility borne by every Jewish educator, and, in fact, by every Jewish parent. Nothing we tell our students or children will leave an impact unless they can “see the sounds,” unless we serve as living examples of Torah life for them to emulate. The key for the preservation of Torah is the “visible sounds,” our modelling the Torah’s values and teachings for our children and students, so they will understand what Torah life is, and commit to follow our example and then serve as role models for their own children.