Boulder Jewish News Arts, Culture, Events, Lifestyles, Holidays, Synagogues, Education
In this weeks Torah portion, we learn about the giving of the Ten Commandments at Mt. Sinai. The Torah describes how there was thunder, lightning, and fire on Mt. Sinai, and the whole nation heard G-d speak the Ten Commandments. Unlike other religions that begin with a miracle of revelation to a single individual or small group, the revelation at Mt. Sinai was witnessed by the entire Jewish nation, which numbered approximately two million people. Therefore, Maimonides teaches that the giving of the Ten Commandments is the ultimate proof to the truth of Judaism.
It is most interesting and telling that the Sinai Revelation is not something that only the Jews believe in, but the world religions also teach that the old testament comes from G-d. In fact, before the Jews came to Mt. Sinai, they were attacked by the Amalekites. The Torah describes this war at length and concludes with the following verse, “Joshua weakened Amalek with the sword blade.” The commentaries teach that this war was necessary before the Sinai Revelation, this Amalek represented the impure force that always tries to deny and downplay G-d’s miracles. Therefore, Joshua weakened this impure force before the Torah was given, so that nobody in the future should be successful in being able to deny the Sinai Revelation.
