By Marco Del Monte
The main subject of our parashah is the giving of the Ten Commandments. According to our Chachamim, the entire Torah is encompassed within the Ten Commandments; given the importance of this event, Hashem requires the people to undergo spiritual preparation so that they may be adequately ready to receive all the mitzvot.
In this regard, Pirkei Avot writes that Moses received the Torah “from” Sinai.
In the sacred scriptures, every comma has a value and a meaning, so one might wonder what it means for Moses to receive the Torah “from” Sinai; it should perhaps have been written that Moses received the Torah from Hashem, or that he received the Torah upon Sinai, but why from Sinai?
From the perspective of the Midrash, we know that all the mountains offered themselves so that the Torah might be given upon them, but Hashem chose Sinai precisely because of its modest height: the humility of Sinai was the requirement that Hashem sought in order to deliver the Torah, and so we also find the same characteristic in Moses; indeed, he is defined in the Torah as “Vehaysh Moshe Anav Meod” “And the man Moses was very humble, more so than any other person on the face of the earth” (Numbers 12:3). Moses received the Torah from Sinai, that is, he had the merit of receiving the Torah because of humility, a trait that distinguished both him and the mountain. It is no coincidence that the explanation from the perspective of Gematria also coincides with the Midrash: the numerical value of the word סיני Sinai (130) is equivalent to the numerical value of the word עני Ani (Humble). Furthermore, Rav A.M. Somech explains in his commentary on Pirkei Avot that the numerical value of 130 is the same as the word Sullam-Ladder, to tell us that Jacob too, in his famous dream, already received the Torah, symbolised by the ladder. The Torah constitutes precisely that ladder, with its feet firmly planted in the ground yet its top reaching up to heaven: precisely those who feel themselves at ground level can reach up to heaven, and only through the Torah can that dimensional passage be created that unites Heaven and Earth, Spirituality and Materiality; only through the union between these two categories, like body and soul, can one merit the completeness of the Torah. When Pirkei Avot writes that Moses received the Torah “Mi-Sinai” that is, from Sinai, that Mem preceding the word Sinai has a numerical value of 40: like the 40 days and 40 nights of the flood which served to purify the world, to make for it the mikveh constituted by a measure of at least 40 se'ah; like the 40 days and 40 nights that Moses prayed to Hashem; like the 40 days of Selichot; like the purification of Israel for 40 years in the desert; like the 40 weeks required to form a human being in the mother's womb, thus the Mem indicates to us that in order to receive the Torah one must be very humble, and this is part of a process of purity and completeness that will bring redemption to the entire world as is written in Tractate Sotah chapter 9 Mishnah 15, and it is the basis upon which Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto - Ramchal wrote his famous text “Mesillat Yesharim” The Path of the Just.
With the wish that each of us may receive the Torah “all the days of (your) life”, the days of life in this world, with “all” also meaning in the world to come.
Shabbat Shalom Umevorach
Translated from the Italian with Google Gemini. The Italian text is the original.