In the past, when we have done a Bibliodrama, we usually find a certain character, identify a particular moment in their life, pause there, open it up, and respond from their perspective in that moment. But humans are not the only "characters" populating the Tanakh. There are animals, objects, ideas, and even places.
This morning, I want to invite us to look at aspect of this morning Torah reading from the perspective of a place, "the mountain," "Mount Sinai," aka "Horev."
Before we look at this morning's Torah reading, I want to first invite us to think about being a mountain. Here are some questions for our consideration as we prepare for this bibliodrama, which I will ask you to contemplate in the first person, as a mountain.
- Are you an optimist or a pessimist? Why?
- What are your hopes and fears?
- What would you want to be if you were something else?
- What special knowledge do you have because you are a mountain?
- Or because of the role you play as Mount Sinai?
- What don't you know anything about? What are you curious about?
- What do you want that you cannot have?
#1: The Encounter
וַיִּסְע֣וּ מֵרְפִידִ֗ים וַיָּבֹ֙אוּ֙ מִדְבַּ֣ר סִינַ֔י וַֽיַּחֲנ֖וּ בַּמִּדְבָּ֑ר וַיִּֽחַן־שָׁ֥ם יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל נֶ֥גֶד הָהָֽר׃
Having journeyed from Rephidim, they entered the wilderness of Sinai and encamped in the wilderness. Israel encamped there in front of the mountain,
(א) וּמֹשֶׁ֗ה הָיָ֥ה רֹעֶ֛ה אֶת־צֹ֛אן יִתְר֥וֹ חֹתְנ֖וֹ כֹּהֵ֣ן מִדְיָ֑ן וַיִּנְהַ֤ג אֶת־הַצֹּאן֙ אַחַ֣ר הַמִּדְבָּ֔ר וַיָּבֹ֛א אֶל־הַ֥ר הָאֱלֹקִ֖ים חֹרֵֽבָה׃
(1) Now Moses, tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, drove the flock into the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
1. dryness Ju 6:37, 39, 40 (all of absence of dew); Je 50:38 (‖ יָבֵשׁ); so read also Zc 11:17 (for MT חֶרֶב, see v b and StaZAW i. 1881, 29), a drying up upon his arm (i. e. a withering) and upon his right eye.
2. drought Hg 1:11 + Dt 28:22 v. supr.
3. parching heat (of sun) Gn 31:40 (opp. קֶ֫רַח), Je 36:30 (opp. id.); Is 4:6; 25:4, 5(×2) of fever Jb 30:30.
חרבה, “near Mount Chorev;” this is about 3 days’ march from the border of Egypt, as we know from Exodus 5,3, where Moses asks permission for his people to offer sacrifices there to Hashem and he asks for them to be allowed to walk that distance, i.e. three days’ march. The reason why the Mountain is better known as Sinai, is because this is where the miracle of the burning bush, סנה occurred. (Ibn Ezra)
From a life of enslavement centered on the Nile in Egypt, Israel has lived through the signs, plagues and wonders, walked through the Sea of Reeds, now entered into the Wilderness.
It's been almost seven weeks since they left Egypt, and now Israel has arrived at your feet. Moses, their leader, visited you a couple years back, when he encountered God speaking out of a burning bush on your slopes. And now he has brought all of Israel to you, where they are now encamped.
- What details can you share about this encounter?
- What is this meeting like for you?
- What does this moment mean for you?
- Describe the camp. What do you see?
- Why do you think they are here? What can you do for them?
#2: God Coming Down on the Mountain
Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke, for ה' had come down upon it in fire; the smoke rose like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled violently.
- What is the feeling or experience of God coming down you?
- What is your experience of God during this time?
- We have read in the Torah about God giving the Ten Commandments.
- Tell us, what really happened.
- What did you learn from God giving Israel the Torah?
- What is something that only you know from this time?
#3: The Two (Sets of) Stone Tablets as Mementos of Mount Sinai
(1) ה' said to Moses: “Carve two tablets of stone like the first, and I will inscribe upon the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you shattered.
- Share with us something about the story of the stone tablets (for the Ten Commandments) being carved from your stones?
- What are your thoughts or feelings about the fact that a piece of you will go with the people?
- What would you say to Israel now if they came back to visit?
While the nations and peoples were refusing to accept the Torah, the mountains among themselves were fighting for the honor of being chosen as the spot for the revelation.
One said: "Upon me shall the Shekinah of God rest, and mine shall be this glory," whereupon the other mountain replied: "Upon me shall the Shekinah rest, and mine shall be this glory."
The mountain of Tabor said to the mountain of Hermon: "Upon me shall the Shekinah rest, mine shall be this glory, for in times of old, when in the days of Noah the flood came over the earth, all the mountains that are under the heavens were covered with water, whereas it did not reach my head, nay, not even my shoulder. All the earth was sunk under water, but I, the highest of the mountains, towered high above the waters, hence I am called upon to bear the Shekinah."
Mount Hermon replied to Mount Tabor: "Upon me shall the Shekinah rest, I am the destined one, for when Israel wished to pass through the Red Sea, it was I who enabled them to do so, for I settled down between the two shores of the sea, and they moved from one side to the other, through my aid, so that not even their clothes became wet."
Mount Carmel was quite silent, but settled down on the shore of the sea, thinking: "If the Shekinah is to repose on the sea, it will rest upon me, and if it is to repose on the mainland, it will rest upon me."
Then a voice out of the high heavens rang out and said: "The Shekinah shall not rest upon these high mountains that are so proud, for it is not God's will that the Shekinah should rest upon high mountains that quarrel among themselves and look upon one another with disdain. He prefers the low mountains, and Sinai among these, because it is the smallest and most insignificant of all. Upon it will He let the Shekinah rest."
The other mountains hereupon said to God, "Is it possible that Thou are partial, and wilt give us no reward for our good intention?"
God replied: "Because ye have striven in My honor will I reward ye. Upon Tabor will I grant aid to Israel at the time of Deborah, and upon Carmel will I give aid to Elijah."
Mount Sinai was given the preference not for its humility alone, but also because upon it there had been no worshipping of idols; whereas the other mountains, owing to their height, had been employed as sanctuaries by the idolaters.
Mount Sinai has a further significance, too, for it had been originally a part of Mount Moriah, on which Isaac was to have been sacrificed; but Sinai separated itself from it, and came to the desert. Then God said: "Because their father Isaac lay upon this mountain, bound as a sacrifice, it is fitting that upon it his children receive the Torah."
Hence God now chose this mountain for a brief stay during the revelation, for after the Torah had been bestowed, He withdrew again to heaven.
In the future world, Sinai will return to its original place, Mount Moriah, when "the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills."
- What does it feel like to all of a sudden become holy ground (again)?
- Is this what you imagined holiness would feel like?
- What do you want us to know about these warnings and threats?
(יז) וַיּוֹצֵ֨א מֹשֶׁ֧ה אֶת־הָעָ֛ם לִקְרַ֥את הָֽאֱלֹקִ֖ים מִן־הַֽמַּחֲנֶ֑ה וַיִּֽתְיַצְּב֖וּ בְּתַחְתִּ֥ית הָהָֽר׃
(17) Moses led the people out of the camp toward God, and they took their places at the foot of the mountain.
One interpretation of this is that God used you as leverage, like a wine cask, saying, Accept the Torah, or this is your burial plot.
The other interpretation is that God turns you into a chuppah, a wedding canopy, and this is a moment where the people and God make their commitment to each other, the covenant made at Mount Sinai.
- Which do you think that you are? A location of coercion, or a location of commitment? Why is that how you see yourself?
- What do you think of the other way of thinking about you?
- How would you respond to someone with the other point of view?
Rabbi Shimon was sitting and studying the Torah on the night when the Bride, Malchut, unites with her husband, Zeir Anpin. And all the friends present in the bridal chamber on that night, the eve of the holiday of Shavuot, must stand together with the bridegroom under the Huppah, and be with him this whole night, and rejoice with him in the corrections of the Bride, i.e., study the Torah, then Prophets, then Holy Scriptures, and finally the wisdom, for these corrections are the Bride’s adornments. And the Bride receives corrections, adorns herself with them, and rejoices with them all of that night. And on the next day, on the holiday of Shavuot, she only comes to the Huppah together with them. And her friends, who studied the Torah all night long, are called the sons of the Huppah. And as she approaches the Huppah, the Creator asks about them, blesses and adorns them with the Bride’s adornments. Happy are those who merit this!
As it is written: “And they stood at the nether part of the mount” (Exodus 19:17), and Rav Dimi bar Ḥama says: The verse teaches that the Holy One, Blessed be He, overturned the mountain, i.e., Mount Sinai, above the Jews like a basin, and He said to them: If you accept the Torah, excellent, and if not, there, under the mountain, will be your burial. The nations of the world will claim that they too could have been coerced to accept the Torah.