The giving of the Torah was a one-time event that will never recur. An event in which the heavens opened with voices and lightning.
Many aspects of this wondrous occasion are connected to sounds.
The Holy One, Blessed be He, awakened us with voices (thunder) and lightning: "On the morning of the third day there were voices and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud shofar blast."
The sounds grow progressively stronger, unnaturally intensifying. "The sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder." "A great voice that did not cease." On the other hand – the entire world falls silent, as the Midrash states: "No bird chirped, no fowl flew, no ox lowed."
We heard the Ten Commandments from every possible direction simultaneously – from the four corners, from above and below. And surprisingly – there was no echo! An echo is created when sound waves spread through the air until they encounter a barrier that causes them to return. At the giving of the Torah, the sound did not return; it came from everywhere to everywhere, it was absorbed into creation.
But the most wondrous thing was that "All the people saw the voices" – and our Sages explain, "They saw what is heard and heard what is seen."
In Chasidic thought, it is explained that seeing is related to chochmah (wisdom) and hearing is related to binah (understanding). Seeing has the advantage of direct and comprehensive perception. Hearing has the advantage of internal and detailed absorption.
Therefore, to see the sounds and hear the visible means the interinclusion of the sense of sight and the sense of hearing at their source, "Understand with wisdom and be wise with understanding."
The Echo from Mount Horev
Indeed, there was no echo to the Ten Commandments we heard, but the event still resonates in the world to this day. "Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: Every day, a Heavenly Voice goes forth from Mount Horev, proclaiming and saying: 'Woe to the creatures for their insult to the Torah.'"
Do we hear this Heavenly Voice emanating from Mount Horev? If not, what purpose does it serve? The Baal Shem Tov (whose day of passing is on Shavuot) says: Our soul hears this call, and from it come our thoughts of repentance every day! The Heavenly Voice warns us to engage in Torah, not to forget it. But how can we truly not forget the Torah? Through voice and song!
"Rabbi Akiva says: Sing every day, sing every day." Zemirot (songs) are an ever-renewing delight. The Torah renews itself every day, "Every day they should be in your eyes as new," and the renewal of Torah is like a song and melody.
The Midrash says that the Holy One, Blessed be He, revealed Himself to us on Mount Sinai as a "Zaken Malei Rachamim" (an elder full of mercy), the initials of which spell "Zemer" (song). We renew the melody by remembering that 'elder full of mercy.' The strands of His beard are the strings of the harp.
Zemer (song) is related to Pesukei D'Zimra (the verses of song) in prayer. It is explained that Pesukei D'Zimra come "to prune the tyrants," to cut away the thorns, to remove the obstacles and hindrances in our relationship with God.
Zemer is also the name of the seventh, last, and most beloved of the kosher animals – "the hart, and the gazelle, and the roebuck, and the wild goat, and the pygarg, and the antelope, and the zemer." Some say that zemer is the giraffe. It seems that in this large and silent animal, a special song is hidden.
The Secret of Stillness and Voice – The Mystery of Chashmal
Shavuot is a time of Divine favor when all gates are open. As in the verse that opens the vision of the Divine Chariot in the Haftarah of Shavuot: "The heavens were opened and I saw visions of God."
Shavuot is a propitious time for teshuvah (repentance), like the moment of shofar blowing on Rosh Hashanah. Indeed, the sound of the shofar at Mount Sinai is the same sound that echoes in the shofar of Rosh Hashanah, and during the shofar blowing on Rosh Hashanah, it is customary to confess silently (between the sets).
We have seen that at the Giving of the Torah, there is a combination of a mighty voice with silence, "I hear stillness and voice." This is the secret of the "Chashmal" written in the vision of the Chariot. Chash-mal suggests silence (chash) and speech (mal).
This is also the relationship on Rosh Hashanah between the sound of the shofar blasts and the confession that is whispered. Silence in confession and voice in the blasts. Chash mal.
There must be a balance between voice and silence, between shouting and whispering, between publicity and modesty…
The first tablets given at Mount Sinai with thunder and lightning were ultimately broken. The giving of the second tablets, on the other hand, was quiet and secret. "And no man shall come up with you" – "The first tablets, because they were given with fanfare and voices and assembly, were affected by the evil eye. There is no attribute more beautiful than modesty."
The second tablets were given on Yom Kippur; this is the Giving of the Torah for baalei teshuvah (penitents). A secret and quiet Giving of the Torah. On Shavuot, however, we can achieve balance. Along with the external voice, we can listen to the inner voice, and thus the tablets will not break. If so, we will interpret the verse "And all the people saw the voices" – in plural – one needs to see both voices, the loud external voice and also the quiet internal voice.
The Image and the Sounds
At the Giving of the Torah, it is said, "You saw no image." Yet the Written Torah is an image of letters, which we see in the Torah scroll. Indeed, there is an additional part of the Torah, the Oral Torah, which we do not see, but hear.
The Written Torah is the revealed part of the Torah that we saw. The Oral Torah extends from the fact that we saw no image. Seeing belongs to the Written Torah, the voices belong to the Oral Torah, and here was the connection of the two Torahs. We see the voices and hear the visible.
In the Written Torah itself, there are two parts: the parchment and the letters, the white background and the black writing, "black fire on white fire." Which is more elevated, the parchment or the letters?
The parchment corresponds to silence, the letters are the sounds. On the quiet, white parchment, the sounds appear and the letters are seen. Therefore, the parchment is more elevated than the letters. For it is the secret dimension, quiet and hidden.
Some of the voices we do not see – the hidden part of the Torah – are the vowel points and cantillation marks, which are not written in the Torah scroll.
There are four levels of the Torah: Ta'amim (cantillation), Nekudot (vowel points), Tagin (crowns), Otiot (letters). They are divided into two – those that we see – the letters and the crowns, and two that are hidden – the vowel points and the cantillation marks.
The cantillation marks are the highest part. They are the song of the Torah, as the Torah is called in the commandment to write a Torah scroll, the last commandment in the Torah: "Now, write for yourselves this song." All the Torah’s sweet taste is concealed in its melody.
Only the Messiah will reveal the secret of the cantillation marks, the song of the Torah.
