by Sophie Stern Greenbaum '28
The other day I asked my son, “Moshe, if you could time travel back to any time in history, where would you go?” Without any hesitation he said, “Shem and Ever's yeshiva!” I was pretty surprised and intrigued. Suddenly I was envisioning my son rubbing shoulders with Yitzchak Avinu somewhere in the dusty hills of Beer Sheva or maybe it was Haran. It left me wondering about pre-Sinai Torah. It is said that Torah existed before creation. It is said that Shem and Ever were studying Torah in their yeshiva. It is said that there were mitzvot kept by the patriarchs and matriarchs. It is said that Moses was already making halakhic rulings days before the Sinai revelation. Given all of this, if Torah had already, in some sense, been received, then in what sense was it given at Sinai?
The answer lies in Hashem’s first words at Sinai. They are: אָנֹכִי ה’ אֱלֹהֶיךָ.
“I am the Lord your (singular) God” (Shemot 20:2). Right away, Bnei Yisrael received an instantaneous and dramatic shift. We were no longer in a long-distance relationship with Hashem based on vague ideas from the dreams and visions of prophets. Now God was declaring a personal, one-on-one connection. He wanted a relationship with every one of us! He chose us. But the question remained: would we choose Him?
Before the revelation at Sinai, Moshe tells the people that Hashem will reveal Himself. The people respond, “Na’ase v’nishma,” “we will do and we will listen.” The Sfat Emet tells us that when the people said “Na’ase,” they already knew what to do. They instinctively knew without even being told what to do. If we think about this in the present, many of us already know what to do, and we do a lot in our Jewish lives. We keep halakha: eat kosher, keep Shabbat, and observe dozens of other laws.
But “nishma?” What does that mean? Most people interpret this as hearing the covenant or learning the laws being proposed. But perhaps nishma refers to a deeper type of listening. Listening takes intimacy, presence, and patience. At Sinai, we made a promise to be in a deep intimate relationship with Hashem.
Doing is tangible. We don’t mix meat and milk. We observe Shabbat. But where is our blueprint for this kind of deep listening, for nishma? Parshat Yitro offers us a hint. To do the hard work of nishma, we need to prepare.
If we look into the Gemara discussing the giving of the Torah, we find a 6-part approach in the days of preparation before the Revelation. This blueprint can be used as a meditative guide for deep listening, for readying ourselves to receive revelation.
The Talmud (Shabbat 86b:) says:
On the first day: They recognized the new moon, and God didn’t say anything because of their weariness and the path they had just taken to get there.
The Torah tells us the first step to being in relationship with Hashem is to sit in silence, surrendering. Resting. Being in tune with the flow of the natural world. Holding space for the hard and complex road that we have walked to get to this point, and to give time for healing.
The second day: God said to Moshe: They shall be to Me.
Hashem said, “You, my beloved, are mine.” The Torah tells us that we should root ourselves in the knowledge that Hashem personally chose us. Modern psychology tells us that when we feel safe and loved by our caretakers, we have the proper attachment and can therefore be in healthy two-way relationships. If we know that Hashem loves us and chose us, we can create intimacy to love and choose back.
The third day: God said it’s a mitzvah to set boundaries.
God tells us to create sacred space. In our communal lives, we created boundaried spaces, like the mishkan and then the Beit Hamikdash. These days shuls and yeshivas. But are we creating this in our personal lives? Are we keeping boundaries around our personal physical spaces like our homes so that Hashem can come to dwell there? Are we creating sacred space around our time and energy? Saying no to the endless to-do’s? Keeping things that aren’t healthy for us at bay?
On the fourth day: We were told to create separation.
For three days, days four through six, we abstained from sexual contact and then we went to the mikvah. By honoring our bodies and our autonomy in this way, we rejuvenated our souls and prepared ourselves to receive something greater. Are we creating separation, alone time, and do we have a place or an instrument for spiritual renewal?
By examining these steps of preparation for Sinai, we are ultimately taught that our relationship with Hashem isn’t passive; it is built through intention. Whether it is setting time for silence, making space for holiness, or removing distractions, we have the tools to bring Sinai into the present.
There is a potent Rashi at the beginning of Yitro when the verse says: “On the third new moon after the Israelites had gone forth from the land of Egypt, on this very day (bayom hazeh), they entered the wilderness of Sinai” (Shemot 19:1). Rashi asks why the verse says “bayom hazeh” (this very day) and not “bayom hahu“ (that day). He suggests that “this very day” indicates present tense. This suggests that we should not think of Sinai as a one-time historical event. Rather, we should experience ourselves at Sinai, ready to receive Hashem, today, at this very moment.
Parshat Yitro gives us a chance to ask: if we are entering the wilderness of Sinai today, are we keeping our promise of nishma? Are we setting the stage and making the effort to be in an intentional, intimate relationship with Hashem? Are we creating sacred space to listen for the voice of Hashem today? I invite all of us this Shabbat to use the wisdom of Parshat Yitro to think about what nishma demands of us and how we can utilize the tools Parshat Yitro provides to choose God today.
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Sophie Stern Greenbaum is from Los Angeles CA, where she currently lives with her husband and three children. She has a deep love for in-depth text study, learning Jewish women's history, and also Jewish mysticism. Before dedicating her life to Torah study, Sophie made a living as a songwriter. She enjoys using this same creativity to find ways to make Torah accessible. She recently wrote a pop album from the imagined voices of the matriarchs of Torah. Sophie has worked as a mikvah attendant and teacher at a local Hebrew School. Along with her studies, Sophie currently works for the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles helping young Jewish families build community. She enjoys doing dance parties with her kids, cooking Shabbat dinner with fresh farmers market finds, and jumping in the ocean.