The Secret of the Voices at Matan Torah: The Struggle Between Yisro and Bilaam

Lesson No. 66 | (Continued from No. 65) Thursday, Parashas Eikev, the eve of 17 Menachem Av 5756 - at the Yeshiva

At the time of Matan Torah (the giving of the Torah), the voice of Hashem echoed from one end of the world to the other, terrifying the nations of the world. While the wicked Bilaam tried to cool off their awakening and make excuses for what was happening, Yisro understood the eternal truth and chose to go to Moshe Rabbeinu. A fascinating article on seeing the voices, the secret of emunah (faith), and the danger of listening to heretics.

"When the Torah was given to Israel, His voice went from one end of the world to the other."

When the Torah was given, the voice of Hashem echoed throughout the entire world. Suddenly, a person on his way to commit murder hears a mighty voice: "You shall not murder!" A person breaking into a bank vault to take the money suddenly hears a shout from Heaven in all languages: "You shall not steal!" All the thieves and murderers in the world panicked and realized that this was the end of the world, for it is impossible to live like this. They thought to themselves, "The Torah says 'and you shall live by them'—does Hashem want us all to starve to death? After all, the international banks are insured, so what will happen if we take a little?"

They decided to send representatives. Each group sent a delegate—a representative of the thieves, a representative of the murderers. Using witchcraft and impure names, they flew through the air and all arrived at the wicked Bilaam. "What is going on here? Has the end of the world arrived?" they cried out. "For two thousand five hundred years we have been living quietly, stealing and murdering in peace, and suddenly we hear such voices! Is Hashem starting another flood? Bilaam, give us advice, what should we do?"

Bilaam's Advice: Cooling the Enthusiasm

The wicked Bilaam, who was a great scholar, calmed them down: "Quiet, you have nothing to get excited about. This matter does not concern you at all. 'Hashem sat enthroned at the Flood, Hashem sits enthroned as King forever'—you have nothing to fear! You heard a wonderful sermon, so what? Hashem spoke, why are you getting so worked up?"

The nations were still afraid: "True, we heard that Hashem swore He would not bring a flood of water, but perhaps He will bring a flood of fire, just as He rained down fire and brimstone from Heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah?"

Bilaam explained the logic to them: "In Sodom, it was only four cities, but here the Ten Commandments were spoken to the entire world. Hashem will not destroy His entire world all at once. He might cause an earthquake in one country, or send a localized disaster like a fire or a flood, but He will not overturn the entire world." In this way, Bilaam managed to cool their fear and nullify their spiritual awakening.

Why Was It Necessary to See the Voices?

It is told of the Sfas Emes zt"l that he was once receiving people for private audiences, and he noticed a man with the appearance of a heretic waiting in line. The Rebbe asked him, "What brings you to me? Do you have a sick child? A sick wife?" The man answered him, "No! I have a tremendous question that I must ask. It is written regarding Matan Torah, 'And all the people saw the voices.' Why was it necessary to see the voices? Wasn't it enough that they heard 'You shall not murder' and 'You shall not steal'?"

The Sfas Emes told him, "I will save you the long wait in line and answer you immediately. For a heretic like you, it was necessary to show the voices!"

The Rebbe explained to him: "Even in the time of Moshe Rabbeinu, there were heretics. If they had only heard the words, they would have interpreted them the opposite way. They would have said they heard 'Lo tirtzach' spelled with a 'vav' (meaning 'to him you shall murder')—that is, a commandment to murder someone who hates you and makes your life miserable. Or 'Lo tignov' (to him you shall steal)—if you are hungry and need to marry off your children, you are allowed to rob an international bank in Geneva that is insured anyway. There are plenty of loopholes that heretics can invent. Therefore, Hashem showed them the letters 'lamed' and 'aleph' (spelling 'lo' - 'do not') illuminating in fire: 'You shall not steal,' 'You shall not murder,' so that they could not distort the words."

Tracking the Truth All the Way to Mount Sinai

While the whole world traveled to Bilaam to find excuses, Yisro acted differently. Today, there are sophisticated technological means for tracking. A person pays an insurance company, attaches a small device to their car, and if the car is stolen, the device transmits a signal to a satellite.

There is a story about a man who works for such a tracking company, who was in the middle of a wedding in Modiin. Suddenly, he received a call that a huge tractor had been stolen in the area. He immediately set out, with the dispatch center guiding him through precise maps: "Enter the dirt path, drive without lights." He drove in total darkness until they told him, "You are standing ten meters in front of it." When he turned on his headlights, he saw a huge black mass, and the thief jumped out and fled.

In another incident in the south, a generator worth a million and a half dollars was stolen. The thieves loaded it onto a truck and drove off. The guards claimed the truck drove north, but on the screen at the dispatch center, they clearly saw it traveling south. They guided the patroller into a specific moshav until they told him, "You are standing one meter from the generator." The patroller said, "I don't see anything, only a huge rectangle of hay bales ten meters high." When they started moving the hay, they found the generator hidden inside. Today's technology knows how to pinpoint exactly where everything is transmitting from.

On a spiritual level, Yisro picked up the "transmission." He understood that Matan Torah was coming from Mount Sinai. Yisro had no questions, and therefore he did not need to travel to Bilaam. He wanted to hear the voices and see the great fire that descended upon the mountain.

The Fire That Burned Until the Month of Nissan

Rashi in Tractate Taanis reveals a tremendous secret to us: The fire on Mount Sinai did not burn for only forty days. It continued to burn for nine months and three weeks, until the first of Nissan, the day the Mishkan (Tabernacle) was erected!

As long as there was no Mishkan (Tabernacle) to constrict the speech, every mitzvah that Hashem taught Moshe—the laws of Yom Kippur, kashrus, the building of the Menorah and the Shulchan (Table)—was spoken with a mighty voice that echoed from one end of the world to the other in all languages. Only when the Mishkan was erected did the Shechinah (Divine Presence) move from the mountain and rest upon the Kapores (Ark Cover), and the voice was constricted into the Ohel Moed (Tent of Meeting) so that only Moshe would hear it.

The Final Address for Idolatry

Yisro was a supreme priest, "the pope of all popes." He knew every type of idolatry in the world—of fire, of water, of wind. He knew how to match each person with the exact sorcery and charm suited for them according to the time and place. Whoever came to Yisro had reached the final stop and was bound to be saved.

Yet specifically Yisro, who knew all these forces, understood that it was all a lie. He knew that sorcery and charms are temporary forces that Hashem placed in the world to test us, but they are not eternal truth. What works for one person in a certain place will not work for his son in another place, and every religion splinters into thousands of sects.

In contrast, our Torah is eternal. "We have the Torah, it is for us, our children, and our children's children until the end of all generations. The same Shabbos, the same tefillin, the same tefillah (prayer)—it does not change!"

Therefore, when Yisro heard the voice of Hashem, he declared: "Now I know that Hashem is greater than all the gods." He nullified all the idolatries and went to Moshe Rabbeinu.

Who Do You Go to When You Hear the Truth?

The great mistake of the nations of the world was the address they turned to. A person hears a wonderful sermon, awakens to the truth, hears a novel Torah insight that touches his soul—and where does he go? He goes to some wicked person or heretic and asks him: "What do you say about this insight?" And the wicked person immediately cools him off: "It's nothing, it's completely fabricated, he doesn't know what he's talking about."

This is what Bilaam did to the entire world, and thereby nullified their awakening from the Giving of the Torah. But Yisro taught us the true wisdom: when you hear the voice of Hashem, do not go to Bilaam. Run straight to Moshe Rabbeinu.

Part 3 of 4 — Lesson No. 66

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