You – Y’All: It’s All About the Words (Revisited)

One of the most often used of Halpern’s Rules is Rule #5: It’s All About the Words. That seems most logical given that, while originally strictly oral in nature, Judaism has continued to grow and prosper out of a written, as well as a legal, tradition.  Torah, Tanach, Talmud, Midrash, Responsa: in all of these, the subtlety that has set Judaism apart from all other religions is found in the specific words used.

One of these subtle distinctions is seen when Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, hears how the Divine has brought Israel out of Egypt.  Jethro is told about these events twice, leading to very different results due to the choice of words used.

In the first telling, delivered by a passerby, Jethro is told that the people of Israel have taken six distinct actions, with each action presented as having been taken in the plural.  These were: the Children of Israel had 1) left Egypt, 2) come to the Sinai Wilderness, 3) departed from Rephidim, 4) approached Sinai, 5) camped in the wilderness, and 6) camped up against Mt. Sinai.

Not long afterwards, Moses comes to Jethro and relates to Jethro the same six actions.  HOWEVER, Moses presents action number 6, camping against the mountain, in the singular.

What difference does this make?  When we think about it, it becomes clear that we are meant to understand the difference between Unity (a group doing something together) and Uniformity (a group being of the same understanding).  While Israel performed the first five actions together in Unity, we are told that each and every Israelite experienced God’s Revelation differently. In so doing, each individual understood the Truth with very personal differences. So although they were at Mt. Sinai in Unity, their understanding of what they had experienced had no Uniformity.

We are taught that 3,500 years or so ago, Israel stood at Sinai and heard what God told us.  And what was the result of this difference in choice of words?  Ever since we have been arguing about what we heard. We heard the words together, but there has never been any Uniformity in our understanding of those words.