Yitro: How the Sacrifices Made the Torah More Approachable

by Rav Mordechai Hochman, Head of Kollel "Rinat Beit El" and the Beit El branch of Beit Midrash "Tzurva Miderabanan", yeshiva.org.il, translated by Hillel Fendel.

The Israelites in the desert received the Torah willingly, even saying, "We will do and we will listen," committing to perform the mitzvot even before knowing exactly what they were. But it didn't come to them so easily…

At the end of Parashat Mishpatim in the Book of Sh'mot (Exodus), Moshe Rabbeinu comes to the Israelites and proposes a covenant between them and G-d, regarding the acceptance of the Torah they were being given. Israel answered eagerly: Naaseh v'nishma, "All that G-d has said we will do and we will hear" (Sh'mot 24,7).

The Nation of Israel thus showed their willingness to fulfill the commandments that they already knew – as well as those that they were still yet to hear, even those that the Sages would institute later (as the Torah commands; Deut. 17,10). And in this merit, G-d gave them the Torah.

The Talmud has great praise for this stand: "When Israel preceded hearing with doing, a Heavenly voice was emitted, saying, 'Who revealed to My children this great secret that the ministering angels use?'" (Shabbat 88a)

But actually, it wasn't so easy for them to reach that point. In fact, in this week's Torah portion of Yitro (Exodus, chapters 18-24), in which we first read of the Ten Commandments, they responded differently to Moshe's first proposal of a covenant with G-d. "If you will listen to My voice and keep My covenant, you shall be My treasure from among all the peoples… a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (19,5-6). Israel responded then more modestly: "All that G-d has said, we will do" (verse 8) – naaseh, but without nishma. And again later, they responded similarly: "All the things that G-d has said, we will do" (24,3). Twice they said that they would perform whatever they were commanded, and only on the third time – just four verses after the second time – did they add that they would also do whatever they would be commanded in the future.

What brought about this change?

It appears that it was what happened in the intervening four verses that did the trick. We read there that Moshe built an altar, with "twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel. And he sent the youths of Israel and they offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings of oxen to G-d" (verses 5-6). Moshe Rabbeinu wanted the Children of Israel to feel that they had a personal stake in the Torah; each pillar showed that the Torah touched the special quality of each of the 12 Tribes of the nation. In addition, the youths who offered the sacrifices were the first-borns of the various families, and they served as the priests in the sacrificial service. Thus, each family felt a personal connection to the Torah – and said eagerly, "We will also do whatever we will be commanded."

But it could be there was more to it than that.

We know that the Rambam (Maimonides) and Ramban (Nachmanides) explain differently the commandment of offering sacrifices. The Rambam writes in his Guide to the Perplexed that the sacrifices were not inherently required, but rather were the result of the Gentiles' practice of offering them. The Jews would have had a hard time receiving the Torah that did not include the "universally accepted" practice of sacrificing animals to G-d. The Rambam explains that G-d, in His great wisdom, would not have commanded something that went so totally against the people's nature – and therefore re-directed the inclination to bring sacrifices from "imaginary things [false gods and idols], to G-d's exalted Name." The Rambam elaborates on this concept at length.

Nachmanides, however, did not accept this approach at all, and said that the idea of sacrifices to G-d embodies very exalted concepts in the service of the One G-d. The Rambam, too, appears to accept this as well, in his Mishneh Torah, where he wrote that we cannot fathom the true purpose of sacrifices and that they will be renewed when in Messianic times.

Returning to the Israelites at Mt. Sinai, we can say that the Rambam's approach to sacrifices in his Guide, which is also found in the Medrash, is alluded to in Israel's acceptance of the Torah. At first, they said only, "We will do" what we know, without adding also the commandments not yet given to them – because they had trouble accepting a way of life that did not include sacrificial offerings to G-d. However, after Moshe built an altar for them, and they offered upon it sacrifices, as was familiar to them, they agreed enthusiastically to receive the Torah – even those aspects of it that they had not yet been commanded. And in the merit of this naaseh v'nishma, they received the Torah and set an example for generations of complete acceptance of G-d's word.