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When and Where did we Receive the Torah?

Uploaded: Monday, March 30, 2009

By: Rav Warren Kaye

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Everyone knows the answer to the question in the title. Yet why would I write about Matan Torah a week early? A closer look at the events in this weeks’ parsha may reveal some surprises. Furthermore, why would Hashem wait 49 days before giving the Torah surely once Bnei Yisrael had left Egypt they should begin to keep the Torah?

Following the demise of the Egyptians in Yam Suf and the singing of all of Bnei Yisrael, Moshe urges the people to leave the banks of Yam Suf. Then we read the following narrative:

and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water. 23 And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter...24 And the people murmured against Moses, saying: 'What shall we drink?' 25 And he cried unto the Lord; and the Lord showed him a tree, and he cast it into the waters, and the waters were made sweet. There He made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there He proved them; 26 and He said: 'If you will diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and will do that which is right in His eyes, and will give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases upon thee, which I have put upon the Egyptians; for I am the Lord that heal you' (Shmot 15: 22-26).

The text speaks for itself: Following a complaint about the bitter water, Hashem provides a miraculous solution and gives Bnei Yisrael the Torah. The fact that immediately following this narrative Bnei Yisrael journey to Elim, a place with 12 springs and seventy palms, suggests that the events at Marah were a trial for the people. The Rabbis found many allusions in this narrative to Matan Torah.

In the Mechilta we find explanations of the phrase ויורהו – and He showed him. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai suggests that Hashem showed Moshe something from the Torah and others explain that He showed him the Torah which is analogous to a tree עץ חיים היא למחזיקים בה – a tree of life to those who grasp it and He granted the people life at Marah by sweetening the waters.

Seder Olam (ch.5) explains the phrase ושם שם לו חק ומשפט – and there He made for them a statute and an ordinance as ‘there He gave to Israel 10 Miztvot’! These Ten Commandments consisted of the seven Noachide laws and Shabbat, Dinim and honouring your mother and father.

In addition to these hints the Mechilta explains the phrase “to the voice of the Lord your God” as the Ten Commandments that were transmitted orally in ten voices.

Thus it is clear that the Rabbis saw in the text an allusion to Matan Torah immediately after Bnei Yisrael moved fron the banks of Yam Suf.

A further support for this theory is found in explanations of the three day journey. The Rabbis learn from these three days without water that we must not go three days without a public reading of the Torah and hence we now perform Kriat HaTorah on Mondays and Thursdays as well as on Shabbat.

Hashem establishes a covenant at Marah. Bnei Yisrael complained about a lack of food in the wilderness and Hashem grants them Manna from heaven. The entire chapter concerning Manna is really an introduction to the laws of Shabbat. For example, Shmot 16:4 ‘Then said the Lord unto Moses: 'Behold, I will cause to rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in My law (תורתי), or not.’ Chapter 16 discusses the laws of Shabbat concerning the Manna and the concept of preparing for Shabbat on Erev Shabbat. It is explicit in 16:29-30 ‘See that the Lord has given you Shabbat; therefore He gives you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.' So the people rested on the seventh day.

Yes, Hashem gave the Torah on Mount Sinai 49 days after the Exodus but it would appear that upon leaving Egypt and beginning the arduous journey to Eretz Yisrael that Hashem gave some parts of the Torah at an earlier stage.