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The pesukim in Shemos 19: 10-13 detail how the Jews were to prepare for
the receiving of the Torah. In his commentary on these pesukim RSRH
explains the uniqueness of Jewish Law. He writes in part:<br><br>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>Jewish Law is the
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>only
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>system of laws that did
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>not
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>emanate from<br>
the people whose constitution it was intended to be. Judaism is the
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>only<br>
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>“religion” that did
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>not
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>spring from the hearts of
the people who find<br>
in it the spiritual basis for their lives. It is precisely this
“objective”<br>
quality of Jewish Law and of the Jewish “religion” that makes them<br>
both unique, setting them apart clearly and distinctly from all else
on<br>
earth that goes by the name of law or religion. This quality makes
Jewish<br>
Law the sole factor in human culture that can be considered the
catalyst<br>
and ultimate goal of every other manifestation of progress, whereas
the<br>
Law itself, as the given absolute ideal, remains above and beyond
any<br>
idea of progress.<br><br>
All other “religions” and codes of law originate in the human minds<br>
of a given era; they merely express the conceptions of God, of human<br>
destiny, and of man’s relation to God and to his fellow man, that
are<br>
held by a given society in a particular period of history. Hence, all
these<br>
man-made religions and codes, like all other aspects of human
civilization<br>
— science, art, morals and manners — are subject to change<br>
with the passing of time. For by their very nature and origin they
are<br>
nothing but the expressions of levels reached by civilization at
various<br>
stages in human development.<br><br>
Not so the Jewish “religion” and Jewish Law. They do
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>not
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>stem from<br>
beliefs held by human beings at one period or another. They do not<br>
contain time-bound human concepts of God and of things human and<br>
Divine. They are God-given; through them men are told by God’s Will<br>
what their conceptions should be, for all time, about God and things<br>
Divine and, above all, about man and human affairs.<br><br>
From the very outset, God’s Torah stood in opposition to the people<br>
in whose midst it was to make its first appearance on earth. It was
to<br>
prove its power first of all upon this people, who opposed it
because<br>
they were an </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>am k'shei
oref</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>.
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>This resistance which the
Torah encountered<br>
among the people in whose midst it obtained its first home on earth is
the<br>
most convincing proof of the Torah’s Divine origin.
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>The Torah did not<br>
arise from </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><b><i>within the
people</i></b></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>, but was given
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><b><i>to
</i></b></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>the people, and
only<br>
after centuries of struggle did the Torah win the people’s hearts, so
that<br>
they became its bearers through the ages. (On the uniqueness of
Judaism<br>
and its relation to religion, see
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Collected
Writings</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>, vol. I, pp.
183–186;<br>
Commentary above, 6:7.)<br><br>
The purpose of all these preparations and restrictions is apparently<br>
to emphasize and mark this contrast as clearly as possible, at the
Torah’s<br>
first entrance into the world — a contrast that so fundamentally
characterizes<br>
the Torah’s nature and origin. The Torah is about to come
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><b><i>to<br>
</i></b></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>the people. Its
arrival is to be anticipated over a period of three days.<br>
In order to be worthy of even awaiting the Torah, the people must
first<br>
sanctify their bodies and their garments; that is, they must become<br>
worthy of receiving the Torah by becoming aware, symbolically, of
the<br>
rebirth — the renewal of their lives, within and without — that the<br>
Torah is to bring about. In their present state, they are not yet
ready<br>
to receive the Torah. Only their resolve to ultimately become what
they<br><br>
The distinction between the people about to receive the Torah, and<br>
the Source from which they are to receive it, is underscored also in<br>
terms of physical separation. The place from which the people are to<br>
receive the Torah is very clearly set apart from them. It is elevated
into<br>
the realm of the extraterrestrial. No man or animal may set foot
upon<br>
that place, or even touch it. Any living thing that sets foot upon it
must<br>
be put to death. Only when the Lawgiving has been completed will the<br>
place be restored to the terrestrial sphere, and both man and beast
will<br>
be free once more to walk upon it. Until that time, the people are
to<br>
be restricted by a boundary all around, beyond which they must not<br>
go. All this is done in order to illustrate
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>the fact of the Torah’s
superhuman,<br>
extraterrestrial origin.<br>
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>should be will make them
worthy of receiving the Torah.</font></body>
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