Shavuot 5767: Perception is the Key to Revelation

Shavuot is the day we commemorate the giving of the Ten Commandments. Immediately after the recitation of the Ten Commandments, we read

15. And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the sound of the shofar, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they were shaken, and stood far away. [Exodus 20, 15]

How does one see thunder or the sound of the shofar? One way is that the word for seein Hebrew means to perceive. In that case, hearing would be including in perception. So I looked into the Targums to see what the Aramaic translation. Had they had problems with this word, they would have changed it. They might have used hear or another word for perceive in their translations. I found that the Targums Onkelos, Neofiti and Pseudo Jonathan use the word which only means see. None used the word for see that could mean realize or perceive. Targum Pseudo Jonathan, adding a bit to the verse, translates:

15) And all the people saw the thunder how they were changed in the hearing of each and every one of them, and how they were coming out from within the fire, and the sound of the shofar how it revived the dead, and the mountain smoking. All the people saw and trembled so they stood twelve miles away. [Ps-J Ex: 20:15]

It didn’t make much sense. I checked the word thunderings in Midrash Rabbah. It clarifies the above, but starts with another problem with this text.

It says: And all the people perceived the thunderings (Ex. XX, 15). Note that it does not say ‘the thunder ‘, but ’ the thunderings ‘; wherefore R. Johanan said that God's voice, as it was uttered, split up into seventy voices, in seventy languages, so that all the nations should understand. When each nation heard the Voice in their own vernacular their souls departed, save Israel who heard but who were not hurt. [Ex. R. 5:9]

The rabbis play on the word for thunder, which is a plural for sounds or voices. Since it is in the plural, it must mean more than one. It was not thunder at all but the Voice of God translated into every language simultaneously. That way, everyone would understand. This apparently overwhelmed everyone but the Israelites. The Midrash continues:

Just see how the Voice went forth-coming to each Israelite with a force proportioned to his individual strength-to the old, according to their strength, and to the young, according to theirs; to the children, to the babes and to the women, according to their strength, and even to Moses according to his strength, as it is said: Moses spoke, and God answered him by a voice (Ex. XIX, 19), that is, with a voice which he could endure. Similarly, it says: The voice of the Lord is with power (Ps. XXIX, 4)3; not ‘with His power’, but ’with power’, i.e. with the power of each individual, even to pregnant women according to their strength. Thus to each person it was according to his strength. [Ex. R. 5:9]

Revelation at Sinai was not the same for everyone. It was according to how that person could understand without being overwhelmed. God did not change the people to understand one message. God changed the message so that each person understood it.

Lately, I have been looking at how individuals perceive the world. There are three primary senses: sight (Visual), hearing (Auditory) and touch (Kinesthetic). I conducted a survey of sensory preferences last week of the Shlomo’s Drash e-list. Earlier that week, I tried the same thing on restaurant managers. This week and next I am surveying health inspectors. My goal is to see whether different occupations or activities have a tendency towards one preference. God changed his message to the individual at Sinai. Can people do the same when communicating?

What I found among these groups was rather interesting. My first shock was the restaurant managers. 85 percent of them had split preference for the visual and the kinesthetic. While data is still preliminary, it looks like the inspectors will be strongly Visual. All but one in the survey are Visuals, and that one is Visual-Kinesthetic. Among Shlomo’s Drash readers who responded, approximately 24% were Kinesthetic, 20% were split Visual-Kinesthetic and 20% were visual.

Anybody notice what’s missing?

Indeed the smallest numbers on any of the groups I surveyed are Auditory preferences. This is reflected on the national survey I researched. A vast majority of people do not use their hearing as their preferred way of perceiving the world. Close to 65% of you reading this use your auditory channel the least of the three. Yet the text in Exodus 20:1 reads And God spoke all these words, saying. God giving the Ten Commandments verbally is the worst way to communicate.

Thus I believe that the use of see the thunders was more than just changing its strength for each and every person. It changed into the modality that each person could understand the best. Anochi Hashem Eloqecha was not just sounds. It was visions and it was feelings as well. Everyone had the experience of divine revelation. No one person had the same experience. As these were former slaves and thus physical laborers, it is likely they too were Kinesthetics. Many felt the sound and trembled, then did a very kinesthetic thing – they moved away.

Divine revelation, either at the moment at Sinai, or today is given in one particular way. More likely than not, God rarely talks directly to someone. Instead God communicates in the modality that makes the most sense to the receiver.

Shavuot is the time when we commemorate the giving of Torah at Sinai, through the act of divine revelation. We thus commemorate divine revelation itself. We remember that every day God gives us Torah. Indeed the Maharal of Prague noted that in the Torah blessings we do not use the past tense who gave us the Torah. Instead we use the present tense who gives us the Torah. Each of us does not perceive the daily giving of Torah the same way. Thus God sends a different message to each one of us. We need only to pay attention and see.

Or Hear…or Feel…