This week's Torah reading records the most important event since the Creation. Ma'amad Har Sinai or the revelation at Sinai could actually be presented as more important than Creation. It is incumbent upon all of us to think about how we relate to that seminal episode. Whenever the Torah recounts a historical occurrence, we must ask what is the significance of that incident to me, 3300 years later. We ask these questions at our Pesach seder and in our sukkah, and we must equally consider it for the giving of the Torah.

I want to try and understand the experience at the foot of Mt. Sinai, and then ponder our connection to it. One of the verses describing the overwhelming impression made by the incident says, 'And they saw the thunder and the lightening.' So, the midrash explains, 'They saw what is normally heard, a unique event.' For the more prosaic, there are those who describe this to mean that sight is the greatest of our senses and, therefore, is used in a general way to mean, 'they sensed.' But we have the souls of poets and want a more inspiring approach.

The idea that the Jews saw what normally could be heard seems to describe a sensory overload. As if the pyrotechnics at Sinai blew some neural fuses. The complaint of the people to Moshe, 'You speak to us and we will listen, so that Hashem will not speak to us, lest we die,' is a pretty strong indication that the experience was overwhelming. Perhaps, this is what prophecy is, but the prophets are in some way prepared or specially suited to this intrusion on their nervous system. So, Moshe can respond,' Don't be afraid.' We on the hand cower, 'distance ourselves, while Moshe approaches the mist where Hashem is.'

Moshe also informs us that all this is 'in order that His fear will be upon you so that you will not sin.' Now we begin to see a purpose in this pandemonium. Somehow, this attack on our senses leaves a positive spiritual imprint on our collective psyche. This impact (like that of the exodus from Egypt and splitting of the Yam Suf) is cross generational. Perhaps this is what is meant by saying that all our souls were at the epiphany at Sinai. There are a few ways of dealing with this dictum. Some say that we are all sharing those 603,550 souls standing at the foot of Mt. Sinai; others that all souls made that pilgrimage before settling within us (a feat easier for entities not bound by the fourth dimension); still another possibility is that the midrash is a literary allegory. But whatever your approach, we seem to be acknowledging the impact of that event upon us all and for all time.

The S'fat Emet understands this phenomenon also as meta-sensory. He feels that this 'seeing the sounds' must be understood in conjunction with the verse in D'varim VI:6, 'I command you today.' The Rebbe sees the true intent of the verse must be understood in the use of the present tense. We received this divine message on the soul wave length. The soul (as we alluded to above) is a portion of the Godly implanted in us all. As a purely spiritual component it is not bound by physical limitations of space and time. Therefore, the soul is still experiencing it; the communication of Mt. Sinai is continually resonating within us. This could explain the mishne in the sixth chapter of Pirkei Avot, 'That a voice comes from Sinai every day.' But how do we access it? When a Jew expends effort on Torah and mitzvoth this spiritual enlightenment extends from his soul to his body. Concentrated involvement in these activities can recreate ma'mad har Sinai. The rebbe goes on to elucidate that this can most effectively be achieved on shabbat when other spiritual factors contribute to a greater level of spiritual ambiance. We, therefore have an eternal element to that momentous historical event.

Reb Chayim Volozhin in Nefesh Hachayim takes this idea one step further. In the eleventh chapter of the third section, Reb Chayim explains the mystical idea that Hashem and His statements are one. By that we mean that when Hashem in the creative process said, 'Let there be,' His spirit entered the created object and its existence eternally depends upon Him. If you got that point good, but if you didn't, don't worry. What concerns me is the next thing Reb Chayim says. We are sadly oblivious to this permeation of Hashem's presence in our midst. Our physical body blocks are ability to see this spiritual reality. Our flesh and blood senses only perceive physical reality. We miss a whole spiritual dimension to our world.

Reb Chayim goes on to explain that in olam haba ('the world to come') our senses will be purified and clarified to the point of grasping this other reality. 'And all flesh will see together that the mouth of God speaks. (Isaiah XL:5)' Well, this form of extra sensory perception already existed once in the past, namely ma'amad har Sinai. The 'seeing what could normally be heard, and the hearing of what could normally be seen' describes this clarity of perception. This super sensitivity was achieved through a diminishing of the physical world's hold over us. Without this drag on our receptors we went beyond sensing to understanding. For the first time in history people didn't see but, instead, grasped the meaning of what they were inspecting. Our eyes didn't tell us 'what' but 'why', and that 'why' is a spiritual reality. This meta-sensitivity perceived Hashem.

Now, let's add the S'fat Emet to the Reb Chayim. The rebbe says that the use of the present tense in 'they see the thunder' means that this special sensory affect can be achieved eternally. And so does Reb Chayim. In the fourteenth chapter of the fourth section of Nefesh Hachayim, he states, 'that just as at that holy convocation they all cleaved to His word, so, too, whenever one truly is involved and toils in Torah, he becomes attached to His words. Because all Torah is the utterances of God's mouth to Moshe Rabbeinu. Even what the littlest student asks his rebbe. Every sincere student of Torah in his little cubicle, that cubicle becomes immersed in the flames of His speech, and ma'amad har Sinai is reenacted.' Reb Chayim then elucidates what a tremendous impact that has upon the entire world.

We have the story of the giving of the Torah and we study it, not for some arcane historical curiosity, but because we want it to change our lives. The act of Torah study attaches us to Him like no other endeavor. We are told about the super sensitivity at Har Sinai, not for information, but for emulation.

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