Beneath the Mountain: a poetic midrash for Shavuot
The Israelites did not accept the Torah until the Blessed Holy One held the mountain over them like a vessel, as it is said: And they stood beneath the mountain (Exod. 19:17). R. Dimi the son of Hama stated that the Blessed Holy One told Israel: “If you accept the Torah, well and good; but if not, your grave will be there….As soon as God [finally] asked them, “Will you accept the Torah?” they all responded, “We will do and hear,” - Midrash Tanhuma In this midrash the rabbis implied that the people’s response to God “we will do and we will hear” (Exodus 24:7) was not so simple, as the mountain was being held over their head at the time. Still they could have decided that death was better than becoming slaves to a new master, even though this master would be God and not Pharaoh. This midrash reminds us that, even when the right choice may seem clear, sometimes the situation in which we find ourselves can cloud our ability to see clearly. That is the essence of this midrashic ...