TO BE A JEW – PART IV
Seventy Tongues of Torah
By Ashirah Yosefah
Over 3500 years ago in a barren
desert plain surrounding the lowliest mountain in the area, an event occurred
that literally shook both earth and heaven.
So great, so unlike any other occurrence known to man was this event
that it was forever inscribed upon the minds of not a few, but 600,000 men, with
their wives, their children and those sojourners who traveled in their
midst. Not one, not a few, as in other
religions, but in excess of 2.5 million witnesses received a Divine revelation.
“If we are to begin to internalize
the magnitude of the Giving of the Torah, which took place without media
coverage, we must try to think ourselves out of our own noisy, sophisticated
world. We must try to project ourselves back into the stark, awesome, silent
grandeur of the "wilderness", the MIDBAR, where man
In the
Talmud (Shabbat 88b), it states:
“Rabbi
Yochanan asked, what is the meaning of the verse, ‘Hashem gave forth an
utterance; [they became] announcements to a great host [of nations]’ (Psalms
68:12)? [Why does this verse switch from the singular ‘utterance’ to the plural
‘announcements’?] Rather, every utterance
that the Almighty spoke [at Sinai] split into seventy languages.
Rabbi
Yochanan said, “The voice split into seventy voices for the seventy (basic)
languages, in order that each Nation should hear the Voice in its own language.”
(Midrash Rabbah to Exodus, 85:19)
We are told
in Devarim 1:5 that “Moshe began explaining this Torah.” Rashi actually translates this as “Moshe
began clarifying this Torah” and continues in his commentary on the verse
to explain “He explained it to them in seventy languages.” (Rashi to Devarim 1:5) Early commentators concur and state further that
since the Jewish people had no use for the seventy languages, the languages
must have been intended each one for its individual nation.
Returning
to the Talmud (Shabbat 88b):
Rabbi
Yismael learned [this from the verse], [‘Hashem’s word is] like a hammer that
shatters rock’ (Jeremiah 23:29). Just as
a hammer causes many sparks to fly when it strikes a rock, so also every
statement and every word that left the mouth of the Holy One split into seventy
languages.”
Later Torah
commentators, such as the Sfas Emet in the name of Chiddushei HaRim, explained
that translating the Torah into seventy languages distilled some of the light
of Torah into those languages and those who speak them. Later, when Jews went into exile, they were
able to maintain their bond with Torah through these translations even while
under the domination of other nations.
Seventy
languages for seventy nations of God’s making at the confusion of tongues in
“You
shall be to Me a kingdom of ministers and a holy nation. These are the words that you are to speak to
the Children of
The Stone
Edition Tanach asterisks the word “ministers” in this verse and comments as
follows in its commentary:
“A
kingdom of ministers … Although usually translated as priests, the word כהנים in the context of this verse means that the entire nation is to
be dedicated to leading the world toward an understanding and acceptance of
God’s mission.” (Stone Edition Tanach, Parsha Yitro 19:6, pg. 181)
Rashi and
Ibn Ezra also translated the word כהנים in Shemot 19:5 as “ministers”, according
it the implication of servants of the King, in the sense that King David’s
servants were ministers who carried out his bidding, so, too, the Children of
Israel are to be ministers of HaKadosh Baruch Hu.
Where we to
use the traditional translation of this verse, “kingdom of priests”, when we
read the prophet Malachi’s stinging rebuke of the Cohanim and Leviim in Malachi
2:1-9, we find that the priests were designated by God to be teachers of truth,
of Torah:
“For the
lips of the Kohen should safeguard knowledge, and people should seek teaching
from his mouth; for he is an agent of Hashem, Master of Legions.” (Malachi 2:7)
As the
Cohanim are to
The great
Rambam (Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon) did not mince his words when writing his Mishneh
Torah, Hilchot Melachim u’Milchamoteihem, Halacha 8:10:
“By the
same token, Moses was commanded by the Almighty to compel all the
inhabitants of the world to accept the laws given to Noah’s descendents.”
The Hebrew
word used by the Rambam and translated into English as “compel” is the word לכף (lakuf).
It means to forcibly compel or influence. Tosefot Yom Tov (Avot 3:14) elaborates
on this injunction to be forceful as “compulsion through persuasion, to lead
their hearts to the will of their Creator,” even though a literal
translation the word indicates the use of physical force. In modern Hebrew,
the word lakuf is used when teaching a horse to ride with a saddle so as
to tame it’s natural tendency to wildness.
The horse trainer forcibly persuades the horse to accept the yoke
of the saddle.
This was
not that Moshe should single-handedly take the Universal Torah Laws to the
world; but that Moshe received the command direct from Hashem and instructed
the Children of Israel that they and their descendants thereafter were to
fulfill this mitzvah. In the translation
and commentary of the Rambam’s Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Melachim
u’Milchamoteihem, Halacha 8:10 by Rabbi Eliyahu Touger (Moznaim Publishing
Corporation), it is stated:
“This
obligation is incumbent upon every individual in every era. … The Jews must
serve as “a light unto the nations” (Isaiah 42:6) teach them the Seven Mitzvot
and instructing them in proper behavior.
Similarly, the Chatam Sofer (
In recent
decades, the late Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson emphatically stressed this
Torah obligation on Jews and went so far as to suggest that not fulfilling this
mitzvah could be part of the reason that the world is still awaiting Moshiach! (Purim,
5747, Sichos in English, vol.35, p.6)
The Lubavitcher Rebbe initiated a global campaign known as 770 that
continues to this day with the express purpose of teaching the Universal Torah
Laws to the nations. The Rebbe also
connected this responsibility of Jews to the nations with the prospect of
attaining the very peace that presently alludes the
world (and particularly
In these critical times,
when nations are challenging one another and violence is increasing in an
unbelievable manner, the Jews have the power to bring about peace in the entire
world.... Ideally, a Jew should stand proudly before the gentiles and explain
to them the Seven Noahide Laws, emphasizing that they should be carried out not
because they appear to be logically sound, but because God commanded them.... (Yud
Tes Kislev, 5743, Sichos in English, vol. 13, p.19, 33)
The
Midrashim tell us that Hashem first offered Torah to the nations of the world,
but they refused. So great was HaKadosh
Baruch Hu’s desire to share His Torah with the world that Israel received the
Torah with Har Sinai suspended over our heads, with lightning and thunder, and
a Voice that shook heaven and earth, lest we also fail to accept God’s
blueprint for all Creation and our responsibility to be It’s official
ambassadors to the nations.
The Torah
must be revealed to the world because the Creator of the Universe desires to
bestow His perfection upon this world. (Derech Hashem 2:1, Moshe Chaim
Luzzato) He desires that this world be
a place where His Presence is manifested.
Man has the ability to choose a relationship with their Creator that will
one day restore Edenic consciousness, that elevated spirituality
and awareness of the magnitude of the Infinite Creator that Adam enjoyed at the
time of his creation. Understanding and
following the Torah is the key. It is
the path of return. Within it are
concealed all the intricacies for restoration and Redemption.
We are all part
of a magnificent drama being played out on a universal stage.
“Anybody
who is worthy of understanding the Master Game of the Creator, or who even
begins to get a glimpse of its magnitude through the teachings of the great
Jewish prophets and sages, can and will choose to participate in it – on God’s
side. And, although the Jewish people
play a crucial role in this drama, it is certainly not limited to Jews. The Jewish people are now involved in a
return to their land after almost 2000 years of exile. The majority of the Jewish people are
oblivious to the very teachings that could change their lives.” (Technology and the Return to
“When
the Jewish people begin to understand their role in the Messianic drama, others
will automatically join in. For
The roles of
Jew and Gentile are not the same, but they are similar with respect to the many
areas of Torah that are universal, that teach man to acknowledge and serve the
One True God, to honor and respect their family and community, to act in
accordance with justice, to live harmoniously with mankind and Creation itself. Or, as the Prophet Micah
summed it up so succinctly:
“What
does Hashem require of you but to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly
with your God?” (Micah 6:8)
In To Be
a Jew – Part V, we will discuss why it is that we Jews have not, until
lately, been more diligent in teaching the Universal Torah Laws to the nations.