The World's Need for Sinai

A Shavuot D'var Torah by Rabbi Benjamin H. Englander

The festival of Shavuot is associated with the giving of the Torah to Israel at Mount Sinai. The Torah is replete with details describing this great experience in human history -- the confrontation with God in His pronouncement of the Ten Commandments.

"The mount was enveloped with smoke -- amidst thunder and lightning and the blast of the Shofar," God made His will known.

The striking aspect is that this revelation was not limited to an individual or a chosen few, but that an entire people heard the fateful words which changed the course of history. Not only Israel were witnesses, but the entire world heard the blast of the Shofar: "V'kol hashofar holech misof haolam ad sofo." "The blast of the Shofar reached to the ends of the world."

The Midrash further elaborates upon it: "The rulers of the nations trembled, and recited prayers. They conferred with Bilam, their soothsayer: "What is the tumult we hear? Is there to be another flood? 'Nay,' said Bilam again, pointing out to them God's promise never again to bring destruction upon all humanity.

'What then is this great noise that we heard?' Bilam answered, 'The Holy One, blessed be He, had a rare possession in His treasure-house -- it was with Him for untold generations before He created the world. He now gives it to His children, for the verse reads, "Hashem oz l'amo yiten --The Lord gives strength to His people." They thereupon responded, "Hashem yevarech et amo bashalom -- The Lord blesseth His people with peace."

Mankind today faces a crucial moment. Technology has progressed far since the days of Moses -- not God, but man, it is feared, will let loose a rain of destructive nuclear devices to bring a veritable flood of fire upon the earth -- and what is not consumed by the flame would be destroyed by the fallout in its wake.

We are caught in the tide of human tribulation. Its ebb and flow is unpredictable and to what shore it will lead, we do not know. We hear the shouting and the tumult -- the bombs in Vietnam, and the explosion in the Dominican Republic. How long will it take to defrost and turn the "cold war" into a "hot" one? "Is Vietnam the beginning of a third world war?" the New York Times asked.

If the world today is sick at heart, if civilization lies prostrate, it is because the nations of the world have not learned that real civilization and humanitarianism can result only if we recognize a higher law dictated by morality: the law of justice instead of greed; the law making for righteousness instead of avarice.

Alas, the world needs a Sinai most today. A cataclysmic confrontation with its Creator -- to hear once again the spiritual voice pronouncing the great verities by which man shall live: "Love thy neighbor as thyself"; "Help the sick, the poor, and the downtrodden"; "Justice, justice do pursue!"

For years, the world has been bleeding -- engaged in a cold war, the two dominant powers have divided mankind into two camps -- the East and the West. Thousands of our best young men and women are being brought to early graves. Others are maimed and wounded, crippled for life. What is the underlying cause for this bloodshed? What is the reason that peoples look upon each other with suspicion and hatred, and stand ready to unsheathe their most destructive weapons? Why is the United Nations, in which we had placed so much hope, muted and faltering? Why is it not able to enlist the wholehearted support of all nations, and seems to be doomed to ineffectiveness?

The reason is simple enough -- the world has yet to learn the philosophy of "Live and let live." From childhood, the Russian child is indoctrinated with the poisonous venom of hate, as is our own American child conditioned to suspicion and distrust.

Our sages teach: "The Mitzvot were give only for the purpose of refining the brute," You will recall the popular story: "A pagan came to the great sage Hillel: 'Teach me all of the Torah while I stand on one foot,' he demanded. Hillel in a soft voice replied, 'What is hateful unto thee, do not do unto others. THAT is all of Torah -- the rest is commentary!'" All of Torah is for the purpose of developing a relationship with our fellow man -- even the reverence for God is for the purpose of developing a respect for man.

Former president Dwight D. Eisenhower once said, "Genuine peace is not a negative thing. It is not merely the absence of open warfare. Rather, it is a positive program having four component parts, no one of which can be ignored. The component parts are economic cooperation, controlled military power, understanding amongst peoples, and a genuine desire for peace."

"Live and Let Live" -- the White and the Black, the Arab and the Jew, the Communist and the Capitalist: each has a contribution to make, and through each the world can call itself blessed! This is the tool with which to fashion a world at peace! Not coexistence, but mutual respect; not tolerance, but a reciprocal understanding is the crying need for mankind today.

Since Israel stood at Mount Sinai, humanity has participated in a number of "meetings at the summit," seeking the moral law and the road to peace. The Congress at Vienna, the Peace Conference at Versailles, the meeting at San Francisco to launch the United Nations -- men stood in awe, humbled by the rubble of the great destruction which they had brought about!

Must the world experience another holocaust before another such meeting takes place? Must the evil now in our midst be washed away by the blood of millions of innocent people? Can't man remove the weights from his heart and the plugs from his ears to hear the call to yet another Sinai? The Great Shofar must be sounded, and all nations must gather to take upon themselves the voluntary disciplines, restrictions of individual sovereignty, and the yoke of self-restraint. I submit that our situation calls for a great dramatic demonstration to which humanity can respond, as did our ancestors of old: "Na'aseh v'nishmah -- We will do and we will obey" -- for the sake of the greater mankind and better world that is to come.

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