Please, Force Me!
Education is the art of revealing something ostensibly new but was always a part of the student’s consciousness. The revelation at Sinai “merely” revealed our innate connection to G-d and His teachings that was instilled in us by our Patriarchs and Matriarchs. BAMIDBAR BAMIDBAR
The Complaint of the Nations
This week’s parsha “Bamidbar,” always precedes the festival of Shavuos, the anniversary of the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. We should take note of the way it begins because it can shed light on our understanding of the momentous event which occurred at Sinai.
The parsha commences with G-d’s commandment to Moses to count the Jewish nation.
Take the sum of the entire congregation of the children of Israel, by their families, by their fathers’ houses… The Midrash relates that when G-d gave the Torah to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai, BAMIDBAR the nations of the world lodged a complaint to G-d as to why they were deprived of this great gift.
G-d’s response to them was that the Jewish people were able to trace their genealogy as evidenced by the way they were counted “by their families and their father’s houses.” They were therefore entitled to receive the Torah.
Is it All about Genealogy?
What exactly is it about our genealogy that made us worthy of receiving the Torah?
To answer this question the nineteenth century sage, Rabbi Moshe Sofer, cites a passage of the Talmud where a parallel “complaint” the nations of the world addressed to G-d is discussed: The nations of the world, the Talmud states, argued that it was not fair that G-d coerced the Jewish people to accept the Torah when he placed the mountain over their head and declared: “Either you accept the Torah or you will all be buried underneath this mountain.” “Why BAMIDBAR did you not compel us to accept the Torah?” the nations argued.
The Value of Coercion
To understand why indeed did G-d force the Jews to accept the Torah and not the other nations, we must first address a more fundamental question: Of what value is the Torah if we had to be forced to accept it?
One explanation is that forcing someone to do something has value only in two circumstances:
First, in the case of a child or otherwise immature individual it may make sense to use some measure of pressure to get that child to do something good when one can assume that eventually—with proper guidance and support—the child will grasp the value of that coerced behavior and do it willingly. We may force a child to clean his room with the understanding that a time will come that the child will appreciate the value of having a tidy room on his or her own.
BAMIDBAR
Second, one may use some measure of force when we know that deep down the person has a core belief in the value of that behavior, but where external circumstances might have clouded the person’s thoughts so that he or she will resist doing that which he or she knows is right.
Usually, these core values are ingrained in a person due to the close relationship they have with their parents and grandparents. These family traditions and values will ultimately find their way into the hearts and minds of their children. And although they might stray from that path, some minimal pressure will allow them to express the latent feelings they already have in them.
They were Coerced to Express their True Desire
Of these two scenarios it is the latter one that primarily applied to the Jewish people. They had a family tradition going back to the Patriarchs and Matriarchs of the Jewish people that programmed them with a sense BAMIDBAR of devotion to G-d and His teachings. And notwithstanding the fact that their experience in Egypt obscured these feelings, the pressure G-d put on them to accept the Torah sufficed to awaken the inherent love they had for it; that they inherited from their fathers and mothers.
This then is the meaning of the Midrash that G-d gave the Torah to the Jewish people because they had a strong family tradition that enabled them to accept the Torah. It inculcated within them a fierce determination that come what may they will never abandon the Torah.
What about a Convert?
Of course, a convert to Judaism, who is prepared to accept all of Judaism’s dictates, is accepted as a full member of the Jewish community.
In one important respect, the convert is superior to one who is born Jewish. The Jew, for better or worse, is the beneficiary of generations of tradition that traces back to BAMIDBAR the Patriarchs and Matriarchs. The convert’s connection to Judaism is entirely voluntary. There is no family tradition and no Mount Sinai hovering over his or her head that compels him or her to embrace Judaism. It is the most free, independent and volitional commitment.
In Maimonides words to a convert who experienced discrimination, “While we trace ourselves back to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, you have a direct link to the Creator.”
The Prototype
The revelation of G-d at Mount Sinai is the prototype of the permanent revelation of G-d in the Messianic Age. One difference between these two events is that whereas we had to be coerced into accepting the Torah to reveal our inner desire for it, our acceptance of Moshiach and the Messianic Age should be and will be without the slightest reservation—with great joy and sincerity.
BAMIDBAR
From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Bamidbar by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
