We are less than one week away from the joyous holiday of Shavuot, the holiday that marks out receiving of the Torah, which will begin this coming Thursday night.
The Jewish people received their fundamental belief in the holy Torah from the prophecies of Moshe Rabbeinu, for he was the one who taught most of its laws to the Jewish nation. Yehoshua bin Nun learned the Torah from him after which he passed it on to the Elders, with this tradition being transferred from generation to generation until it reached us in our day and age. Indeed, the basic tenets of the Jewish belief system, which still exist firmly today, have their roots in the holy Torah which we received on Har Sinai (Mount Sinai) upon becoming a holy nation on the holiday of Shavuot.
The Rambam (Chapter 8 of Hilchot Yesodei Ha’Torah) writes: “The Jewish people did not believe in Moshe Rabbeinu because of the wonders that he performed, for whoever believes only because of wonders being performed has ill ideology in his heart, as wonders can be performed through magic and witchcraft as well. Rather, all of the wonders that Moshe performed in the desert were purely because they were necessary and in no way were they used to prove that his prophecies were true; when the Egyptians had to be decimated, he split the sea and drowned them in it, when the Jewish people needed sustenance, he brought down the Man (Manna), when they thirsted, he had water gush forth from a rock, when Korach and his band challenged him, the earth swallowed them up, so-on and so-forth regarding the other miracles. What caused them (the Jewish nation) to believe in him? At the gathering by Har Sinai where our own eyes saw and our own ears heard the fire, thunder, lightning, and Moshe entering the thick cloud, as well as us hearing Hashem’s voice tell Moshe, ‘Moshe, Moshe! Go and tell them such-and-such!’ as the verse states, ‘Face to face did Hashem speak to you,’ and yet another verse states, ‘Not with our forefathers [alone] did Hashem make this covenant.’”
Since all of the souls of the Jewish nation, including our own, as well as all of the souls of all righteous converts who would convert in the future were present at the time the Jewish nation received the Torah, the awesome event by Har Sinai still echoes in our ears and stands before our very eyes until this very day, for on that day all seven levels of Heaven were opened and Hashem’s Holy Throne was revealed to us.
An incident occurred with Hagaon Harav Yehonatan Eibeshitz, that when he was a young boy, the king heard about his unusual wisdom and sharpness and requested that he come see him. When Harav Yehonatan arrived at the palace, the king instructed everyone to conceal where his room was as he wished that the boy trek around the palace alone until he found him. Upon finding the king in record speed, the king asked him, “How did you know how to locate my room?” Rabbi Yehonatan answered, “By asking those in the palace where the king’s room is.” The king told him, “If one person would tell you to go right and another to go left, what would you do?” Rabbi Yehonatan replied, “I would ask a third person and follow his directions, for his would then be the majority opinion.” The king then retorted, “If you always follow the majority opinion, why do you not believe in Christianity? We Christians are much greater than you Jews in number and, thus, you should convert to our religion!”
Rabbi Yehonatan replied, “Honored king, now that I see your highness sitting on the royal throne bedecked in royal garments, even if all the people in the world come and convince me that you are not the king, I shall not believe them. So too, we, the Jewish nation, who received our holy Torah amid our eyes seeing Hashem speaking through the fire, “I am Hashem your G-d,” can only believe what our eyes see.
