The Possuk in this week’s Parsha tells us that: וְכָל הָעָם רֹאִים אֶת הַקּוֹלֹת וְאֶת הַלַפִידִם וְאֵת קוֹל הַשֹפָר וְאֶת הָהָר עָשֵן וַיַרְא הָעָם וַיָנֻעוּ וַיַעַמְדוּ מֵרָחֹק “All the people saw the voices and the fire torches, and the sound of the shofar, and the smoking mountain, and the people saw and trembled; so they stood from afar”.
There is a known inference from this Possuk which is pointed out in several Maamorim of various Chabad Lubavitch Rebbeim including a Maamor with the same Dibur Hamaschil as this very Maamor which was delivered one hundred years before our Maamor (in the year 5644 - 1884) where they ask: “What are these voices to which the above-mentioned Possuk refers”?
But all the things that were commanded at ‘Matan Torah‘ are simple uncomplicated instructions such as: ‘Do not murder’ or ‘Do not bear false witness’, etc. which are so obvious that even if we had not been commanded them we would know them anyway.
This is consistent with the statement of our sages of blessed memory (Tractate Eiruvin) “If we were not given the Torah, we would have learnt the trait of modesty from a cat ...”.
In the above-mentioned Maamor the Rebbe Rashab continues: “If we were to say that the reason why we were commanded these instructions (even though we would have known them anyway) is because of (the Talmudic rule) “Greater is the one who is commanded to do a Mitzvah and performs it than one who is not commanded to do a Mitzvah yet performs it just the same”. However, that would still not explain: What are these voices, and great fearsome noise that was heard at the time of ‘Matan Torah’? Especially when we take into consideration that these are simple obvious concepts that we would have known anyway.
Also in that Maamor, he points out that which our sages of blessed memory have mentioned in the Yalkut that: “When Hashem said ‘Onochi’ of the Aseres Hadibros each and every Jew said that Hashem was talking directly to him personally, which is why the Possuk uses the singular tense in the words: “I am Hashem your G-d” (and as the Possuk does with all the other commandments). So, we need to understand: Why did every individual Jew feel this personal approach of the Aseres Hadibros?
The continuation of the Maamor from the year 5644 (which is handwritten by the Rebbe Rashab’s Holy Hand) is incomplete, but we can appreciate what the continuation of the Maamor would have said by comparing this Maamor with other Maamorim that the Rebbe Rashab himself delivered as well as with earlier Maamorim from previous Rebbeim upon which the Rebbe Rashab based this Maamor. These being the Maamorim of the Tzemach Tzedek and of the Mitteler Rebbe and also the Maamorim of the Alter Rebbe.
The conceptual point of this explanation (of the Maamorim of our Rebbeim, particularly the Maamorim of the Rebbe Rashab) is that ‘Matan Torah’ was a Divine ‘Hamshocho’ of Hashem’s Atzmus in a revealed way (inasmuch as revelation is possible concerning the ‘Atzmus’ of Hashem).
This matter was effectuated through ‘Matan Torah’, because with ‘Matan Torah’ there was a nullification of the decree that prevented the supernal beings from descending down to this lowly world and prevented the lowly beings from ascending up to the higher realms. Therefore, it created the ...
