Parashat Yitro 5786

by Rabbi Margie Cella

Now that the people of Israel had passed safely through the Red Sea, with the threat posed by Pharaoh and his army finally eliminated, they traveled towards Sinai, where they would camp at the foot of the mountain. There they would prepare to receive revelation from God.

In chapter 18, verse 3 of Exodus, we read, “They entered the wilderness of Sinai and encamped [ויחנו] in the wilderness. Israel encamped [ויחן] there in front of the mountain.” In English, nothing seems remarkable about this verse, because English grammar does not make a distinction between past tense verbs in the singular versus the plural. Hebrew is, of course, a different story. Looking at the Hebrew verbs, the first instance of the word “encamped” is in the plural form, whereas the second is in the singular form. Yet both are referring to the people of Israel! Surely this nuanced change of verb form must carry some significance.

Rashi and others explain the discrepancy by saying that, usually, the plural verbs used in referring to Israel indicate that they acted with dissent and disagreement. The singular verb used to describe their encampment at Sinai indicates that now they acted with one heart as a people united with a singularity of purpose. There was peace in their encampment. According to Midrash Vayikra Rabbah, it was at that moment that God decided to give the Torah to Israel, God’s children.

Today, after over 2000 years of being dispersed throughout the world, we Jews are very different in our appearance and our cultural norms, and yet we are all recipients of God’s Torah.

Oseh Shalom, Maker of Peace, may we all strive to act as one united people, whose goal is to bring peace into the world for us and our children and grandchildren.