By: Renée Rockford
President & CEO
Seeing. Hearing. This week’s parsha, Parshat Yitro (Exodus 18:1-20:23) teaches us much about both and is grounded in one of the most important events in our Jewish story. As the Jewish people gathered at the foot of Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments, the parsha describes the event: “And all the people saw the voices and the torches, the sound of the shofar, and the smoking mountain, and the people saw and trembled…” How can people “see” voices? In the words of Rabbi Akiva: “They saw that which is usually heard, and they heard that which is usually seen.” The experience was undoubtedly overwhelming, powerful, and complete.
Science now confirms for us that seeing and hearing are intertwined: our eyes and ears work together to create a complete picture of our surroundings, with the brain integrating information from both senses to better understand and interpret the world around us.
Seeing and hearing are ways we recognize the presence, the being, and the pain or the joy of others. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks z’l saw this as, “a profound affirmation of the humanity of the other.”
Part of JEWISHcolorado’s role of convening numerous groups in our community is to ensure that we see, hear, honor, and share the experiences of others; that we work together for the betterment of our community.
Author Chana Weisberg says at Mount Sinai, heaven and the earth, spirituality and physicality touched for the first time. And just like seeing and hearing, the Divine consciousness and the finite physical world can work together to make our world complete.
Wishing you Shabbat Shalom.
Please email Renée Rockford at rrockford@jewishcolorado.org with questions or comments.