My wife and I tried to recall the date of a past trip. We remembered being stunned, on the way home, to hear on the radio that Kobe Bryant, his daughter, and others tragically died in a helicopter crash.
Having lived in Los Angeles since the days when Sabre Tooth Tigers and Whooly Mammoths cruised Wilshire Boulevard and congregated near the La Brea Tar Pits, memories of Kobe Bryant were created from his joining the Lakers right out of high school and continued for about two decades. We shared both his successes and controversy. While years have passed since their deaths, Los Angeles remains frequently reminded by the impromtu murals celebrating Bryants littered throughout the town. The tragedy did serve us a perfect reference. With a google search, we could easily get the trip’s date.
The Portion Yitro offers one of Torah’s most memorable moments-Mt. Sinai immediately prior to the Decalogue’s arrival.
This moment has special importance due to modern biblical studies. Modern biblical studies identifies Deborah’s Song as one of the earliest biblical writings.
The Judge Deborah sings that “the mountains quaked for the Lord, the one of Sinai, before the Lord, the God of Israel.” With this, we know that one of the Hebrew Bible’s earliest references is the Mt. Sinai experience.
In Yitro, it was reported “and it was on the third day, when it was morning, and it was: thunders and lightning and a heavy cloud on the mountain, and a sound of a horn, very strong. ..And Mount Sinai was all smoke because the Lord came down on it in fire, and its smoke went up like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled greatly.” Exodus 19:16-18
Thus, it is this moment of both earth shaking and pyrotechnics which connected people of antiquity to the sacred event. The spectacular happening created a cognitive breadcrumb trail which could lead to the commandments. In a world of limited literacy, this was a pathway that could lead to the re-discovery of the events true import.
In sum, it would be unwise to discount the spectacular in the analyzing the Ten Commandments’ ability to be generationaly transmitted.
Be well!!!
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