We have just celebrated the Festival of Shavuot, whose central theme is the Giving of the Torah.

Referring to G-d’s voice as He gave the Ten Commandments the Torah says “Kol Gadol v’lo Yasof” – “A great sound that never ended”.

What does this mean?

The Midrash gives three explanations:

a) The Giving of the Torah was not limited to the time and place of Mt Sinai. Rather G-d continues to “say” Torah in every generation. Each time a person who immerses himself in Torah gains new insight, or gives forth an explanation, it is a continuation of G-d’s initial revelation, as if G-d Himself is speaking at the time.

b) The Torah did not end with Hebrew – the Holy Tongue. Rather Torah was translated into all the original seventy languages of mankind.

c) G-d’s voice, at the Giving of the Torah, did not create an echo; it was not stopped by the mountains and did not reverberate. Rather it penetrated and saturated everything it came in contact with.

On a deeper level, we can understand from the above the obligation of every Jew:

a) To ensure that each of us become vehicles for G-d’s Word. Every single Jew has a portion in Torah, as we read in our prayers (in the blessings before the morning Shema), “Give us OUR portion in Your Torah”, Each of us, through applying our souls and minds in Torah, will discover in Torah something that is uniquely ours; an insight or an explanation that was waiting for thousands of years for us – and no one else – to uncover.

Of course we have to be careful not to interpret Torah in a manner that G-d did not intend – this is called ‘revealing an illegal face of Torah’ and is a serious transgression. However if we study the Torah and its commentaries with humility, hence developing within ourselves Torah thinking and a Torah “mentality”, we will eventually discover the part of the Torah that is uniquely ours. This is what is meant when it is said that every Jew has a letter in the Torah.

b) To ensure that the Torah does not remain with the Jewish People alone but that its principles are shared with all the other inhabitants of Earth (and perhaps beyond!) in a language that they understand.

Before the Torah was given G-d said, “And you will be for me a Kingdom of Priests and a Holy Nation”. Just as it was the responsibility of the Cohanim (the Jewish priests) to impart wisdom to the Jewish People, so too is it the responsibility of every Jew to be a “priest” to the non-Jewish world imparting to them Divine Wisdom.

This of course does not mean that we should convert them to Judaism or teach them the entire Torah. It does however mean that we must teach them those parts of Torah that are applicable to them – Belief in G-d, Love and Awe of G-d, and of course the Seven Naochide Laws.

c) To ensure that the Torah penetrates and becomes part of the very physical world. Unlike other religions, we do not believe in a spirituality of abstinence. On the contrary, Torah teaches us to that our role is to find the Holy Spark in all material things and to use it for the service of G-d.

This is why we find in the Talmud the expression, “I have created the Yetzer Hara (Evil Inclination) – I have created the Torah as spices for it.”

What do spices do for food? They make the inedible, tasty. So too without Torah, the world has no taste, no ultimate function, no purpose. With Torah, the world is elevated to its rightful place as a part of the Divine Revelation.

This then is our role, to peer at everything through the “looking glass” of Torah, and thereby to reveal the G-dliness that resides in it.

Although we Jews believe in the life of the soul in Gan Eden after its earthly body returns to dust, for us this is not the ultimate goal of either the soul or the body. The entire purpose of the soul is to reveal both within the body and within the world Divinity and Holiness. And indeed it does this through leading a life true to the principles of the Torah and its Commandments – although this is not always apparent during its brief sojourn here on earth.

The ultimate destiny of both the soul and the body is achieved when they are reunited at the time of the Revival of the Dead (Techiat HaMeitim) and once again inhabit this world together. At that time all the good that has been done during the soul’s previous sojourns will become openly manifest – “all flesh will see that the Mouth of G-d has spoken”.

Our souls and bodies, the non-Jewish world and indeed the physical world itself, will have been openly and manifestly transformed into a “Dwelling Place for G-d” – may it occur speedily in our days!

With blessings for a Good Shabbos and much success in our holy work of ensuring that the voice of G-d penetrates our own souls, those of the Jews and non-Jews in our sphere of influence, and the world itself,

Rabbi Benzion Milecki