Faith and Commitment

After the revelation at Sinai and the Ten Commandments, we are told that the Jewish People were afraid of the awesomeness of the experience and asked Moshe to cut it short. They could not handle the “voice of God” and asked that Moshe serve as intermediary. Moshe responds (20:17): “Don’t be afraid; for Hashem revealed Himself today to nasot you.

There is some debate as to what the word nasot means here. Rashi claims that it is the verb form of nes, miracle. Moshe tells the people that God revealed Himself as an indication of the unique status of the Jewish People and God’s love for them. The Sinai Revelation was a sign of God’s involvement, just like a miracle.

Ramban objects to Rashi’s interpretation. He notes that we rarely ever find the verb form of miracle in Tanach, if anywhere at all. Instead, the Ramban suggests that nasot is a verb form of nisayon, test. The Revelation at Sinai served as some sort of test for the people, as to whether or not they would keep Torah and mitvot in the future.

The question then becomes: in what way is revelation and test for the Jews? One would think the exact opposite: the revelation at Sinai put to rest any doubts that the people may have had as to the existence of God; from this point forward, commitment to God’s laws should be easy, now that they people know that Hashem is real.

In his notes on the Ramban Rabbi Chayim Chavel writes:

“In this comment, the Ramban fundamentally alters our understanding concerning the relationship between faith and commitment.”

Conventional wisdom teaches that the reason why Jewish observance is lacking is related directly to the degree of faith in God. If you believe in God, then you will of course follow His commandments.

According to the Ramban, the revelation at Sinai teaches us that our test of commitment BEGINS after our questions of faith have been answered. In other words, Hashem is saying at Sinai, “You now have proof of the existence of God. Realize that there is still a challenge to follow My laws.”

Experience shows that people will often act against what they know to be the truth, or that which is good for them. Health and food intake are just one example. A person can have multiple health problems due to their diet and still not change. What the Ramban is saying is that commitment to Torah is the same thing: Just because we know that God exists, doesn’t mean that we will commit to act in accordance with that knowledge. Our humanity can very well get in our way.

The challenge does not end with a resolution of our faith questions, it merely begins there.

The lesson of the Ramban is an important one for many areas of our lives: We must strive to ensure that our actions reflect our deeply held beliefs.