MADE YOU THINK

MounTains

Yoseph Janowski

Throughout the early Israelite history recounted in the Torah, mountains play a central role in several famous narratives. When G‑d told Abraham to bring his only son as an offering, it was on a mountain, Mount Moriah, the same plateau upon which the Holy Temples would later be built. When the Divine presence was revealed to Moses for the first time in the burning bush, it was adjacent to Mount Sinai, where G‑d later gave us the Torah, encapsulated in the Ten Commandments. In other places, mountains serve as focal points for moral lessons, prophetic visions, legendary battles and burial places.

What is the significance of mountains? They elevate us, offering higher perspectives to better see the world and each other, and to come closer to G‑d. Mountains connote elevation and transcendence, while climbing them serves as a metaphor for the methodological work required to get there.

When Abraham and Isaac were on the mountain, Abraham was about to sacrifice his son, which he thought was G‑d’s command. G‑d told him, “I said to offer him up there. I didn't say to sacrifice him,” and the episode was revealed to be the famous test to determine if Abraham could transcend his own self to do G‑d’s will. Having arrived at the mountain, standing on higher ground in a spiritual sense, he now had the vantage point to see the message and the true purpose. When we climb higher, it enables us to discover and bond with deeper parts of our selves, and G‑d.

After the Exodus from Egypt, it took forty‑ nine days until we arrived at a mountain, Mount Sinai, “as one person, with one heart.” It was not a forty‑nine day journey in the physical sense – it was forty‑nine dimensions of preparation, in order to arrive at the fiftieth gate where the Torah and its Giver are revealed. Every year, starting from the second day of Passover, we count forty‑ nine days, to prepare for Shavuot, when (just like the first time) we receive the Torah. Our sages tell us that the day we received the Torah at Mount Sinai was our wedding day, when G‑d married the Jewish people.

The Jewish people later entered the land of Israel and worshiped G‑d in the Temple on the mountain. Baseless hatred caused the Temple to be destroyed, and we were thrust, vanquished, into exile. But we didn't give up. We kept climbing higher, and became a light to the nations, revealing G‑d's presence wherever we went.

About forty years ago, the Lubavitcher Rebbe said that the time is ripe to publicize the seven Noahide Laws which the Torah mandates for all nations – originally given to Adam and Noah, and later codified in the Torah at Mount Sinai. The Rebbe taught that the Noahide Laws are the blueprint for a peaceful, prosperous and harmonious world. Nowadays, with the tremendous amount of deep division and polarization we are witnessing, the need for publicizing this blueprint for peace is greater than ever.

In addition to the mountain enabling us to see the landscape better, it also enables those around to witness, hear and see that which emanates from the mountain. The mountain revelations are meant to be messages for all of humanity. When Abraham descended from the mountain, it says that he returned to his attendants, who were not directly part of the experience, yet they rose and went on their way together. The revelation at Mount Sinai reverberated across the entire world, and it is the place where the Noahide Laws became officially enshrined. In the Holy Temple on Mount Moriah, the windows were carved into the walls so that they were narrow on the inside and wide on the outside – the opposite of what one would expect if the purpose was to let light in. But the purpose of the Temple and its windows is for the spiritual light to shine outward to the world to bring about universal Divine consciousness and unity.

And one day soon, we will climb the holy mountain. This time, it will be to the third Temple, where we will ascend to the utmost sublime level, loving one another, and truly united with G‑d, forever. In the meantime, let’s keep on climbing. EM