February 3, 2019 · 08:30:40
Preface to ChassidusPart I.A Fitting SequelTHE MOST SPECTACULAR EVENT IN OUR HISTORYThe greatest event in the history of our nation, the most remarkable spectacle that theAm Yisroelwould ever witness, wasMatan Torah.We stood at Har Sinai and we saw what nobody before ever saw. הנהיה כדבר הגדול הזה או הנשמע כמוהו השמע עם קול אלוקים מדבר מתוך האש כאשר שמעת אתה ויחי – “Has there ever been any such thing like this great event or has anything like it been heard?! Has a people ever heard the Voice of Hashem speaking from the midst of the fire as you have heard, and survived?!” (D’varim 4:32). Even Avraham Avinu, the great thinker and philosopher, the man who discovered Hashem against all odds, wasn’tzochehto such a spectacular display of Hashem’s Presence. It was so remarkable, an experience so sensational, that נפשי יצאה בדברו – “Our souls left our bodies when we heard His word” (Shir Hashirim 5:6). And the Gemara says (Shabbos 88b) that they all fell down dead. And here we’ll understand that to mean that they all fell down in a faint. They fainted in fright and they had to be revived.When they heard that tremendous voice, the words אנכי השם אלוקיך, it was an experience of the greatest love and yearning for Hashem that our nation would ever experience. Thereafter, forever and ever, the memory of that great day is etched into our minds; and it will always be the focus of our nation’s yearning. ישקיני מנשיקות פיהו – “Kiss me with the kisses of Your mouth,” we say to Hashem (Shir Has