What does the Torah mean when it writes that, "all the people saw the Voices"?
Rashi (citing the Mechilta): It means that they literally saw what is otherwise impossible to see. 1
Seforno: It means (not that they saw, but) that they considered 2 the issue of the voices that they heard - and concluded that they could no longer bear hearing it. 3
Hadar Zekenim: Bearing in mind that Hashem's voice is synonymous with fire, as the Pasuk writes "Kol Hashem Chotzev Lahavos Eish" (Tehilim 29:7), they saw the voice (fire) leave His mouth, and carving itself into the Luchos.
Rosh: It means that they derived pleasure from the voices. 4
Oznayim la'Torah: It means, either that, having shed the 'filth of the snake,' they were able to see what an ordinary human-being cannot see, or that Hashem attached the Voices to the flashes of lightning, giving them a physical form that rendered them visible.
Just as Hashem enables us to see physical objects and to hear sounds, He can just as well enable us to see what is normally heard and to hear what is normally seen, as R' Chanina ben Dosa stated in Ta'anis (25a) 'The One who tells oil to burn can just as well tell vinegar to burn!'
As we find in Koheles 1:16 .
As the Torah explains in Devarim 18:16 .
As in the Pasuk, "Chamosi, Ra'isi Ur" (Yeshayah 44:16), and as in "v'Ra'ah Es Ervasah" (Vayikra 20:17) - and one is not liable for merely seeing, only for Hana'ah (of intimacy, in that case).
Why does the Torah insert the word, "v'Chol [ha'Am Ro'im]"?
Rashi: To teach us that there was not even one blind person among them. 1
See Torah Temimah, note 99. Refer also to 19:8:1:1 and note. For Gur Aryeh see below (20:15:2.1:1 ).
Which "Voices" is the Torah referring to?
Rashi #1, Ramban (citing the commentaries [See Ibn Ezra]) and Targum Yonasan: 'Ha'Kolos" is referring to the Voices of Hashem 1 as the Aseres ha'Dibros were proclaimed. 2 (Targum Yonasan - "Kol ha'Shofar" refers to the Techiyas ha'Meisim that the sound of the Shofar brought about.)
Rashi #2 (to Shabbos 88b): It is referring to the thunder that they heard already before the Torah was given. 3
Rashbam: It is referring to the stones and the hail that accompanied Matan Torah. 4
Hadar Zekenim: See above, 20:15:1:3 .
What is the significance of the sounds, the flashes (of lightning), and the sound of the Shofar, at Matan Torah?
Refer to 20:17:3:1 .Also see above 19:13:3.1:2 , 19:16:2 , and 19:16:2.1 .
When did this Parshah take place?
Rashi, Ramban #1 (citing Ibn Ezra) and Rashbam: This Pasuk, and the parallel Pesukim in Va'eschanan (Devarim 5:20-22), took place after Matan Torah. 1
Ramban #2: It took place before Matan Torah. 2 Petrified by the thunder, the flashes of lightning and the Shofar blasts that they heard on the morning of Matan Torah, prior to the arrival of the Shechinah, 3 the people in the camp trembled with fear (19:16). Meanwhile, Moshe soothed them and took them out to meet Hashem and they stood at the foot of the mountain. (19:17) At that point, the Shechinah descended in fire, and the mountain began to shake violently (19:18), 4 and the Shofar blast became louder and louder (19:19). The terrified people moved backwards from the camp, 5 and requested that Moshe should speak to them, and not Hashem - for fear that they would die. 6 Moshe reassured them that they had nothing to fear, but allowed them to remain where they were while he approached the thick cloud (20:16-18) . 7
After the Aseres ha'Dibros, because they were afraid either that Hashem would teach them all the Mitzvos directly (Rashbam), or that He had more to tell them now (Ibn Ezra).
See Ramban, who cites many proofs in support of this explanation. See also Berachos 6b, which says so explicitly.
See Melachim I 19:11.
Like it does when there is an earthquake and perhaps even more, as the Pasuk specifically writes in Tehilim (114:4).
As described in this Pasuk. Rashi and Targum Yonasan - They moved back twelve Mil.
Because, following the vision, "their joints shuddered and their strength left them" (Daniel 10:16).
What does the Torah mean when it writes, "va'Yar ha'Am va'Yanu'u, va'Ya'amdu me'Rachok"?
Rashi, Ramban #1 (citing the Mechilta) and Targum Onkelos: It means the people saw, they trembled 1 and moved back (twelve Mil 2 - Rashi).
Ramban #2, and Targum Yonasan: Terrified at what they had seen, they moved backwards 3 away from the camp, where they remained. 4
Seforno: Refer to 20:15:1:2 . They now wondered what to do, and they shook violently out of fear and moved back inadvertently 5 (as in Answer #1). 6
Rashi (in Berachos 22a): "With dread, with fear, with trepidation and with trembling" (as in Yeshayah 24:20). See also Ba'al ha'Turim.
Rashi (citing Shabbos 88b): The entire length of Machaneh Yisrael, and angels came and helped them to return - as the Pasuk alludes to in Tehilim 68:13 . See also Ba'al ha'Turim. For Gur Aryeh see below.
As in "Va'Yeni'em Bamidbar" (Bamidbar 32:13); "Tanu'a Eretz ka'Shikor" (Yeshayah 24:20).
See Oznayim la'Torah, who explains the Pasuk in similar fashion. See also Oznayim la'Torah on Pasuk 16.
If the voices that Yisrael saw in this Pasuk were those of before Matan Torah, why does the Torah not tell us here about Yisrael's request after Matan Torah and Hashem's reply, but only in Va'eschanan (Devarim 5:20-27)?
Ramban: Because it wants first spell out in detail the Mitzvos and Mishpatim, 1 which it taught briefly in the Aseres ha'Dibros.
Refer to 20:13:3:3** . This explanation of Ramban concurs with 20:15:4:2. Refer also to 20:15:4:1.
Rashi, citing Shabbos 88b, learns from "Malchei Tzeva'os Yidodun Yidodun" (Tehilim 68:13) that angels helped Yisrael to return. But the Pasuk says "Malchei" (kings), not 'Mal'achei' (angels)?
Moshav Zekenim (citing Ri ha'Bechor who cites a Midrash): They were the greatest angels - Micha'el and Gavriel, whom the Pasuk refers to as 'kings,' in deference to their greatness.
How many voices did they hear?
Rashi (in Pasuk #2): They heard voices coming from all four directions, from the Heaven and from the earth.
Hadar Zekenim: The prefix 'Hei' denotes five, and "Kolos" implies at least two; each Dibur divided into seven voices, and into each of the seventy languages. 1
Moshav Zekenim (to 20:17): They heard ten voices - each one more powerful than the previous one.
It seems that this is even when Hashem said each Dibur by itself. How were they able to understand the first two, amidst 490 voices? It seems that this was a miracle. (PF)
QUESTIONS ON RASHI
Rashi writes: "'And the entire nation saw' - This teaches that there was not one blind person among them...." Why was this so?
Gur Aryeh: The Torah is "... healing for all of one's flesh"(Mishlei 4:22); accepting the Torah was sufficient merit to heal all of Bnei Yisrael. To connect with the Torah means to link in to a level in which there is no deficiency, only perfection. 1
Maharal (Derush l'Shabbos Teshuvah p. 74): "The Torah of Hashem is perfect" (Tehilim 19:8); when the Torah was given no one remained blemished or disabled.
See above, Shemos 15:26:3.2:1 and on. Maharal (Tif'eres Yisrael Ch. 62, p. 188; Nesivos Olam, Nesiv ha'Torah Ch. 1, p. 4) - Torah is healing because Torah is the order for the world [it is both the source and the end-goal, and through it the creations reach their completion]. Maharal (Derech Chayim p. 307, to Avos 6:8) - The cited Pasuk (Mishlei 4:22) begins, "For they are life for those who find them." A "find" (Metzi'ah) means something that is not readily available in the location it was found. So too, the Torah is at such a high level, that through it a person can reach what is not normally accessible to him. Via that level, Torah brings life from the Source of life.
Rashi writes: "'And they stood from afar' - They retreated backwards twelve Mil, like the length of their camp." How can this distance be derived?
Gur Aryeh: Had they still been standing within the camp, it would not have been termed "me'Rachok" - from afar. 1 Also see the following question.
As for the prohibition of leaving the Techum on Shabbos or Yom Tov, see 20:15:151 . As for the source that the camp of Yisrael measured 12 Mil, see Rashi to Bamidbar 33:49 .
Rashi writes: " They retreated backwards twelve Mil... and the ministering angels came and assisted them, to bring them back." Why did Bnei Yisrael retreat, and why did the angels bring them back?
Maharal (Tif'eres Yisrael Ch. 31, p. 93): Our hearing the Voice of Hashem speaking with us meant being joined to Him in a partnership 1 - for which mortal Man is not worthy. Thus involuntarily we became pushed away, to the distance of the Voice's emanation - the size of Yisrael's encampment. But because Hashem indeed desired to give us the Torah, the angels assigned to carrying out His will brought Yisrael back, to receive the Word of Hashem. 2
I.e., they assisted that we should remain in the location in which Hashem's Voice would be. See 20:16:2:1* as to how they were brought back.
Rashi writes that they moved back twelve Mil. Seeing as it was Shabbos, how could they leave the Techum?
Moshav Zekenim (to 20:2, citing R. Yehoshua): Since they were surrounded by the clouds, it is as if they were in one Chatzer.
Seforno: Refer to 20:15:5:3 .
The Midrash that Rashi cites follows the opinion that Techumim are mid'Rabanan. 1 (PF)
Or, that the Techum of 12 Mil is mid'Oraisa, whereas 2000 Amos (1 Mil) is mid'Rabanan (see Shemos 16:1:152:5 ). Within the 12 Mil of their retreat they presumably traversed the width of the camp, such that when they stopped their retreat they were not yet 12 Mil distant from the camp's opposite end. (CS)
Rashi writes that "Kol ha'Am Ro'im" teaches us that nobody was blind. But earlier, in 19:11, he explained that we learn this from "l'Einei Kol ha'Am"?
Sifsei Chachamim: Here it teaches us that, even after Matan Torah, their eyes did not become dim. 1
Bearing in mind that, even when someone who looks at the Kohanim's hands [while they recite Birkas Kohanim], his eyes become dim due to the Shechinah, we would have thought all the more so after seeing such a great Giluy Shechinah!
