When and where was Sinai?

By Ariella Casey

Someone asked during a Parsha Bmidbar discussion: “Why did Hashem choose to give the commandments on Sinai and not in the land of Israel?”

I have a couple of thoughts on this.

YHWH chose Sinai because Israel had to leave idolatrous Egypt before they could have an atmosphere where they could hear the Voice of God. 

Israel needed to receive the commandments before they entered the land and learned to obey. If they had entered the land in their idolatrous state they would not have followed the instruction to wipe out the inhabitants of the land–they would not have had discernment to understand what was so bad about their practices and might have chosen to join them.

Israel needed to be a Holy Nation, they needed to learn to walk with God in the wilderness before they could walk with God in the Land. Unfortunately, there is no desert in the transition from the Diaspora today. And yes, there has been a lot of learned nonsense from the nations–nonsense that comes with the baggage of Aliya to Israel.

The desert of Sinai, a place completely desolate, was a place for learning. No distractions or false teachings. Only the voice of the Eternal could be heard. 

The wilderness represents the idea that these commandments are not location bound. They are for the entire world and, no, I don’t embrace Noahide laws.

Sinai, where the Eternal Covenant was made, was a place beyond time and space. Thus the Eternal Covenant is a Mystical Covenant. The 10 commandments are not limited to several thousand years for a certain people in a certain land. They are Eternal. 

The Covenant people had to be separate from those who were not willing to embrace the covenant. This took 40 years. The Covenant was not to be trusted to those who would not follow it–notwithstanding their Jewish (Hebrew) blood. The same thing goes for today. The idea of being a descendant of the Chosen People has nothing to do with obligational entitlement to blessings. It is mandatory that we spend time at Sinai and “become” the Chosen People. 

Lev 20:26 – “And ye shall be holy unto me; for I YHWH am holy, and have separated you from the peoples to be mine.”

So the Covenant of YHWH is given in a Place outside any nation and in a time that is not time-bound. No one knows the date of the giving of the commandments, other than an approximation.  

The Shavuot holiday also is a little bit mysterious. Each year in Israel we count the Omer rather than basing the Holy Day of Shavuot upon a set calendar. The Holy Days of Pesach and then Shavuot are determined each year after the Barley is seen and the New Moon of the first month opens the door to Pesach. From the day after the Sabbath of Pesach, we count day by day to determine Shavuot. It is a personal counting. And Shavuot occurs only around the time the 10 commandments were given, which are even more mysterious as to time relativity. Shavuot requires us to follow the real signs of the Heavens plus Torah specified math calculation to determine when it falls. There can be no preset calendar. The counting is an individual application, that without it, you would miss some of the mitzvoth of Shavuot. 

Then the day of commandments, which was never specified, happens a few days or weeks later. And that is why! Because it is for all time.

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