The watchword o our faith, the central verse is Sh’ma. “Sh’ma Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad. Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our G-d, the Lord is One.” Listen, Hear.  

But it is not in today’s portion. Today’s portion has a lot to do, nonetheless with listening. It begins with the story of Yitro, Jethro. Moses’s father-in-law, who instructs Moses, that he can’t do this job alone. He needs to delegate or risk what we would call in the modern world burn out. Exhaustion. And Moses listens.  

Then Moses listens to G-d when he is given the instructions, for how to prepare himself and the people to receive the Torah, the 10 commandments, whatever is about to happen on Mount Sinai. But he doesn’t repeat it correctly. He adds to the instructions and tells the people to not go near a woman. Did he not listen? Did he have his own agenda separate from G-d? Did some scribe write it down wrong? We will never know.  

It goes to a concept of active listening. It would appear that even Moshe Rabbenu, our greatest teacher needed to practice active listening more.  

Active listening can be defined as a way of listening and responding to another person that improves mutual understanding. It is an important first step to defuse the situation and seek solutions to problems. 

Active listening involves noticing cues that are both non-verbal, things you see, and verbal, the things said.  

Being a good listener means making eye contact, focusing on the other person, leaning forward, leaning into the conversation or nodding, sitting still, and letting the other person finish what they are saying without interruptions, and an interested silence, giving space for the person to respond.  

Being a good active listening can mean restating what someone says, reflecting what they are feeling, and asking open-ended clarifying questions like “What happened?” or “How did you feel about that?” Or “What I think you are saying is…?” 

You need to be quiet in order to hear, Be still and know that I am G-d. That is part of the message of Elijah who teaches us that the voice of G-d is the still, small voice, 

There was thunder, there was lightening, there was smoking and quaking. There was the sound of shofars. But we are told that it was so quiet that even the birds did not chip. Everyone was straining to hear the voice of G-d. There was even a voice for very young children.  

Close your eyes. Sh. Imagine being at the base of Mount Sinai. Sh. What are you feeling?  

What are you hearing? The voice of G-d booming over the thunder and the lightning? The voice of Moses repeating what G-d is saying? The internal voice, that still small voice within? A child standing next to you, perhaps demanding more water, more food? Maybe you hear a goat bleating. It ia noisy standing there. You are straining to hear. Maybe it is like a rock concert or an NFL game. Maybe it is the Superbowl itself. 600,000 people strong. A mixed multitude A cacophony.  

And then nothing. Silence. Not even a bird chirping. Sh. 

(Read 10 Commandments here):
1) I am the Lord Your G-d, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 

2) You shall have no other gods before Me. 

3) You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. 

4) Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. 

5) Honor your father and your mother. 

6) You shal not murder. 

7) You shal not commit adultery. 

8) You shall not steal. 

9) You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 

10) You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor. 

Sh. 

See the thunder and hear the lightning. That is not the natural order of things. Ordinarily you see the lighting and hear the thunder. Something powerful just happened. We lack adequate words to describe it. You are standing there in awe. Wow! 

Sh. 

As Jews we call these the Aseret Debrot. The 10 Sayings, the 10 Words, the 10 Things, The 10 Pronouncements. They are core to our identity. Notice, however, that they are not the 10 Mitzvot. In English we call them the 10 Commandments.  

A commandment is something that if someone believes that G-d has directed them to something, then it is a commandment. An example I found online aimed at high school students: “If your parents grimly order you to clean your room, you can also consider that a commandment.” But as that source pointed out “strictly speaking, a commandment is divinely ordered, like the Ten Commandments in the Bible. But you should feel free to use this word for any solemn, serious directive or set of guiding principles. The commandments of your French club, for example, might include “no speaking in English” and “don’t be late — unless you brought croissants.” 

We Jews have 613 Commandments. We cite Rabbi Simlai as the source in the Talmud, Makkot 23b. The 613 commandments include “positive commandments”, to perform an act or in Hebrew a mitzvot aseh, and “negative commandments”, to abstain from an act or mitzvot lo taaseh. The negative commandments number 365, the number of days in the solar year, and the positive commandments number 248, a number believed to be the number of bones in the body. Maimonides reiterated the 613 number and even enumerated them. 

But no individual can do all 613. Many of them are only ones for the Holy Temple in Jerusalem which was destroyed in 70CE. That leaves 77 positive commandments and 194 negative commandments of which 26 only apply in the land of Israel. That seems much more doable.  

Doable, the commandments are about things we do (or don’t do). The people standing at the foot of the mountain said “We will do, and we will hear.” How could they do things before they knew what they were? I think they were willing to do whatever it takes. It’s like the Nike slogan, “Just do it.”  

Some of it seems so obvious, How do set up a just, righteous, moral society, The rabbis identified 7 laws that are incumbent on all the descendants of Noah.  Establishing laws and courts, and the prohibition of blasphemy, idolatry, adultery, bloodshed, theft, and eating the blood of a living animal. Not quite the 10 commandments, but close.  

Maybe it is more like Debbie Friedman sings, 
“Well, there were 613 commandments that Moses handed to us
As we stood at the foot of the mountain of Sinai
Our dear Moses started to fuss
He threw two tablets onto the ground
And much to our surprise
The ten commandments broke into pieces
And we couldn’t believe our eyes.
We are chosen and to choose.
Had we not made a promise to be chosen and to choose
Remember there wouldn’t be a people that we call the Jews.” 

Close your eyes again, if you are willing. Sh. What do you hear? What choice are you making? As Heather often says, “Make Good Choices.” I would add, “listen to that deep well of knowledge, that internal voice that tells us what we are commanded to do,”