i know you are hurt W/O/W and i understand that there is only one emes in your world. And that is tied into the contemporary frum world. But go back to har sinai, as you say. did they all wear black and white? (did they even wear kipot, uh…probably not). This image that tomorrow night we celebrate an event which kicked off the Jewish religion with 600,000 shuckling, bearded, yiddin is (i wonder if yyou agree) quite laughable. But lets face it, isn’t that what we were taught as kids?
So i ask you, aside from the text of the torah, do contemporary jews have anything in common with those that said na’aseh v’nishma? What exactly does your statement that they were “living as jews” even mean?
People HAVE been choosing their own derech for millenia. Practicing what they can and often time removing what they cannot (like a jacket) – which explains why ashkenazim and sefardim differ so often
Look at todays frum world, and you will see why the feeling of mitzvot and customs being arbitrary is so rampant. I would go so far to say, that if the torah was given tomorrow night on 13th Ave or in Monsey or Lakewood, most likely women would not be invited to the party and there would be no food because you cant find 100 jews who agree on a hechsher.