Reply To: Short & Sweet

V’eschanan: Infinity, Condensed

The Torah refers to the עשרת הדברות as being קול גדול, ולא יסף. Targum Onkelos translates this as “a great voice, which did not stop” (simply understood, this means there was no pause in the עשרת הדברות). Rashi, however, translates לא יסף as ״it did not continue״ – the Jewish people never again heard Torah straight from Hashem.

Perhaps we can suggest that both are true. The voice of Hashem ended; there will never be a new Torah. Yet on the other hand, לא פסק, the voice of Hashem never ends. Within the finite Torah that has been given, an infinite amount of guidance can be gleaned. כל יום בת קול יצאת מהר חורב – Hashem continues to speak to us, through the Torah that has already been given.

The way that the עשרת הדברות themselves were given is indicative of this idea. Rashi cites the Medrash that at first, Hashem said all of the עשרות הדברות at once in a single word; only afterwards did He say each one separately. The same is true with all of Torah; each word contains an infinite amount of messages. Hashem is speaking to us, in our situation, every time we read from the Torah – we need only to listen to hear what He says.

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