An Echo
The Torah tells us that the
commandments were delivered in "a powerful voice that was never repeated." Our
sages explain that this voice did not have an echo. Why is the absence of an
echo important?
An echo is caused when a voice bounces off a surface, very much as a ball
bounces off a wall. The wall forms an obstruction to the forward momentum of the
ball thereby forcing it to reverse its course and guide it’s momentum in the
opposite direction. The wall and the ball are two separate entities; one cannot
absorb the other. Their meeting is by definition a confrontation.
No Obstacle
Not so with the word of G-d. When G-d speaks, his voice permeates all of
creation. Nothing stands in His way for He is at the very core of creation.
When
G-d’s voice encounters the surface of a material object it is welcomed and
absorbed. In other words G-d’s word is never forced to reverse its course and it
always achieves its goal.
If this is true of an inanimate object then how much more so of a human being.
When we study Torah we must ensure that G-d’s voice permeates all. Not only
intellect and emotion but thought speech and action as well.
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