The Guarantee: The Jewish People's Promise To God

were not perfect. God found fault
with each of them."
The people were terribly
unhappy. The greatest of treasures
could be theirs if only they could
find a suitable guarantee. But what
could they pledge?
One old man, who had listened
very carefully to the words of

When Moses went back up the
mountain, he was very nervous.
Why should God want to give the
Israelites anything after the way
they had behaved with the Golden
Calf? But God had called him back,
and so he went.
When he returned to the people
he looked very sad.
"What happened," they asked,
crowding around him. "Will God
forgive us?"
"God wants to give us a
wonderful thing," he told them, "a
most precious gift."
"What is it? What kind of gift?"
the people asked excitedly.
"It is called the Torah," Moses
said. "The light of truth shines in its
words like rays of sun on a stormy
day. In the Torah are stories which
teach us how God wishes us to live.
There are laws in the Torah, too.
They can teach us how to live
peacefully with our neighbors so
that all human beings can love one
another. The Torah can teach us
how to live in freedom, so that we
will never be slaves again."
The Israelites remembered
Egypt, where they were slaves of
the Pharaoh. They did not wish ever
to be slaves again. They wanted to

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be free. They were eager to live in
peace. Truly, they thought, God's
Torah is a great gift.
Then why did Moses look so
unhappy?
"What is wrong," they asked,
"if God is willing to give us such a
wonderful gift?"
Moses looked tired. He leaned
against a big rock at the foot of the
mountain. "God will not give us this
gift of Torah unless we promise Him
something in return. We must offer
God some kind of acceptable
guarantee."
Now the people, too, were sad.
"What have we to offer in exchange

L-6

FRIDAY, MAY 20, 1988

11

for such a precious gift?" they
asked one another. "We are a poor
people in the desert. Have we
forfeited our right to the Torah
because of the Golden Calf? What
could we possibly pledge?"
Then the women of Israel came
to Moses and said, "We have
bracelets with rubies and rings with
diamonds. We have precious
necklaces and pins. We borrowed
them from the Egyptians at God's
command. Perhaps He will accept
them in exchange for the Torah."
So Moses went up the
mountain again and spoke with the
Lord. But when he returned, his
face was still sad.
"The Lord has said that the
Torah is more precious than all the
rubies and diamonds in the world.
The Torah is so bright that it will
sparkle in the human soul. Not even

". . . God has offered us
( L1 His most precious
possession. Now we must
offer God what is most
precious to us . ."

Moses, made his way to the front of
the crowd. "If our people's past
cannot help us, maybe we can look
to the future for our surety. God has
offered us His most precious
possession. Now we must offer God
what is most precious to us. Think
for a minute. If you could keep only
one thing in the world that belonged
to you, what would it be? Would it
be your precious jewels? No. Would
it be your memories of the past or
even the great leaders of today? No,
it would not. Would it be your
money? Think! If you could choose
only one thing, what would you
choose? Your children!"
"He's right!" the people
shouted. "Our children are our most
precious possession. We will offer
God our children as security for the
Torah. If God will give us the Torah,
we will teach it faithfully to our
children. And our children will teach
it to their children and their
children's children. What could be a
better pledge?"
So Moses went back up Mt.
a thousand diamonds can do that!"
Sinai again. He stayed there a very
The people stayed encamped
long time. When he came down, he
on the sand and hard rocks of the
was carrying the Tablets of the Law,
desert. They thought hard. "There
the Torah which God had given him.
are no things we can offer our
His face shone with a great light.
God," they realized. "We must
He was filled with joy.
make human beings our
Moses stood before all the
people of Israel and said, "The Lord
guarantors."
has given us the Torah. Our
"Let us offer God the merit of
children will be God's surety. The
our ancestors," they suggested to
Moses. "Maybe God will give us the Eternal One has agreed to accept
our children as His guarantee. We
Torah for the sake of Abraham,
must show our gratitude by making
Sarah, Isaac, Rebeccah, Jacob,
the Torah the center of our life."
Leah and Rachel! Perhaps their
The people of Israel thanked
good deeds can serve as our
God by studying the Torah and
security."
learning its teachings. And they
Moses climbed Mt. Sinai
have kept the promise by teaching
again. When he came back, he still
looked unhappy. "Our people's past the Torah to their children in every
generation from that day until this.
cannot help us," he told the
Now it is our turn to keep the
Israelites. "God says that our
promise. Someday soon it will be
ancestors have already pledged
yours.
their loyalty, and that even they