36 | JANUARY 20 • 2022 

W

hat are the key turning points 
in history? What are the events 
that changed the world beyond 
recognition and whose impact was felt 
by everyone, everywhere? You could 
talk about the invention of the electric 
light bulb or Gutenberg’s 
printing press. You could 
mention the assassination 
of Archduke Ferdinand, 
which set off World War I 
and led to World War II, or 
the French and American 
Revolutions, or the fall of 
the Berlin Wall. More recent 
examples could be 9/11 or the 2008 reces-
sion or the invention of the internet.
But, in this week’s parshah, Yitro, we 
encounter history’s single biggest turning 
point, a moment that changed everything, 

for everyone, forever: the giving of the 
Torah by God to Moses and the Jewish 
people at Mount Sinai. From this moment 
onward, nothing would be the same. The 
Torah had entered the world.
But, what is the Torah really? And why 
is its impact so powerful and far-reaching? 
We know that the Torah comprises 613 
distinct commandments — the mitzvot — 
but what is their meaning and purpose?
The starting point is to understand 
that the Torah’s total focus is the human 
being. This is expressed most vividly 
in the Talmud (Shabbat 88b), which 
records how, when Moses ascended 
Mount Sinai to receive the Torah from 
God, the angels vehemently protested, 
asking how God could consider giving 
away His most treasured possession — 
the Torah — to a creature of flesh and 

blood. God told Moses to answer the 
angels, and Moses proceeded to list the 
Ten Commandments: “I am the Lord 
your God, Who took you out of Egypt”; 
“Honor your father and your mother”; 
“Don’t murder”; “Don’t steal”; “Don’t 
commit adultery.”
“Do you have a father and mother?” 
Moses asked the angels. “Have you been 
enslaved in Egypt? Have you passion or 
jealousy or greed, or any evil inclination?” 
In so doing, Moses clearly demonstrated 
that the Torah was intended for human 
beings. Or, put another way, human 
beings are created in order to fulfil the 
mitzvot of the Torah.

THE MITZVOT
But, how do the mitzvot work?
The Torah calls the first human being 

Why the Giving of the Torah Is a 
Turning Point in History

SPIRIT
A WORD OF TORAH

Chief Rabbi 
Warren 
Goldstein

