What does the name "Sinai" mean? The Talmudic interpretation is surprising - and somewhat shocking:
"What is Mount Sinai? The mountain that brought enmity [sin'ah] upon the nations of the world." (Shabbat 89b)
What is the nature of this animosity for the nations? What does it have to do with Mount Sinai?
Why Sinai?
Where would one expect that God would reveal His Torah to the Jewish people? The logical place would be on the holiest mountain in the world - Jerusalem's Mount Moriah. On Mount Moriah, Abraham bound his son Isaac. It is the "Gate to Heaven", as Jacob called it, upon which both Temples were erected. Why did the revelation of the Torah take place outside of the Land of Israel, in the middle of the desert?
The fact that the Torah was not given to the Jewish people in their own land, but rather in the desert, in no-man's land, is very significant. This teaches that the inner content of the Torah is relevant and needed by all humanity. If acceptance of the Torah required the special holiness of the Jewish people, then the Torah should have been given in a place that reflects this holiness. Revelation on Mount Sinai attests to the Torah's universal nature.
This idea is corroborated by the Talmudic tradition that "God offered the Torah to every nation and every tongue, but none accepted it, until He came to Israel, who received it." (Avoda Zara 2b) This well-known midrash contains a hidden implication. How could God offer the nations something that was beyond them? It is only because of the Torah's relevance to all peoples that their refusal reflects so harshly on them.
The Torah's revelation on Mount Sinai - as a neutral location belonging to none, and thus, belonging to all - emphasizes the disappointment and estrangement from God that the nations brought upon themselves by rejecting the Torah and its ethical teachings. This is the meaning of the Talmudic statement that Mount Sinai "brought enmity upon the nations of the world."
In the future, however, the nations will recognize and correct this failing:
"In those days, it shall come to pass that ten men from all the languages of the nations will take hold of every Jew by a corner of his cloak and say, 'Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.'" (Zachariah 8:23)
[Adapted from Ein Aya IV, pp. 219-220]
"What is Mount Sinai? The mountain that brought enmity [sin'ah] upon the nations of the world." (Shabbat 89b)
What is the nature of this animosity for the nations? What does it have to do with Mount Sinai?
Why Sinai?
Where would one expect that God would reveal His Torah to the Jewish people? The logical place would be on the holiest mountain in the world - Jerusalem's Mount Moriah. On Mount Moriah, Abraham bound his son Isaac. It is the "Gate to Heaven", as Jacob called it, upon which both Temples were erected. Why did the revelation of the Torah take place outside of the Land of Israel, in the middle of the desert?
The fact that the Torah was not given to the Jewish people in their own land, but rather in the desert, in no-man's land, is very significant. This teaches that the inner content of the Torah is relevant and needed by all humanity. If acceptance of the Torah required the special holiness of the Jewish people, then the Torah should have been given in a place that reflects this holiness. Revelation on Mount Sinai attests to the Torah's universal nature.
This idea is corroborated by the Talmudic tradition that "God offered the Torah to every nation and every tongue, but none accepted it, until He came to Israel, who received it." (Avoda Zara 2b) This well-known midrash contains a hidden implication. How could God offer the nations something that was beyond them? It is only because of the Torah's relevance to all peoples that their refusal reflects so harshly on them.
The Torah's revelation on Mount Sinai - as a neutral location belonging to none, and thus, belonging to all - emphasizes the disappointment and estrangement from God that the nations brought upon themselves by rejecting the Torah and its ethical teachings. This is the meaning of the Talmudic statement that Mount Sinai "brought enmity upon the nations of the world."
In the future, however, the nations will recognize and correct this failing:
"In those days, it shall come to pass that ten men from all the languages of the nations will take hold of every Jew by a corner of his cloak and say, 'Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.'" (Zachariah 8:23)
[Adapted from Ein Aya IV, pp. 219-220]