(Summary by Channie Koplowitz Stein)

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Bnei Yisroel have just received the Ten Commandments and experienced G-d’s presence descended into their midst. While still on this spiritual high, Hashem gives them the instructions on how to build an altar that will maintain this connection as they bring Him their offerings. Among the specifications are that it be an altar connected to the earth, and that when you make the altar of stone, you may not hew the stones with a sword. Further, since the surface of the altar would be high, you must build a ramp rather than a staircase to ascend “so that your nakedness will not be uncovered upon it.”

Certainly we can understand how building an altar to worship Hashem is a means of attempting to perpetuate the Sinai experience, to maintain the intimate relationship with Hakodosh Boruch Hu, but how do these specific instructions aid in achieving this goal?

On the most fundamental level, the Toras Emes explains that just as you just saw that the Torah itself came from Heaven, so must you realize that everything you have, material possessions as well as spiritual gifts, special talents and skills, also comes from Heaven and is not a result of your personal strength or power. Therefore, you should always remain humble, as if still bound to the earth, as you offer your prayers, the current offerings sans Beit Hamikdosh, to Hashem. If you realize this, says the Lashon Chasidim, you will not approach the altar, your prayers, arrogantly. You will refrain from “high stepping”, for that would reveal your “nakedness”, your shortcomings and spiritual failings.

Obviously, prayers, our current sacrificial offerings, are not something Hashem needs. Hashem wants to give us what we need whether we ask for it or not, independent of our prayers. The Sifsei Chaim explains that the purpose of our constant prayers is for our benefit, to help us maintain a constant awareness of Hashem’s benevolence and constant gifts to us. In fact, continues the Sifsei Chaim, the first request we make of Hashem in the Amidah Prayer is for wisdom and insight, for even these are gifts from Hakodosh Boruch Hu. With wisdom, we understand this basic tenet of Judaism and feel the appropriateness of asking for Hashem’s help and guidance when we cannot find our way on our own.

By acknowledging that everything comes from Hashem, even to the air we breathe, says R. Feuer  , we become worthy of having the dominion over creation that Hashem entrusted to Adam, for we acknowledge that it all really belongs to the Creator and we are His emissaries. We may also then use His gifts, His food, His materials for our personal benefit. In effect, every moment of our lives becomes a reenactment of the Sinai experience as we internalize the truth that nothing exists save Hashem Himself.

But, warns Vayovenu Bamikrah, we should not become haughty due to our relatively exalted position on earth. As we reexperience Sinai, we must remember that we did not ascend to Hashem; rather, Hashem in His benevolence came down the mountain to us. He wants our humility, not the symbolic sword in our own hands to build our altar to Him.

The last detail of building the altar, not to climb steps lest you reveal your nakedness to the stones upon which you tread, is a further lesson in humility and sensitivity. Rashi explains that we must be sensitive even to the appearance of causing shame or embarrassment. Certainly the priests were clothed in pants as they ascended the altar, so there would be no nakedness actually revealed, but by raising one’s legs and pounding them down, there could be an appearance causing shame to the stones of Hashem’s altar. If we are to be so sensitive to inanimate stones, continues Rashi, how much more sensitive should we be not to embarrass other Jews and other human beings created in G-d’s image.

Rav Belsky, in Einei Yisroel, discusses Rashi’s comments more fully. Rav Belsky points out that we “honor” the stones of the altar because they serve a holy purpose. How can we compare that to the way we are to treat a simple Jew? But that is precisely the point, posits Rav Belsky, for each Jew was endowed by Hakodosh Boruch Hu with a neshama, a holy spark of the Divine. This in itself is worthy of true honor, not just the niceties of polite company that often mask inner contempt. When we truly respect another human being, he senses that respect and mirrors it back and lets it refract outwardly in all directions as well, thereby forming a network of deep love of one human being for another. As we feel that we ourselves have intrinsic worth, so must we attribute that same worth to every other human being created in the image of G-d.

Further, continues Rav Pam in Ateres Lamelech, each person has a G-d given purpose in this world, even if we are unaware of that purpose. He continues. We live in a time of abundance and tend to devalue necessities such as food. But proper respect for G-d and His creations begins with respect for the inanimate rock and grows from there to encompass all of creation, culminating in the respect for all mankind. This respect for individuals and for society, writes Rabbi Friefeld, is a fundamental precept in the Torah, engendering many laws in the Shulchan Aruch. If you want to keep the Sinai experience alive, you must remain a “mentch” in your dealings with the world around you, from the sefer you put back on the bookshelf, to the food you do not waste, to your neighbor who deserves a sincere good morning greeting. As human beings, we crave respect and validation. Glide smoothly on a ramp in your interactions with others rather than being one step up on them.

Along these lines, the Mizkeinim Esbonen    quoting the Midrash,  offers a homiletic interpretation of the ramp. He refers back to the ladder of Jacob’s dream. The incline of the ladder is similar to that of a ramp. The bottom was planted on earth and its head reached to the heavens. This ladder symbolized the Beit Hamikdosh. Each of us occupies our individual rung of the ladder as we ascend spiritually. Because of the incline, there is no one directly above us whose great accomplishments might discourage us from climbing higher. Nor is there anyone directly below us who will cause us to become arrogant in relation to him. We must recognize that we each have our own place and our own journey.

If we are to keep climbing toward an ever stronger relationship with Hakodosh Boruch Hu, to strengthen the bond first formed at Sinai, says Rav Pam, we must respect ourselves for the “tzelem Elokim, the image of G-d that Hashem has stamped upon us, and we must recognize this likeness in our fellow man. Respect for all of creation and especially for all mankind creates the humility that is the foundation of a strong relationship with Hakodosh Boruch Hu.