As the people of Israel encamp before Mt. Sinai, united like never before and, as yet, never again, Moses climbs the mountain one last time, before the covenant and revelation take place at Sinai.
On this visit he was not only told how to guide the people in order to prepare them for the receiving of the Torah, but it seems he was also told about what the greater intention of this covenant was.
If we were to judge the purpose of the Torah according to the many shul sermons and modern day Jewish books, we might think that the idea is to make each individual a better person. Since the people of Israel was exiled among the nations, a large emphasis has been put on personal improvement.
Indeed, this is a very noble and worthy cause. The Vilna Gaon goes as far as to say that if not for bettering ourselves, our lives would be meaningless.
Nevertheless, all this is from the individual’s perspective. The Heavenly view is very different. The last message God gave to Moses before Giving him the Torah is ‘and you shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation’ (Exodus 19:6). Although personal improvement is essential to our religion, the greater goal is to create a kingdom which lives according to the mitzvot and the values of the Torah.
The Sforno teaches that the purpose of such a society is to be a source of inspiration to the nations of the world: ‘to understand and to teach the entire human race to call God’s name, and worship Him united. As will be the role of Israel in future days’. This concept the Sforno writes about is what we today would call Or La’goyim, a light unto the nations. However, his understanding of this concept is different from the way it is understood today.
In the modern world, we sometimes understand the concept of a light unto the nations to mean; live your life amongst the nations and through leading a normal life whilst having Jewish values, the gentiles you meet will look at you as a normal person and only then it would allow them to recognize the greatness of the values you follow, the values of the Torah.
The Sforno, however, has a very different understanding. According to him, to be a light unto the nations, we need to gather together as a kingdom, in a sense, isolate ourselves and create our own society. The ways of influencing the world would then be restricted. We would not be influencing on an individual level but rather as a collective. It would not be about whom we meet at work or who our neighbours are, but rather how as a society we can spread a message.
This can be achieved through creating a just society, based on the morals and values of the Torah. Through being a ‘normal’ nation rather than a ‘normal’ individual, we can show the whole world and not only our immediate surroundings, what ‘normal’ people can achieve.
An individual is forever limited on how many people he can reach out to in his entire lifetime. Even if every Jew was to be successful in their own turf, how does that help places where there are no Jews, as the vast majority of the world will never meet a Jew in their lives?
However, a just society has the ability to influence the entire world and show everyone how the values of the Torah, and being close to God, can elevate our very existence.