"When the Jews heard `I am Hashem your G-d', the capacity for
Torah knowledge was implanted in their hearts. They studied,
absorbed
and did not forget what they learned. . .
"When the Jews heard `You shall have no other gods', the
inclination
towards idolatry was uprooted from their hearts. . .
"When they came to Moshe and asked him to appoint an
intermediary
[between them and Hashem], they reverted to their original
state of
forgetfulness and the penchant for idolatry returned to their
hearts
as before" (Midrash Shir Hashirim Rabba).
When Hashem declares -- it comes into being; when He
commands,
it is established. And if He states, "I am Hashem your G-d,"
this becomes an established, unforgettable fact. And when He
declares,
"You shall have no other gods," then there cannot be other
gods. It becomes an immutable statement and fact. The evil
impulse
for idolatry simply exists no longer.
Eitz Yosef comments in the name of the Gra, "The first
two Commandments encompass the entire Torah and its
commandments.
Onochi represents all of the positive commandments,
while Lo
Yihiye incorporates all of the prohibitive ones. This is
why Torah
was implanted in their hearts through the first utterance,
since this
is a positive command, while Lo Yihiye, which is a
negative
command, nullified the evil impulse against, `You shall not.
. .'
"
All of the commandments embody faith in Hashem. They are the
expression,
the means of transforming the latent faith into something
tangible
and thus, drawing closer to Hashem. All of the warnings are
safeguards
against heresy. Every kind of estrangement is a result of
one's ignoring
the truth. When Hashem in Person declared "I am Hashem" and
"You shall not have. . ." all of the commandments became
firmly
implanted and ingrained in the hearts of all Jews in the form
of all
the positive and prohibitive commandments, for this is the
expression,
the translation, of faith forever after.
It is written that even after this marvelous state was no
more, even
after the yetzer hora returned to its former place and
they
became `forgetters' once more, some of the reality lingered
on. It
still remains and exists deep in the essence of every Jew
whose soul
stood at the foot of Mt. Sinai; there he heard the voice of
Hashem,
and the impression was engraved forever more. The utterance
left
the impact of "I am Hashem" and "There shall be no other
gods. . ." There is no substitute, for once uttered, the Word
endures.
What then? The evil power returned to incite, deceive,
mislead. They
reverted to a state of forgetting the truth that smoldered,
but would
never be extinguished, deep inside them.
Therefore, suffice just one moment of truth. Therefore, in
the face
of a passing threat or, conversely, a brilliant flash of
revelation,
the evil power simply melts away, dissolves. Nothing more is
needed.
A Jew need not attend an ulpan to learn faith. He is a
believer,
in essence, by definition. All of a sudden. How? Why? This
reality
originated in the divine utterance of "Onochi
Hashem."
There is one day during the year when a strange process takes
place.
All of a sudden, everyone realizes that he is, actually, a
believer.
They don't know what this faith entails, what it obligates,
but they
believe. Yom Kippur. "All gather unto you [Israel]; All
gather
unto You." Each and every one.
Why? Wherefore? How does this day of Yom Kippur have the
capacity
to shunt aside the mountains of refuse that have piled up to
smother
the ember of faith, to restoke the ever- smoldering coal?
"R' Simlai expounded: Moshe received 613 commandments: the
365
prohibitive ones were said in one utterance by Hashem in
Person. Therefore,
on that one day in the year that corresponds to that
lav, Satan
has no power. The evil impulse is nonexistent. That day is
Yom Kippur,
a day which, Chazal teach, is referred to in the verse in
Tehillim,
`Days were created, and one of them is His.' Yom Kippur is
Hashem's
day, a day when only good reigns and the power of evil is
nullified.
"On this day, the original state achieved at the giving of
the
Torah is recaptured." When they heard, `You shall not have,'
the
yetzer hora was uprooted from their hearts. On this
day, Satan
has no power to make Jews forget; it is powerless to deceive
or distort
the truth that exists in their hearts."
On this day, those who are distant draw near. Then it becomes
evident
that "not even gushing waters can extinguish the love."
Mountains
of sins that surround the heart cannot barricade its way,
cannot smother
it. The heart is not sealed off; the ember of faith is not
extinguished.
It glows, it is alive. It bursts out of its wrappings to glow
and
burn brilliantly.
*
A believing Jew believes, whether he realizes it or not. The
day will
come when he shall become conscious of his faith, when he
will feel
it, acknowledge it consciously. A Jew believes even if he
shouts the
very opposite. Did he not believe, he would not deny it so
vociferously!
He would let it ride, would be oblivious.
A Jew believes, even if he fights against the very One in
Whom he
truly believes, deep inside him, for were this not true, he
would
not feel threatened, he would not fight back, but would
remain apathetic.
A Jew cannot help but believe. His faith does not depend on
him; it
is apart from his conscious will for it is an entity that
exists in
his heart. for "the word of our G-d endures forever." He
commanded
and it was established. And if Hashem said, and the Jew heard
"I
am Hashem your G-d," then Hashem is his G-d. And if
Hashem
said -- and he heard -- "You shall not have any other gods,"
then ultimately, he shall not have them. It is a fact
that
exists beyond his will or power.
