Hearing of the miracles that Hashem performed for Bnei Yisrael, Moshe's father-in-law Yitro arrives with Moshe's wife and sons, reuniting the family in the wilderness. Yitro is so impressed by Moshe's detailing of the Exodus from Egypt that he converts to Judaism. Seeing that the only judicial authority for the entire Jewish nation is Moshe Rabbeinu, Yitro suggests that subsidiary judges be appointed to adjudicate smaller matters, leaving Moshe free to attend to larger issues. Moshe accepts his advice.

The Jewish People arrive at Mount Sinai, where Hashem offers them the Torah. Once they accept, Hashem charges Moshe to instruct the people not to approach the mountain, and to prepare for three days. On the third day, amidst thunder and lightning, Hashem's voice emanates from the smoke-enshrouded mountain, and He speaks to the Jewish People, giving them the Ten Commandments:

1. Believe in Hashem.
2. Do not worship other "gods".
3. Do not use Hashem's name in vain.
4. Observe Shabbat.
5. Honor your parents.
6. Do not murder.
7. Do not commit adultery.
8. Do not kidnap.
9. Do not testify falsely.
10. Do not covet.

After receiving the first two commandments, the Jewish People, overwhelmed by this experience of the Divine, request that Moshe relay Hashem's word to them. Hashem instructs Moshe to caution the Jewish People not to draw close to the mountain or touch any part of it.

PARSHA INSIGHTS

Digital Torah (ver. 1.0)

“I am Hashem, your G-d…” (20:1)

Unlike many other religions, Judaism is not a cult of personality. True, Judaism has its Patriarchs and its prophets, but no one figure emerges as the pinnacle, the focus of all belief. The focus of Jewish belief is a book.

That book is called the Torah.

But to call the Torah a book could be misleading. What exists in this world as a scroll of parchment is an embodiment of a holiness that emanates from the highest possible reaches of creation.

Judaism understands that this world is but the lowest of a myriad of worlds, each chaining down from Hashem Himself. These spiritual worlds are of unimaginable holiness, but as they cascade and descend downwards, the light of each world becomes filtered and diminished. Even though each lower world contains the blueprint within it of the entire connected sequence of the higher worlds above it, and absolutely replicates their image and form, nevertheless, the level of holiness and light in any particular world cannot be compared in any way to that of the world above it.

However, where the Holy Torah is concerned – even though it also cascades down through infinite levels from its high holy source and from world to world and from level to level – nevertheless, its original holiness is preserved intact. Meaning, just as it is in its source, so too it is in this world, and thus it is forbidden to treat it in any mundane way or even to think words of Torah in unclean places like a bathroom.

A person who transgresses this prohibition risks being cut off from Hashem, not just in this world but the world to come as well. Our Sages tell us that whoever holds a Sefer Torah with his bare hands - is buried ‘without that Mitzvah.’ In general, they also forbade for a Sefer Torah to be transferred from place to place, and even from one house of prayer to another. In fact, a makeshift minyan or even a permanent congregation, regardless of its size, is required to travel to where there is a Torah available, rather than to have a Torah brought to them. It is considered disrespectful to take a Torah to those who need it - rather, those who need it should come to the Torah.

There is nothing holier in this physical world than a Sefer Torah, because the Torah always has its original level of holiness.

Let’s understand this by way of an analogy:

We are living at the beginning of the Age of Artificial Intelligence. At the heart of AI is digital technology, and at the heart of digital technology is something called the binary code. All digital media are based on this simplest code that can be: the presence or the absence of an electric pulse, the turning on or off of a microscopic switch. Every digital device, be it a computer or a fridge, or a frighteningly life-like humanoid, uses this same fundamental code: "0" - no current, or "1" - current.

The strength of digital technology is precisely because it is a code. Provided that the original code can still be made out, the message can be regenerated exactly as it was originally, whether that message is a picture or a sound.

Let's take the example of Morse code. Morse code was a system of communication widely used before radio was sophisticated enough to permit voice transmission. It consists of long and short sound pulses, which represent letters. For example, "SOS" in Morse code is "...--- ..." - where the dots are short pulses and the dashes are long ones.

The beauty of this, and any code for that matter, is that the entire meaning of the message can be reconstructed, provided that the original code is intact. It doesn't matter how much static or noise or other kind of interference surrounds the signal - provided that you can tell a dot from a dash, the original signal can be reconstructed exactly.

This is not the case in an analog system. In an analog system, the medium becomes part of the message. If the medium decays, so does the message. I remember, as a young boy in England, listening to the inevitable surface noise of my HMV gramophone, waiting for the opening bars of the music as the record spun at the dizzying velocity of 78 rpm. 45's, 33's and cassettes weren't that much better. (Remember 8-track cartridges?) All those systems shared the same drawback: the medium was part of the message. The pops and scratches of needle meeting plastic, or, in the case of a cassette, of magnetic tape being dragged across a magnet, was part and parcel of the sound of music.

The Torah is a ‘digital communication.’ It never loses its original pristine holiness, however much it is surrounded by the background noise and static of this physical world.