“They travelled from Rephidim and came to the desert of Sinai and they camped in the desert, and Israel camped across from the mountain [Mount Sinai]” (Exodus 19:2). Rashi notes that the Hebrew word for “camped” is written in the singular, when, presumably, as the verb expressing the action taken by a multitude of people, it should have been written in the plural. Rashi informs us that the singular form comes to emphasize that the children of Israel came to Sinai “as one person with one heart,” a state of affairs not to be repeated again with such intensity during the forty-year sojourn in the desert. Many commentators conclude from Rashi’s comment that it was this level of collective elevated consciousness that allowed for the Giving of the Torah. The people’s unity elevated their spiritual and physical connection to the point that they were worthy receptacles and was in fact the prerequisite for, and an essential part of, the awesome experience. Their consciousness quite simply was instrumental in determining the reality as it unfolded at Sinai.
Taking a step backwards, we might ask what induced this feeling of unity among the people? A credible answer may be that their recent prophetic experience during the crossing of the Reed Sea and especially during the singing of the Song of the Sea, inculcated a sense of oneness and unity among the people, of their being “as one person with one heart.”
Another factor could have been the battle with Amalek, the last episode related in the Torah before the Jewish people arrived at Mount Sinai. Only by attaining a high level of determination, unity, and a sense of purpose could the children of Israel have defeated an enemy whose very purpose was the destruction of the Jewish people. Time after time in recent Jewish history we have seen the people of Israel, despite their many differences and disputes, come together “as one person with one heart” to defeat enemies bent on their destruction.
Both the experience at the Reed Sea and the battle with Amalek transformed the people, endowing them with a feeling of unity and a sense of purpose. This consciousness was translated into their arrival at Sinai “as one person with one heart,” and consequently, led to the awesome and unique historical experience of the Giving of the Torah.
