Qur’an Forced Jews To Choose Sinai

It is hard for me as a Reform Rabbi to understand why most Jews in Medina, where they were a large minority, didn’t support Muhammad as a prophet for all the pagan Arab tribes. Unlike Christians, Jews do not have a strong missionary impulse, so Jews did not view Prophet Muhammad as a competitor in bringing monotheism to the pagan Arab tribes.

Jews should have seen Prophet Muhammad as a step-brother of all the Jewish prophets in the Hebrew Bible; and Muslims as monotheistic allies. Indeed, since it was believed that Muhammad’s tribe in Makka was descended from Abraham’s son Ishmael; Prophet Muhammad was a not so distant relative of all Jews.

And the Qur’an itself says, “Of the people of Moses there is a section who guide and do justice in the light of truth.” (7:159) The Qur’an also adds: ”We broke them up into sections on this earth. There are among them [Jews and all other nations] some that are the righteous, and some that are the opposite. We have tried them [all peoples and especially the Jewish People] with both prosperity and adversity: in order that they might turn (to Us)… As to those who hold fast by the [Torah] Book and establish regular [daily] Prayer, never shall We suffer the reward of the righteous to perish.” (Qur’an 7:168-170)

In addition the Qur’an, in the only passage in which the Holy Land is mentioned by that title (al-Ard al-Muqaddas), refers to the words Prophet Moses spoke: “Remember Moses said to his people: ‘O my People, recall in remembrance the favor of God to you, when He produced (600) prophets among you, made you kings, and gave You what He had not given to any other among the peoples. O my people! Enter the Holy Land which God has written for you, and turn not back (betraying your heritage), for then will you be overthrown to your own ruin.” (Qur’an 5:21)

And most amazing to me as a rabbi, the Qur’an validates a powerful passage in the Torah which describes the Jewish People’s experience of being chosen at Mount Sinai, which every rabbi should have known. “On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled. Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain.” (Exodus 19:16-17)

Rabbi Avdimi said that at Sinai, God made Israel an offer the Jewish People could not refuse. “And they took their places at the foot (תחתית) of the mountain” (Exodus 19:17): “This teaches that the Holy One turned the mountain over them like a tub, and said to them: “If you accept the Torah, well and good; if not, there [under Mount Sinai] will be your burial.” (Talmud Shabbat 88a)

But Rabbi Acha ben Jacob rejected the implication of Rabbi Avidimi’s gloss; that by having the Israelites accept the Torah under duress, Rabbi Avdimi effectively says (‘Avodah Zarah 2b), that Israel cannot claim its acceptance of the Torah as a source of merit, because it was coerced.

The reference in Exodus 19:17 to the people standing “at the foot of the mountain” does of course explain the literal meaning that they stood under the mountain.

Some rabbis said God positions the mountain over Israel not to threaten them, but to protect them from the thunder and lightning and to allay their anxiety. But then why is Sinai such a scary and overwhelming Theophany? Why the thunder and lightning? The Messengers who revealed Sacred Scriptures; like David, Jesus and Muhammad did not have or need such an overwhelming Theophany. And neither did Prophet Moses.

But the Jewish People did.: “Be not afraid,” says Moses to the Jewish people, “for God has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him be before you, that you not sin” (Exodus 20:17). The reason that God appears so dramatically at Sinai is because God means to overawe Israel, and not only to ensure that Israel does not transgress the covenant, but also to compel all of Israel to enter into the covenant in the first place.

And now the Qur’an validates the correct view: “We raised the Mountain over you saying: Hold firm to what we have given you, and study its commandments; so that you may attain piety towards God, [choosing to love God] and His protection [as God’s chosen beloveds].” (Qur’an 2:63)

People enter almost every religion as individuals; and so do converts to Judaism. But at Mount Sinai the Jewish People, as well as the non-Jews who had joined them in Egypt, entered into the covenant with the God of Abraham as a whole ummah. How was it possible to get the required universal agreement?

One can understand Rabbi Avdimi’s view in a romantic way. Most of the rabbis, who themselves were so committed to loving God with all their hearts, with all their souls and with all their commitment, could not conceive that the Jewish people in those days could hesitate when offered the opportunity to become covenant partners with God.

But the Torah itself faithfully records the frequent mood swings and ambivalences felt by the Jewish people while in the desert on the way to Sinai. God’s proposal was the most awesome offer they had ever received. If many people today have a problem making a long term loving commitment, what about people who had lived all their lives as slaves until three months earlier.

Some Jews said yes right away. Others thought about it for several hours before agreeing. After almost a full day, a large majority of Jews ,as well as the non-Jews who had joined them, had made a commitment, but the rest were afraid to commit. Some left to go on their own; but a small minority [of agnostics] still held out. So would the fear of making a life long, open ended, commitment to God by an ambivalent few, keep everyone else in the Jewish people from accepting God’s proposal of a lifetime partnership?

That’s when the Qur’an says Allah acted: “We raised the mountain above them as if it was a dark cloud and they were certain that it would fall upon them. [Allah said], “Take what We have given you with determination and remember what is in it; that you might fear Allah .” (Qur’an 7:171)

Thus, the Jewish ummah became a chosen people. Jews are not THE chosen people; they are A chosen people, the first of several ongoing monotheistic religions. A parent can have many children but only one is the firstborn. “These are the words of the Lord, Israel is my first-born son.” (Exodus 4:22) The Jewish People was the first community to enter into a sacred relationship with the one God; but they are not the only one to do so. In later centuries two other religious communities would be formed by two of God’s other Prophets to spread monotheism worldwide.

Even when all nations have a sacred relationship to the one God: “Each nation will walk in the name of its God, and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever.” (Prophet Micah 4:5) Even in the Messianic Age the other nations will be free to faithfully follow their vision of the One God.

Is being chosen and special make you better than other people? No! A committed loving relationship results in more giving (Mitsvot), more receiving (Torah, Prophets and sages) and more grief (because each cares about the other). “For you alone have I cared among all the nations of the world, therefore I will castigate you for all your iniquities.” (Prophet Amos 3:2)

And while Israel cannot adore any other God, God can and does redeem other nations. “Are not Israelites like Ethiopians to me? Says the Lord. Did I not bring Israel up from Egypt, the Philistines from Crete and the Aramaeans from Kir?” (Prophet Amos 9:7)

This concept, of a chosen (by being pressed into being a) choosing people, can and among many ultra-orthodox Jews has lead to exaggerated and self-righteous feelings of pride. Thus, when the Qur’an (7:171) mentions another time the same event, when the Mount was moved above the Children of Israel, this verse is followed by a reminder in Qur’an (7:172) that “children of Adam” were all made to bear witness against their own souls: “‘Am I not your Lord?’ They said ‘Yes, we do bear witness.” God Almighty made a covenant with all individuals “lest [they] say on Qiyamah, the Day of Resurrection, ‘We were indeed unaware of this’.”

Thus, while loyalty to the commitment one’s ancestors made at Mount Sinai may inspire greater effort for Jews in following God’s will, when Jews, like Muslims, Christians and everyone else on earth face judgement on Qiyamah, the Day of Resurrection, we are all judged as individuals.

As Prophet Abraham says: “Do not forsake me on the Day of Resurrection, a day where neither money nor children will benefit except whoever meets Allah with a sound heart” (Qur’an 26:87-89). And (Quran 2:130) states: “And (everyone) who shuns the creed of Abraham (is) but a foolish soul We chose him (Abraham the Hebrew Genesis 14:13) in the world and in the Hereafter he shall be among the righteous. (Quran 2:131) And when his Lord said unto him “Submit!” (aslim) he said, “I submit (aslamtu) to the Lord of the worlds.”

The word Muslim is a religious identity term that refers to faithful monotheistic believers. The word Hebrew is a linguistic, geographical and ethnic identity term like German the language, Germany the homeland and Germans the people. The word descendent is a biological inherited birth identity term like nobility or tribe.

Islam was a religion designed by God to overcome all other self-identities: “O mankind, We created you from male and female, and made you peoples and tribes, that you may know (respect) one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted.” (Quran 49:13)

“Once all humans were but a single community; then they disagreed (formulating different beliefs and rites). Had it not been that your Lord had already so ordained, a decisive judgement would have been made regarding [the truth of] their disagreements.” (Quran 10:19) Then all human communities invented different religions of their own with different creeds and ways This worldly life is a trial to see whether or not you yourselves recognize truth by competing in doing acts of kindness, toleration and welcoming others who are different into your own lands.

And: “Who is better in religion than one who submits himself to Allah while being a doer of good and follows the religion of Abraham, inclining toward truth? And Allah took Abraham as an intimate friend.” (Quran 4:125)