Fences & Ecstatic Religious Experiences: Safety First
It’s the most important moment in Jewish history. God is about to reveal Himself to His people.
And He’s worried about…fencing?
Yes. You read that correctly. God is worried about fencing.
We often skip this part when we teach about Mt. Sinai. But we shouldn’t. Because this section of Tanakh is incredibly important. It shows how much God cares, that He values every Jewish life, and it models to us that details matter.
It begins in Exodus 19:12-13.
וְהִגְבַּלְתָּ֤ אֶת־הָעָם֙ סָבִ֣יב לֵאמֹ֔ר הִשָּׁמְר֥וּ לָכֶ֛ם עֲל֥וֹת בָּהָ֖ר וּנְגֹ֣עַ בְּקָצֵ֑הוּ כׇּל־הַנֹּגֵ֥עַ בָּהָ֖ר מ֥וֹת יוּמָֽת׃
You shall set bounds for the people round about, saying, ‘Beware of going up the mountain or touching the border of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death:
לֹא־תִגַּ֨ע בּ֜וֹ יָ֗ד כִּֽי־סָק֤וֹל יִסָּקֵל֙ אוֹ־יָרֹ֣ה יִיָּרֶ֔ה אִם־בְּהֵמָ֥ה אִם־אִ֖ישׁ לֹ֣א יִחְיֶ֑ה בִּמְשֹׁךְ֙ הַיֹּבֵ֔ל הֵ֖מָּה יַעֲל֥וּ בָהָֽר׃
no hand shall touch him, but he shall be either stoned or shot; beast or man, he shall not live.’ When the ram’s horn sounds a long blast,-b they may go up on the mountain.”
Okay, cool. So Moses needs to build a fence.
Except then God reiterates it. And reiterates it again.
וַיֵּ֧רֶד יְהֹוָ֛ה עַל־הַ֥ר סִינַ֖י אֶל־רֹ֣אשׁ הָהָ֑ר וַיִּקְרָ֨א יְהֹוָ֧ה לְמֹשֶׁ֛ה אֶל־רֹ֥אשׁ הָהָ֖ר וַיַּ֥עַל מֹשֶֽׁה׃
The LORD came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain, and the LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain and Moses went up.
וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יְהֹוָה֙ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה רֵ֖ד הָעֵ֣ד בָּעָ֑ם פֶּן־יֶהֶרְס֤וּ אֶל־יְהֹוָה֙ לִרְא֔וֹת וְנָפַ֥ל מִמֶּ֖נּוּ רָֽב׃
The LORD said to Moses, “Go down, warn the people not to break through to the LORD to gaze, lest many of them perish.
וְגַ֧ם הַכֹּהֲנִ֛ים הַנִּגָּשִׁ֥ים אֶל־יְהֹוָ֖ה יִתְקַדָּ֑שׁוּ פֶּן־יִפְרֹ֥ץ בָּהֶ֖ם יְהֹוָֽה׃
The priests also, who come near the LORD, must stay pure, lest the LORD break out against them.”
וַיֹּ֤אמֶר מֹשֶׁה֙ אֶל־יְהֹוָ֔ה לֹא־יוּכַ֣ל הָעָ֔ם לַעֲלֹ֖ת אֶל־הַ֣ר סִינָ֑י כִּֽי־אַתָּ֞ה הַעֵדֹ֤תָה בָּ֙נוּ֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר הַגְבֵּ֥ל אֶת־הָהָ֖ר וְקִדַּשְׁתּֽוֹ׃
But Moses said to the LORD, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for You warned us saying, ‘Set bounds about the mountain and sanctify it.’”
וַיֹּ֨אמֶר אֵלָ֤יו יְהֹוָה֙ לֶךְ־רֵ֔ד וְעָלִ֥יתָ אַתָּ֖ה וְאַהֲרֹ֣ן עִמָּ֑ךְ וְהַכֹּהֲנִ֣ים וְהָעָ֗ם אַל־יֶֽהֶרְס֛וּ לַעֲלֹ֥ת אֶל־יְהֹוָ֖ה פֶּן־יִפְרׇץ־בָּֽם׃ So the LORD said to him, “Go down, and come back together with Aaron; but let not the priests or the people break through to come up to the LORD, lest He break out against them.”
וַיֵּ֥רֶד מֹשֶׁ֖ה אֶל־הָעָ֑ם וַיֹּ֖אמֶר אֲלֵהֶֽם׃ {ס}
And Moses went down to the people and spoke to them.
Moses has literally gone up the mountain to be with God. And then God tells him he needs to go back down the mountain and warn the nation not to come up in an attempt to see God- lest they die. Moses, understandably, is confused. He clarifies to God that he has already built a fence, so the people won’t be in danger. God reiterates that Moses needs to go back down and warn them again. So that’s what Moses does.
What is going on here? It’s the most momentous moment in Jewish history…and we’re worried about traffic control and barricades?
Yes. Yes, we are.
Why?
According to Rashi, a noted commentator to the biblical text, God is worried that the people’s yearning for God will be uncontrollable. It will be so strong that the people will approach too near the mountain and then
ונפל ממנו רב. כָּל מַה שֶּׁיִּפֹּל מֵהֶם, וַאֲפִלּוּ הוּא יְחִידִי, חָשׁוּב לְפָנַי רָב (שם):
AND MANY OF THEM FALL — whatever of them it may be that falls, even though it be a single person only, will be regarded by Me as רב, many (cf. Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 19:21).
This is echoed by Rabbeinu Bachya.
ונפל ממנו רב. אפילו אחד מהם נופל הרי הוא כנגד מעשה בראשית, כי היה ראוי לומר ויפלו מהם רבים.
ונפל ממנו רב, “and many of them would fall.” The choice by the Torah of the word נפל, singular, in connection with רב, many, teaches that even if a single Israelite were to “fall,” i.e. to die or be executed, it would be equivalent to a whole world dying.
One person dying is too many people- per God.
I think there might be more to God’s focus here. We have a tradition that God models behavior He would like us to emulate. For example, He comes to visit Abraham when Abraham is ill after having performed his circumcision. This is how we learn that we should visit the sick. See Sotah 14a.
He explains: Rather, the meaning is that one should follow the attributes of the Holy One, Blessed be He. He provides several examples. Just as He clothes the naked, as it is written: “And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skin, and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21), so too, should you clothe the naked. Just as the Holy One, Blessed be He, visits the sick, as it is written with regard to God’s appearing to Abraham following his circumcision: “And the Lord appeared unto him by the terebinths of Mamre” (Genesis 18:1), so too, should you visit the sick. Just as the Holy One, Blessed be He, consoles mourners, as it is written: “And it came to pass after the death of Abraham, that God blessed Isaac his son” (Genesis 25:11), so too, should you console mourners. Just as the Holy One, Blessed be He, buried the dead, as it is written: “And he was buried in the valley in the land of Moab” (Deuteronomy 34:6), so too, should you bury the dead.
God’s intense focus on making sure the people are very secure, will not come up the mountain, and therefore will not die, is an example of what it means to be vigilant as opposed to negligent. We will see later on in the Tanakh that there are many laws where people can be held liable for negligence- including someone’s accidental death. This is why we have commands to build gates and fences around flat roofs, for example. See Deuteronomy 22:8.
כִּ֤י תִבְנֶה֙ בַּ֣יִת חָדָ֔שׁ וְעָשִׂ֥יתָ מַעֲקֶ֖ה לְגַגֶּ֑ךָ וְלֹֽא־תָשִׂ֤ים דָּמִים֙ בְּבֵיתֶ֔ךָ כִּֽי־יִפֹּ֥ל הַנֹּפֵ֖ל מִמֶּֽנּוּ׃
When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, so that you do not bring bloodguilt on your house if anyone should fall from it.
(See more information on our responsibility to carry out this verse in real life here.)
So why does God spend so much time talking to Moses about this? To model what it means to be vigilant about the safety of others as opposed to being negligent. To demonstrate that He does the same thing He requires us to do.
Now let’s take it further.
Last year, there was a horrible tragedy on Lag B’Omer in Meron. A deadly crush killed 45 people.
Why were those people there? For a religious ceremony. They were there to celebrate by the grave of the venerated Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, lighting and dancing next to bonfires.
In 2018, a Haredi reporter warned about this very walkway.
“The narrow exit passageway leading from the Toldos Aharon lighting ceremony creates a bottleneck and causes terrible pushing to the point of a real risk of people being crushed,” Erlich had written on Twitter in 2018. “And this is the ONLY exit!”
His warning was ignored. It was considered more important for everyone to gather to take part in the holy, ecstatic spiritual experience than it was to worry about safety.
As everyone now knows, this was the wrong call. But what I think is more important is that the Torah itself- and certainly God- demonstrate that it is the wrong call. People coming to see God reveal Himself and yearning to be close to Him is an event far more important than the Meron bonfires. And in that scenario, God warned Moshe three separate times to care for the people and make sure that none would die. It was so important to God that he sent Moses down from His mountain in order to make sure the message was received.
It is very clear that safety trumped ecstatic spiritual experiences then, and it should continue to trump them now.