Parashat Yitro: Anokhi

There is a saying among the classical rabbis that God actually gave us God’s own self when He gave us the Torah at Mount Sinai.
Ana Nafshi Ketavit Yehavit. Literally: “ I My self have written and given.” In other words: I have written My own self, My essence, down into words and that is what I am giving you here in the Torah. I have given you the gift of Me.

The rabbis derive this saying by reading the first word of the 10 Commandments, the word Anokhi (“I"), as a notorikon, a word which stands for other words, with each of its letters representing the first letter of a different word, together forming the sentence: Ana Nafshi Ketavit Yehavit. “I myself have written and given. “ In a way, this is a simple “spelling” out of what the word anokhi literally means – “I” – God put His “I” into the Torah.

At the parsha level, this reading makes sense of what is going on – what we have here is not just an ordinary passing on of laws. That could have been done by a simple public reading of the law – by Moshe, or better yet, by local hired professional readers and explicators of law. What we have here is not just a receiving of law, but a receiving of God Himself. The point seems obvious, but so obvious that we might miss it --- This giving of the 10 Commandments is a REVELATION of God. With all its preparations and with all its thunder and lightning, it is a live experience of God in the world.

So it was. And so it is. The Torah is today our live experience of God in the world. The gift of Torah is the gift of God Himself. He wrote Himself down and gave Himself to us. These precious words are our entry point, no, more than our entry point, they are in some way God Himself in the form of words.

The study of Torah brings continual revelation into the world.