By Rabbi Dena Shaffer
Executive Director, 4Front Teen Engagement Initiative
Just a few weeks ago we read the awesome narrative of the Israelites’ encounter with God at Mount Sinai. While many people relate to this account of revelation as the pinnacle of the ancient Jewish experience, I am actually far more intrigued with the story that follows immediately afterward. For all the drama of Sinai, the only reaction from the people is that of fear. They cannot, it seems, internalize anything they have heard because its source is so incredibly terrifying. But in the following portion, when more laws and rules and values are transmitted through Moses, we finally get a reaction from the people. “And they said...