The Torah reading yesterday described in dramatic fashion how God spoke to the people of Israel at Mt. Sinai. It was the only time in our history that God spoke to the entire community and that event has served as a foundational element of our Jewish tradition. The holiday of Shavuot provides an opportunity to relive that experience through study and reading of that portion from the Torah.
A few chapters later in the book of Exodus we are told how those tablets of 10 commandments were written. It says that they were inscribed by "etzba Elohim" - the finger of God. Mysteriously the rabbinic commentators are silent on this verse and so it's up to us to understand the significance of that statement, namely how are we to understand "God's finger" writing the 10 commandments?
Do we think of Cecil B. DeMille's classic movie "The Ten Commandments" and picture the fire balls coming at us on the screen for each commandment? Or do we perhaps picture Michelangelo's beautiful painting in the Sistine Chapel of God's finger emerging from a cloud and touching Adam's finger? Or rather do we understand the statement in a more abstract or metaphorical way as God's spirit entering the tablets and imbuing them with life and meaning?
I thought about this as the new acrylic yartzeit plaques were installed on the back wall of the Grosberg-Baumgart Chapel. As they went up family members would gather around the plaque of their loved one and would begin to cry, to smile or simply nod their heads. As I installed some of them I too remembered some of the people and recalled their faces and my interactions with them years ago. Miraculously the inanimate object - the plaque - came to life as if the finger of God had imbued it with life and spirit.
As we are about to recall our loved ones again in the yizkor service let us feel touched by the finger of God. May their memories come to life for us and may they always be a source of blessing and comfort.
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