Fantasy or Science Fiction? - The vayanu’u (shaking) in the presence of the Shechinah that Isaiah witnessed in the haftorah becomes the focal point for understanding the experience of Har Sinai. The terror, the approach and the recoil, the perception of the mountain being held over one's head – are representations of the “vayanu'u” that occurs as one’s identity is threatened in the presence of a Reality that shatters all preconceptions of self. The experience of Sinai boils down to a single issue – Being v. Nonbeing. It is in this sense we can understand the contribution of Yitro to Kabbalat HaTorah: his declaration of “lo tov” is fundamentally related to the lo tov of Gan Eden, which defines the primal nature of relationship in which the violation of boundaries leads to the rape of the nachash. Moshe's climactic ascent up the mountain - only to be told “lech red” in order to reassert boundaries – is seen as the full equivalent of “Anochi Hashem Elokecha.” Breaching of boundaries led to the Egel and the death of Nadav and Avihu; their tikkun becomes Yom Kippur and the restoration of the mechitzas of the Mishkan. The dangers and opportunities inherent in the awareness of boundaries is the essence of “ba lenasot etchem” - the true “test” is the degree to which the imagination can expand to include all that a person could conceive of becoming if not for logistical difficulties (e.g., a short life span, technology). Anything beyond those limits is external to one's self, and reaching for them leads to magical thinking and is as destructive as the fire of Chashmal and the fire that killed Nadav and Avihu. Therefore, the “test” of Sinai is to allow the event to define one's self without endangering one's self. Har Sinai is a delicate exercise that needs to be dealt with separately through each individual, or it ends up being lo tov for everyone. Split into 600,000 voices, the call of Sinai provides healing for each person's unique illness of mind and soul, as did the stone around Avraham's neck, which focused the power of speech on furthering interactions and the development of identity.

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