בס”ד
By Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron
This painting clearly exhibits the Giving of the Torah described in this parsha. The eagles describe the verse mentioned here in the verse “and I shall carry you on the wings of eagles and bring you to Me.”
The pyramid seen here has seven Hasidim blowing the shofar representing the seven weeks leading from Pesach when we left the bondage and “pyramid” of Egypt and came to Mount Sinai seen here where the Torah was given on Shavuot. The shofar is an instrument of repentance and these fifty days are also days of repentance, self-improvement and purification towards the receiving of the Torah. Indeed, at the bottom of the pyramid we also see a matza representing the beginning of the process with the holiday of Matzot –Pesach. In the pyramid we see ten rungs, which follows with the Kabbalistic teaching that, although there are seven weeks between Pesach and Shavuot representing the rectification of the sefirot, nevertheless some sefirot are rectified much faster than others, ultimately reaching a rectification of all ten sefirot. The ten rungs may also parallel the Ten Commandments.
The color green is very dominant here [and also the top of the pyramid is green, which seems to follow with the custom of decorating the synagogue with greenery on Shavuot in memory of the flowering of Mount Sinai at the Giving of the Torah according to the Midrash. This color also follows with the Kabbalistic teaching that green is associated to the sefira of tiferet, associated with Torah study. Nevertheless, we see that Mount Sinai itself is painted here with dark hues of black and gray, perhaps hinting to Mount Sinai’s identification as Mount Horeb, which literally means the “mountain of desolation/void.” As we pointed in parshat Shmot this year, a creation of void/”vacuum” from the extraneous “noise/havoc” of life is instrumental in causing a pull and motion towards the Divine listening. This Divine listening is ultimately what brought Moshe to his first prophecy at Mount Sinai/Horeb and also to Israel’s prophetic vision later at Mount Sinai when they were alleviated from the havoc of Egypt and the necessities of sustenance by the manna and other miracles they witnessed as well.
The Zohar considers Hebron synonymous with Torah, tying the word Hebron to the word “haber” which means a Torah scholar. We may also say that the letters Hebron also spell “Horeb nun,” hinting to the fact that Israel received the Torah at Mount Horeb after “nun,” i.e fifty days of the Exodus!