Rashi, the great Torah and Talmud commentator, had eyes for every word, indeed for every syllable and letter.

He noted a seeming contradiction in the sentence which describes the arrival of the Children of Israel at Mount Sinai, the prologue to the giving and receiving of Torah which we celebrate tonight on Shavuot.

The verse reads ‘They came to the wilderness of Sinai and encamped there (plural verb); Israel encamped (singular verb) opposite the mountain.’ (Exodus 19:2) Why this difference between the two verbs?

The Israelites, Rashi explains, each came with their own opinions and different experiences.  But then, in order to hear God and receive Torah, they listened ‘with one heart, like one single person.’

No doubt, Rashi had his reasons back in the late eleventh century for stressing this point, as every generations of Jews have had before and since. We are a discursive, debating, not to say arguing people.

But when it comes to hearing God’s voice, the ‘life of all life’, the voice at the heart of creation and in the core of our souls, we listen all together.

When it comes to embracing the core values of Judaism, as expressed by Simon the Just over two millennia ago,  ‘Upon three things the world is established, upon Torah, upon loving kindness, and upon the service of God,’ we commit ourselves to transcending our differences, and to harnessing them for our collective good, so that we work together for the sake of God’s will.  

Chag Sameach and may Torah enter our hearts.