R. Aviva Richman on Parashat Yitro: Redemptive Relationship, Part 3

In Parashat Yitro we come to Sinai, the final formative scene in reading the Exodus as a story of how Israel and God "fell in love." Strands of our tradition depict Sinai as a kind of wedding between us and God. In some depictions, Israel blindly agreed to enter this relationship even without knowing all the commitments involved. In other traditions, each person was fully informed of the details beforehand. Exploring these different versions of Sinai we see the importance of informed, affirmative consent as the bedrock of any relationship of intimacy. At the same time, it reminds us that in the deepest relationships of our lives, we can never fully know what might be required of us.