The Great Voice With No Echo

The Great Voice That Has No Echo 

Describing the revelation at Mount Sinai and the voice that the people heard, Moses says:  

The Lord spoke these words to your entire assembly at the mountain out of the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the opaque darkness, with a great voice, which did not cease. And He inscribed them on two stone tablets and gave them to me. (Deuteronomy 5:19)

The Hebrew words "Vlo Yasaf", translated here as "(the great voice) that did not cease", is one of the tricky words in Hebrew that are difficult to decipher because they have two opposite meanings." Vlo Yasaf", could mean (1) it did not cease, meaning it is ongoing. Or "Vlo Yasaf" could mean (2) it did not repeat, implying that the voice only happened once. Indeed, Rashi offers these two possible interpretations for this verse:  

Which did not cease: Heb. וְלֹא יָסָף, interpreted by the Targum: וְלָא פְּסָק "and it did not cease"... for His voice is strong and exists continuously. Another explanation of וְלֹא יָסָף: He never again revealed Himself so publicly [as He did on Mount Sinai. Accordingly, we render: and He did not continue].

The Midrash offers another interpretation, consistent with the second meaning - "it did not repeat". The Midrash explains that the great voice that the Jewish people heard at Sinai, did not have an echo. 

What is the significance of the voice at Sinai not having an echo? Wouldn't the powerful, booming voice of G-d create an enormous, awe-inspiring echo? An echo is formed when the sound waves hit a surface in which they cannot be absorbed; the sound waves bounce off the resistant substance and create an echo. When the Midrash says that the voice of Sinai had no echo, it indicates that the physical world did not resist the voice. Every aspect of the creation absorbed and internalized the word of G-d. 

Like every part of Torah this, too, is a message for our life. The Torah we study is not relegated to an abstract idea or thought-provoking belief system. The Torah permeates each and every part of our life, and infuses it with holiness. That is why the Ten Commandments address not only abstract belief systems: belief in one G-d, rejection of idolatry, and commemorating the Shabbat, but also mundane life: honor your parents, treat human life with dignity, and respect other people's property. The Ten Commandments cover the full gamut of The human experience, from the abstract to the practical, because the Torah has no echo; it permeates every part of our lives.