The revelation at Sinai
     The measure of a life is not how much you have accomplished — it is not the money, or the awards, or the fame, though it is natural to seek those things. A Jew is to engage in one thing— the study of Torah. And it is not how much Torah you know that is the measure of a Jew. The study of Torah is a lifelong enterprise. There is no graduation when you have “mastered” Torah.
     It is not how much you have eaten of the tree of knowledge but how much you have eaten of the oft forgotten second tree in the Garden of Eden, the eitz hayyim — the tree of life. Every week in synagogue as we return the Torah scroll, we sing eitz hayyim hi — it is a tree of life to those who grasp it. 
    Twentieth century German Jewish philosopher Franz Rosenzweig suggested that creation, revelation, and redemption are the central three activities of God. The rabbis taught that we are to walk in God’s ways, meaning that we are to imitate God. Clearly, we are called to bring redemption to the world. In the modern world, the notion of humans as co-creators has become ever more evident even as we struggle to not bring destruction to this planet. We easily understand how acts of compassion and connection can bring redemption to the world. However, what could it mean to say we humans should bring revelation into the world? Perhaps, it is that we deepen the storehouse of human knowledge as we discover more about the world, whether it is our bodies, our minds, or our universe.
     The voice of Sinai goes forth every day, not just constantly revealing Torah but calling each of us to join in the act of revelation by revealing ourselves to the world. It is not how much you know but how much you are known. How well, in your daily interactions, did you connect with the other divine images disguised as human beings? Were you open or hidden? 
     It is not existential aloneness that is the challenge of our modern world — it is a sense of existential unknowness. Each of us wants to be known. Each of us is afraid to be known, afraid that we will be considered lacking or foolish or unsuccessful. Or we try to conceal our deepest selves. We think we can control what we show the world. Freud argues that we are always revealing and concealing, either consciously or unconsciously. Revelation is an ongoing process for each of us. 
         We each stand again and again at Sinai, receiving and creating Torah.