The most supreme moment in Jewish history, perhaps in the history of the world, occurs in Parshat Yitro. The Torah was given to the People of Israel by Hashem at Mount Sinai. Hashem's voice was heard by every man, woman and child as He declared the foundations of religious and moral conduct for all time. However, the people were so awed by all that they had witnessed that they withdrew from the mountain and pleaded with Moshe to speak to them in place of Hashem lest they die. Moshe then drew near to the thick darkness and received a series of laws on behalf of Israel.

The question arises whether it was necessary for Hashem to reveal Himself to Israel, or if it was sufficient for Him to simply to hand the Torah over to Moshe, who in turn would then tell it to Israel. One answer to this comes from Hashem Himself in Shemot 19:9 where He says to Moshe, "I will come to you in a thick cloud so that all the people will hear when I speak to you. Then they will believe in you forever." From this it follows that all of Israel witnessed the giving of the Torah, contained in the Ten Commandments. Starting with this fact, we are able to prove our theology by reasonable rational conclusion, rather than merely by supposition. In the words of Rambam (Hilchot Yesodeh Haftorah 8:1) Israel believed in the Torah and in Moshe, not because of the wonders that took place, but because they heard the voice of Hashem speaking. However there had to be a man of Moshe's calibre present to tell Israel exactly what Hashem was saying, as they did not have the strength to hear and accept it. They put their trust in Moshe to teach them the word of Hashem.

Similarly nowadays the Torah is not merely an explanatory note of what happened at Mount Sinai at that time. It is a living Torah that continues all that has been passed down through generations of believers, who are certain that knowledge of the revelation at Sinai will be renewed for countless generations to come.