Though it happened before Mattan Torah (Rashi 24:1), it is actually in this week’s sedra that we are told about Bnei Yisrael’s famous ‘na’aseh ve’nishma’ commitment to accept the Torah no matter what. However, we have a problem (Houston). As the gemarra (Shabbos 88a) and Rashi (Shemos 19:17) both point out, when Bnei Yisrael were about to receive the Torah, HaShem turned Har Sinai upside down on top of them and threatened ‘if you do not recieve the Torah, you will be buried here (under this mountain).’ But why did HaShem have to force us to accept the Torah if we had already voluntaryily accepted to recieve the Torah via the celebreated na’aseh ve’nishma phrase? This is the question posed by Tosafos on the aforementioned gemarra.
There are many beautiful answers out there, but we shall mention one – from the Sefas Emes.
The Sefas Emes points out that the word ‘asiyah’ can mean to force; for example a ‘get me’usah’ means a forced get (forced divorce contract) in Masechet Gittin. If so, continues the Sefas Emes, when Bnei Yisrael said ‘na’aseh ve’nishma’ (na’aseh from the root asiyah) what they were asking was that HaShem force them to accept the Torah. Bnei Yisrael knew that they wanted to accept the Torah, but they knew that they had major yetzer haras and negative drives which would push them not to accept the Torah. So they asked HaShem to remove those drives by forcing them to accept the Torah; na’aseh ve’nishma. And this is exactly what HaShem did – he threatened them with an upside-down mountian; exactly as they had asked.
The message? To realise your negaitve drives and ask HaShem wholeheartedy to help you remove them.
