Yitro

(16) [A]s morning dawned, there was thunder, and lightning, and a dense cloud upon the mountain, and a very loud blast of the horn; and all the people who were in the camp trembled. (17) Moses led the people out of the camp toward God, and they took their places at the foot of the mountain.

(18) Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke, for the LORD had come down upon it in fire; the smoke rose like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled violently. (19) The blare of the horn grew louder and louder. As Moses spoke, God answered him in thunder. (20) The LORD came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain, and the LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain and Moses went up. (21) The LORD said to Moses, “Go down, warn the people not to break through to the LORD to gaze, lest many of them perish. (22) The priests also, who come near the LORD, must stay pure, lest the LORD break out against them.” (23) But Moses said to the LORD, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for You warned us saying, ‘Set bounds about the mountain and sanctify it.’” (24) So the LORD said to him, “Go down, and come back together with Aaron; but let not the priests or the people break through to come up to the LORD, lest He break out against them.” (25) And Moses went down to the people and spoke to them.

(1) God spoke all these words, saying:

(2) I the LORD am your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage:

(3) You shall have no other gods besides Me. (4) You shall not make for yourself a sculptured image, or any likeness of what is in the heavens above, or on the earth below, or in the waters under the earth. (5) You shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I the LORD your God am an impassioned God, visiting the guilt of the parents upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generations of those who reject Me, (6) but showing kindness to the thousandth generation of those who love Me and keep My commandments.

(7) You shall not swear falsely by the name of the LORD your God; for the LORD will not clear one who swears falsely by His name.

(8) Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy. (9) Six days you shall labor and do all your work, (10) but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God: you shall not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, or your cattle, or the stranger who is within your settlements. (11) For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth and sea, and all that is in them, and He rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it.

(12) Honor your father and your mother, that you may long endure on the land that the LORD your God is assigning to you.

(13) You shall not murder.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

(14) You shall not covet your neighbor’s house: you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female slave, or his ox or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor’s.

(15) All the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the blare of the horn and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they fell back and stood at a distance. (16) “You speak to us,” they said to Moses, “and we will obey; but let not God speak to us, lest we die.” (17) Moses answered the people, “Be not afraid; for God has come only in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may be ever with you, so that you do not go astray.” (18) So the people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick cloud where God was.

“And you shall impart them to your children and your children’s children” (Deuteronomy 4:9), and it is written thereafter: “The day that you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb” (Deuteronomy 4:10). Just as before, the Revelation at Sinai was in reverence, fear, quaking, and trembling, so too here, in every generation, Torah must be studied with a sense of reverence, fear, quaking, and trembling.

"And God said all of these things, saying" -

Rabbi Yitzchak said, What the prophets were to prophesy in the future in each generation, they received from Mount Sinai.

As Moshe said to Israel (Deuteronomy 29:14), "I make this covenant, with its sanctions, not with you alone, but with those here with us standing today and with those not here with us today." It does not say [at the end of the verse], "with us standing today," but rather, "with us today"; these are the souls that will be created in the future, who do not have substance, about whom "standing" is not mentioned. For even though they did not exist at that time, each one received that which was theirs....

And it was not only of the prophets who receive their teaching from Sinai, but also the sages who arise in each generation - each of them received what was theirs from Sinai.

At Sinai, when the Israelites were ready to receive the Torah, the Holy One said to them, “What? Am I supposed to give you the Torah without any security? Bring some good guarantors that you will keep it properly, and I will give it to you.” They said before God: "Master of Time and Space, Our ancestors will be our guarantors." God said to them: "They themselves need a guarantor! Avraham questioned Me: 'How will I know?” (Genesis 15:8). Yitzchak loved Esav although I hate him (Malachi 1:3). Yaakov thought I mistreated him (see Isaiah 40:27). Israeltes: Our prophets. God: I have complaints against them, too: “The shepherds sinned against Me” (Jeremiah 2:8). “Israel, your prophets were like foxes…” (Ezekiel 13:4). Israelites: Our children are our guarantors. God: Now, that’s a guarantor! By their hands will I give you the Torah.

Come and see how the voice would go out among all of Israel - each and every one according to their capacity: the elders according to their capacity; the young people according to their capacity; the infants according to their capacity... .

Rabbi Yose bar Chanina said, "If you wonder about this thing, learn from the manna, as it would only come down according to the strength of each and every one of Israel.

the young men would eat it like bread, as it is stated (Exodus 16:4), 'Behold I will rain upon you bread from the skies, etc.'; the elders like a wafer in honey, as it is stated (Exodus 16:31), 'and its taste was like a wafer in honey'; the sucklings like the milk of it's mother's breast, as it is stated (Numbers 11:8), 'and its taste, was like the taste of, etc.'; the sick ones like fine flour mixed with honey, as it is stated (Ezekiel 16:19), 'And My bread that I gave you, fine flour and oil I fed you'; and the idolaters tasted it bitter and coriander, as it is stated (Numbers 11:7), 'And the manna was like coriander seed.'"

And Rabbi Yose bar Rabbi Chanina said, "And since the manna which was one type switched to many types because of the need of each and every one, all the more so, the voice that had strength in it would change for each and every one, so that that they would not be injured, as it is stated (Exodus 20:15), 'And all the people saw the voices.'"

The Torah says, “And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet God; and they stood at the lowermost part of the mount” (Exodus 19:17). Rabbi Avdimi bar Ḥama bar Ḥasa said: the Jewish people actually stood beneath the mountain, and the verse teaches that the Holy One, Blessed be He, overturned the mountain above the Jews like a tub, and said to them: If you accept the Torah, excellent, and if not, there will be your burial. Rav Aḥa bar Ya’akov said: From here there is a substantial caveat to the obligation to fulfill the Torah. The Jewish people can claim that they were coerced into accepting the Torah, and it is therefore not binding. Rava said: Even so, they again accepted it willingly in the time of Ahasuerus, as it is written: “The Jews ordained, and took upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined themselves unto them” (Esther 9:27), and he taught: The Jews ordained what they had already taken upon themselves through coercion at Sinai.