Everyone knows what happened at the bottom of Mount Sinai, but no one mentions what happened on the top. In a way, this is unavoidable: the eye can’t see itself, the equation can’t prove itself. Nevertheless, a few of our sages have spoken. (In order to say anything, they had to be there.)
Rabbi Levi said, “On the top of Mount Sinai, Moses was given the choice of receiving the commandments or seeing God face to face. He knew that he could not see God without first dying. It was like looking into a mirror with no reflection inside.”
Rabbi Ezra said, “Moses did receive a commandment, but only one, only the First. All the others blended into silence, as all colors blend into white.”
Rabbi Gamaliel said, “Moses received only the first phrase of the First Commandment: I am the Unnamable.”
Rabbi Elhanan said, “Moses saw on Sinai what he had heard from the Burning Bush. There was just one message: I am.”
Rabbi Samuel said, “Not even that. The only word the Unnamable whispered was I.”
Rabbi Yosi said, “In the holy tongue, I is anokhi: aleph-nun-kaph-yod. What Moses received from God was the first letter of I.”
But aleph is a silent letter.
Rabbi Yosi said, “Just so.”