The light of Sinai, from the tree that carries its name
Sinai has a second name in the Torah: Horeb, חוֹרֵב. Spell it in full, חורב, and the carob, חָרוּב, is written with the same four letters. One vav moves.
Get the oil
Horeb, mountain of fire
Moshe first meets God at Horeb, at a bush that burns and is not consumed.
וַיָּבֹא אֶל הַר הָאֱלֹהִים חֹרֵבָהHe came to the mountain of God, to Horeb.Shemot 3:1Forty years later he reminds Israel where they stood.
יוֹם אֲשֶׁר עָמַדְתָּ לִפְנֵי ה׳ אֱלֹהֶיךָ בְּחֹרֵב… וְהָהָר בֹּעֵר בָּאֵשׁ עַד לֵב הַשָּׁמַיִםThe day you stood before Hashem your God at Horeb… and the mountain burned with fire to the heart of the heavens.Devarim 4:10-11The Gemara asks why one mountain carries two names. Rabbi Abahu answers:
הַר סִינַי שְׁמוֹ, וְלָמָּה נִקְרָא הַר חוֹרֵב? שֶׁיָּרְדָה חֻרְבָּה לְאֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם עָלָיוIts name is Mount Sinai. Why is it called Mount Horeb? Because ruin came down upon it for the nations of the world.Shabbat 89aThe same letters name the ruin and the mountain where the Torah was given. Mishlei calls that Torah light.
כִּי נֵר מִצְוָה וְתוֹרָה אוֹרA mitzvah is a lamp, and Torah is light.Mishlei 6:23Twelve years on carob and water
Hiding from Rome, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and his son Rabbi Elazar went into a cave.
אִיתְרְחִישׁ נִיסָּא, אִיבְּרִי לְהוּ חָרוּבָא וְעֵינָא דְמַיָּאA miracle happened for them: a carob tree and a spring of water were created.Shabbat 33bThey learned Torah there for twelve years. When they came out, every place they set their eyes on burst into flame. A voice from heaven spoke:
לְהַחֲרִיב עוֹלָמִי יְצָאתֶם? חִזְרוּ לִמְעָרַתְכֶם!Have you come out to destroy My world? Return to your cave!Shabbat 33bThe word for destroy, לְהַחֲרִיב, is the carob’s root once more. When they came out the second time, wherever Rabbi Elazar struck, Rabbi Shimon healed.
The carob that was answered with Sinai
In the dispute over the oven of Akhnai, Rabbi Eliezer called a carob tree as his witness.
אִם הֲלָכָה כְּמוֹתִי, חָרוּב זֶה יוֹכִיחַIf the halacha follows me, let this carob prove it.Bava Metzia 59bThe carob uprooted itself and moved a hundred amot. The sages replied that no proof is brought from a carob. A voice from heaven sided with Rabbi Eliezer. Rabbi Yehoshua stood and said, “It is not in heaven,” and Rabbi Yirmiyah explained:
שֶׁכְּבָר נִתְּנָה תּוֹרָה מֵהַר סִינַיThe Torah was already given from Mount Sinai.Bava Metzia 59bOil made into light
The old lamp of the Land of Israel was simple clay: a bowl of oil and a wick at its lip. Light this oil when you sit to learn, and set a drop on the Shabbat table for its scent.
Carob Oil
Carob from the trees of the Land of Israel, in olive oil. Made in small batches.
- For the learning lamp and Shabbat lights
- A warm, deep scent of roasted carob
- Ships from Israel
An aromatic, devotional oil for scent and light. No medical claims.
Kol Tehom
A series on Torah, light and the letters of creation by Aharon Yehoshua. Book 1 reads the mountain backwards, and it is free to read.
Read Book 1