For the source text click/tap here: Beitzah 25
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The Gemara considers another aspect of the character of the Jewish people. It is taught in a baraita in the name of Rabbi Meir: For what reason was the Torah given to the Jewish people? It is because they are impudent, and Torah study will weaken and humble them.
A Sage of the school of Rabbi Yishmael taught the following with regard to the verse:
ב וַיֹּאמַר, יְהוָה מִסִּינַי בָּא וְזָרַח מִשֵּׂעִיר לָמוֹ--הוֹפִיעַ מֵהַר פָּארָן, וְאָתָה מֵרִבְבֹת קֹדֶשׁ; מִימִינוֹ, אשדת (אֵשׁ דָּת) לָמוֹ.
2 And he said: The LORD came from Sinai, and rose from Seir unto them; He shined forth from mount Paran, and He came from the myriads holy, at His right hand was a fiery law unto them.
Deut 33:2
“From His right hand went a fiery law for them” The Holy One, Blessed be He, said: Based on their nature and character, these people, the Jews, are fit to be given a fiery law, a hard and scorching faith.
Rabbi Yishmael's school taught that we Jews have fiery natures requiring a fiery law. Others suggested that we were given the Torah to mitigate our wrath, for no nation could withstand us without the observance and study required by Torah law.
We examine the closeness of Am Yisrael through the eyes of orthodox and nonsectarian minds