The
Lord your God spoke to us in Ḥorev, saying: You have dwelt long enough
in this mountain. Deuteronomy 1:6
Ba’al haTurim
notes Ḥorev, which Ibn Ezra comments, is Mount Sinai, is spelled without
the letter vav, and therefore can be read as “ḥerev” (sword),
indicating that if Israel fails to observe the Torah which was given at Ḥorev,
God will bring the sword upon them.
My
father suggested an additional significance of the Torah’s incomplete spelling
of Ḥorev: the Torah constitutes Israel’s “sword,” that is, it is the
weapon with which Israel can defend itself against the sword of the nations.
Yet, in a sense it is Ḥorev which put
the sword into the hands of the nations, as our Sages taught, Mount Sinai is so
named because it was from there that hatred (sin’a) descended upon
Israel.
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