Holy Ground

God said: “Do not come any closer. Remove your shoes from your feet, for the place upon which your are standing is holy ground.”      Exodus 3:5

            It is to be noted that the “Mountain of God,” Mount Horeb/Sinai is not considered holy, to the point where there is no certainty as to its location.

            Alshikh comments that God’s instruction “remove your shoes” is intended to convey to Moses that he is about to have a prophetic experience, which can take place only on holy ground.

            Apparently, Alshikh’s intention is to explain how Moses prophesied outside the Holy Land, since “all who have prophesied have done so only within her (the Land) or for her. [Kuzari 2:14] If this assumption is correct, the sanctity of Mount Horeb derived from its connection to the Holy Land, and indeed, the content of the prophecy Moses received at Horeb is:

I have come down to rescue them from the hands of Egypt’s. I will bring them out of that land to a good spacious Land, to a Land flowing milk and honey, the territory of the Canaanites, the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.              Exodus 3:8

            There is a substantive difference between Mount Horeb/Sinai and Mount Moriah. Mount Moriah, the Temple mount, has eternal sanctity, and one may ascend it only in a state of ritual purity and with awe and trepidation.  As far as Mount Sinai is concerned, following the Divine revelation which took place there, the greatest Divine revelation in history, the Israelites were permitted to ascend the mountain with no restrictions whatsoever. Perhaps this distinction derives from the fact that the revelation oat Sinai was for the sake of entering the Land, (based upon Midrash Sifrei, [Parashat Ekev, 43:17] the Torah presented to Israel at Mount Sinai is intended primarily for fulfillment within the Land) while Mount Moriah is actually located within the Land.

            Rabbi J.B. Soloveichik commented that Mount Sinai was sanctified through God’s actions, His Shechina descending upon the mountain, thus when the Shechina left Mount Sinai the mountain’s sanctity ended. However, Mount Moriah was sanctified by man’s actions, when Abraham bound Isaac on the altar he built there. Thus, Mount Moriah’s sanctity is eternal.