If the Ribbono shel Olam has such faith in us, then we will rise to that level
Their spiritual decline was so profound that, at the onset of Kri’as Yam Suf, the angels protested — “Halalu ovdei avodah zarah v’halalu ovdei avodah zarah — These [the Egyptians] are idolaters and these [the Jews] are idolaters.” Why should the Jews be saved over the Egyptians?
And yet just 50 days later, Klal Yisrael stood before Har Sinai, accepting the entirety of the Torah. It boggles the mind. Seven weeks? Is that all it took to emerge from the depths of the shaarei tumah to such spiritual eminence that they could absorb kol haTorah kulah?
Picture a group of recent baalei teshuvah arriving at a class given by a kiruv rabbi. The rabbi gets up and begins to share all of hilchos Shabbos, with every machlokes haposkim and each possible chumra. One might imagine that the group of listeners would be overwhelmed. And yet this is the very dynamic that transpired at Har Sinai. How do we understand this?
I believe this phenomenon can be explained in light of two different gemaras that, at first glance, appear to sharply contradict one another.
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