The dramatic scenes come fast and furious in the Book of Exodus/Sh'mot. It was only a few weeks ago that we read of the meeting between God and Moses at the burning bush. That was followed by two weeks of the ten plagues and the Israelites witnessing and experiencing the splitting of the Reed Sea in last week's reading. In this week's parasha/Torah portion, the Children of Israel arrives at Mount Sinai, encounters God "face-to-face" as an independent nation, and begins to receive the gift of the Torah (literally, "The Teaching") there. God's revelation of the commandments at Mount Sinai begins with the Ten Commandments this week and continues all the way through the rest of the Book of Exodus/Sh'mot, the Book of Leviticus/Vayikra, and until the nation begins its travels to the Promised Land at the beginning of the Book of Numbers/B'midbar. All in all, the children of Israel spends approximately one full year encamped at the foot of "God's Mountain" receiving Torah/Teaching from God through Moses. In response to stories of God speaking directly to our prophets of the Bible, many students have asked me, "Why doesn't God talk to us the way he talked Moses, or Abraham, or any of the other people in the Torah?" The answer is all a matter of perspective.