The pasuk says in Shir Hashirim [7-1]:
"שׁוּבִי שׁוּבִי הַשּׁוּלַמִּית שׁוּבִי שׁוּבִי וְנֶחֱזֶה בָּךְ מַה תֶּחֱזוּ בַּשּׁוּלַמִּית כִּמְחֹלַת הַמַּחֲנָיִם"
Come back, come back, O Shulammite;
come back, come back, that we may gaze on you!
Why would you gaze on the Shulammite
as on the dance of Machanaim?
The Rambam in Iggeres Teiman explains the pasuk to mean that the nations of the world are asking and the Jewish people are answering. The nations ask of Israel to come back and unite with them, to be a nation among the nations and they will merit to have importance among the nations.
"ונחזה בך" - לשון מעלה.
"We will see you" - a term of importance.
Therefore the Jewish people responded: מה תחזו בשולמית כמחלת המחניים. Here, explains the Rambam, מחולות - refer to the simcha and dancing at Har Sinai, מחנים - the Jewish people stood in a state of "מחנים" - The שכינה was in its own domain [מחיצה לעצמו], Moshe was in his in his own domain, Aharon and the elders were in their own domain, and all of the rest of the Jews in their own domain [Rashi Shmos 19-24]. This praise of מחנים cannot be given by the nations of the world - only by Hashem. Asked the Brisker Rov - What is so special about "מחנים" that only here we see the importance of the Jewish people through מתן תורה in relationship to the other nations?
Explained the Rov: The psukim and the Gemara imply that at the time of מתן תורה, all of creation saw itself at the cusp of a מבול, there was a feeling that something is changing at the very root of creation. So says the pasuk [Tehillim 68-8/9]:
אֱלֹהִים בְּצֵאתְךָ לִפְנֵי עַמֶּךָ; בְּצַעְדְּךָ בִישִׁימוֹן סֶלָה.
אֶרֶץ רָעָשָׁה, אַף-שָׁמַיִם נָטְפוּ-- מִפְּנֵי אֱלֹהִים:
זֶה סִינַי-- מִפְּנֵי אֱלֹהִים, אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל.
O God, when you went out before your people, when you marched through the wilderness, Selah
the earth shook, the heavens poured down rain, before God, the One of Sinai,
before God, the God of Israel.
before God, the God of Israel.
The Gemara says in Zevachim [116a]:
ר"א המודעי אומר מתן תורה שמע [ובא] שכשניתנה תורה לישראל היה קולו הולך מסוף העולם ועד סופו וכל [מלכי] עובדי כוכבים אחזתן רעדה בהיכליהן ואמרו שירה שנאמר (תהלים כט, ט) ובהיכלו כולו אומר כבוד
Rabbi Elazar HaModa’i says: He heard about the giving of the Torah and came. As when the Torah was given to the Jewish people, the voice of the Holy One, Blessed be He, went from one end of the world to the other end, and all of the kings of the nations of the world were overcome with trembling in their palaces and recited a song of praise, as it is stated: “The voice of the Lord makes the hinds to calve…and in his palace all say: Glory”(Psalms 29:9), i.e., each king in his own palace recited songs of praise to God.
נתקבצו כולם אצל בלעם הרשע ואמרו לו מה קול ההמון אשר שמענו שמא מבול בא לעולם (אמר להם) (תהלים כט, י) ה' למבול ישב [אמר להם] וישב ה' מלך לעולם כבר נשבע הקב"ה שאינו מביא מבול לעולם
At that time, all of the kings gathered around Bilaam the wicked, who was the greatest gentile prophet, and said to him: What is the tumultuous sound,i.e., the loud noise, that we have heard? Perhaps a flood is coming to destroy the world, as it is stated: “hashem sat enthroned at the flood” (Psalms 29:10)? Bilaam said to them: “Hashem sits as King forever” (Psalms 29:10), which means that the Holy One, Blessed be He, already took an oath after the flood never to bring a flood to the world, as it is stated: “And the waters shall no more become a flood” (Genesis 9:15).
The kings said to him: He will not bring a flood of water, as he vowed, but perhaps He will bring a flood of fire, as in the future the Lord will punish the nations with fire, as it is stated: “For by fire will the Lord contend, and by His sword with all flesh; and the slain of the Lord shall be many” (Isaiah 66:16). Balaam said to them: He already took an oath that He will not destroy all flesh in any manner, as it is stated: “To destroy all flesh” (Genesis 9:15). Therefore, there will not be a flood of fire.
ומה קול ההמון הזה ששמענו אמר להם חמדה טובה יש לו בבית גנזיו שהיתה גנוזה אצלו תתקע"ד דורות קודם שנברא העולם וביקש ליתנה לבניו שנאמר (תהלים כט, יא) ה' עוז לעמו יתן [מיד] פתחו כולם ואמרו (תהלים כט, יא) ה' יברך את עמו בשלום
They asked: And if so, what is this tumultuous sound that we have heard?Bilaam said to them: He has a good and precious item in His treasury, that was hidden away with Him for 974 generations before the world was created, and He seeks to give it to his children, as it is stated: “The Lord will give strength to His people” (Psalms 29:11). “Strength” is a reference to the Torah, which is the strength of the Jewish people. Immediately, they all began to say: “The Lord will bless His people with peace” (Psalms 29:11).
We see from the Gemara that the entire trembling of creation is to reach "ה' עז לעמו יתן" - Torah. In other words, the sublimity of the word of Hashem effects the creation in such a way that the world can't withstand it. Meaning, that it can't be accepted unless the receiver collapses. [As we find with regard to the Navi, that prophecy only falls upon him when he goes beyond the confines of his normal way of being, "נופל וגלוי עינים" [Bamidbar 24-4], the Navi falls. So too, והודי נהפך עלי למשחית ולא עצרתי כח [Daniel 10-8] -Therefore I was left alone, and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me: for my splendor was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength]. That is the idea of מחולות - "dancing", as the pasuk says [Tehillim 68-17] "למה תרצדון הרים" - Why are the mountains dancing?
This extending of creation beyond its normal confines exists with the Jewish people in the form of "מחנים". That is the depth of the Rambam. That going out of the normal order and the collapse of the nations of the world when the word of Hashem goes out to the world - that very same phenomenon expresses itself in the opposite way with respect to the Jewish people, in the form of מחולת המחנים. The very same thing that removes creation from having boundaries and a framework bring the Jewish people to a place of MORE obligations, MORE fences and boundaries. For the Jewish people מתן תורה effects them in such a way that each one stood in its own camp. מתן תורה gives the Jewish people more stability, more of a perception of the order of things and establishing them in their special and clear boundaries. THAT is the greatness of "מחולת המחנים" with respect to the Jewish people in contrast to the מחולת regarding the nations of the world.
["זה השער"]
