imposed upon you, to distinguish you before all other nations on
earth. Consider, however, that whereas up to this time you have
been ignorant, and your ignorance served as your excuse, you now
know exactly what to do and what not to do. Until now you did not
know that the righteous are to be rewarded and the godless to be
punished in the future world, but now you know it. But as long as
you will have a feeling of shame, you will not lightly commit
sins." Hereupon the people withdrew twelve miles from Mount
Sinai, while Moses stepped quite close before the Lord. [240]

In the immediate proximity of God are the souls of the pious, a
little farther Mercy and Justice, and close to these was the position
Moses was allowed to occupy. [241] The vision of Moses, owing
to his nearness to God, was clear and distinct, unlike that of the
other prophets, who saw but dimly. He is furthermore
distinguished from all the other prophets, that he was conscious of
his prophetic revelations, while they were unconscious in the
moments of prophecy. A third distinction of Moses, which he
indeed shared with Aaron and Samuel, was that God revealed
Himself to him in a pillar of cloud. [242]

In spite of these great marks of favor to Moses, the people still
perceived the difference between the first two commandments,
which they heard directly from God, and those that they learned
through Moses' intercession. For when they heard the words, "I am
the Eternal, thy Lord," the understanding of the Torah became
deep-rooted in their hearts, so that they never forgot what they thus
learned. But they forgot some of the things Moses taught, for as
man is a being of flesh and blood, and hence ephemeral, so are his
teachings ephemeral. They hereupon came to Moses, saying: "O, if