Synesthesia and Seeing the Sounds (article summary)
My article in the Jewish Link this past Shabbat was about Synesthesia at Har Sinai. You can read it in full here (paid Scribal Error Substack which includes hyperlinks, Jewish Link HTML, flipdocs).
Here is an outline of the basic ideas therein.
Look, the Mishnah states that at least one witness to the blasphemer needs to explicitly enunciate the Divine Name he heard. (The others should concur that that is what they heard.) You need that kind of clarity if you are going to execute someone.
Use that as a jumping off point for allowing people to hear / read purportedly blasphemous ideas, including in the words of Rishonim and religious Jewish Biblical commentators. A translator to English should not filter out the words he personally finds heretical. Yes, we’re back to our favorite prolific translator’s work.
Start from the beginning, with the verse discussing seeing the sounds, ro’im et hakolot … as well as a bunch of actually visible things enumerated in the pasuk. Move on to the Mechilta, which is Rashi’s source on this verse and indeed the general section. See what it says inside, quote Rashi’s famous presentation of it, and mention a connection with the modern described phenomenon of synesthesia.
This is such a famous Rashi that we might think it almost becomes a fundamental belief in some frum circles. So, discounting it would seem un-frum.
Here is the Hebrew text of Rashbam. He connects it to the thunder and flaming rocks by the plague of barad. Perhaps he links the phenomena, so one sees them collectively. That does not mean literally seeing sounds. Our English translator, however, appears to mislead, saying “רואים, the author translates this as literally ‘seeing’ with one’s eyes.” I would expect any reader to interpret this as Rashbam endorsing a synesthesia explanation.
Here is the Hebrew text of Chizkuni. His basic point is that “seeing” means perceiving, which need not be accomplished with eyeballs. That word can apply to anything which someone has come to know to be true. Again, our English translator botches the translation, turning it into synesthesia.
That isn’t good. There is value to these translations, but for educated Hebrew readers who can second-guess and confirm.