Every soul stood at Sinai

בפסוק וכל העם רואים את הקולות כו' וירא העם וינועו כו'.

Regarding the verse: "And all the people saw the sounds... and the people saw and they trembled," etc. (Shemos 20:15)

At Matan Torah the people "saw" the thunder and recoiled in awe.

ויל"ד דהל"ל ראו את הקולות.

And it requires explanation, for it should have said "they saw the sounds" (in the simple past).

The verse uses the ongoing form "ro'im" (seeing), rather than the plain past tense, which calls for interpretation.

וגם וירא העם הוא לשון כפול.

And also "and the people saw" appears to be a redundant repetition.

Since seeing was already mentioned, the second "the people saw" seems superfluous and demands a deeper reading.

וכ' במ"א כי קאי גם על דורות אחרונים כדאיתא במד' שכל הנביאים קבלו אז נבואתן ממילא כל נעשות בנ"י העתידין לבוא כ"א כפי מדריגתו נשאר חלק מאור שנתגלה אז.

And it is written elsewhere that this refers also to the later generations, as the Midrash states that all the nevi'im received their prophecy then — and likewise all the souls of Bnei Yisrael destined to come, each according to his level, retained a portion of the light that was revealed at that time.

The present-tense "seeing" hints that every future generation, and every soul of Bnei Yisrael, was present at Sinai and absorbed a share of the revelation according to its own capacity.

וי"ל דעי"ז עצמו נתרחקו בנ"י ע"י שראו זאת והבינו מה שנאמר בפסוק וכל העם רואים פי' גם על דורות אחרונים.

And it may be said that for this very reason Bnei Yisrael drew back — because they saw this and understood that what the verse says, "and all the people saw," refers also to the later generations.

The generation at Sinai perceived the lowly future generations included in the revelation, and this perception itself caused them to recoil.

לכן נתרחקו שאין דורות השפלים יכולין לקבל יותר.

Therefore they drew back, since the lowly generations could not bear to receive more.

Because the weaker later generations could not absorb so intense a light, the people at Sinai had to retreat to a level the future could sustain.

ויש רמז לזה במדרשות שדרשו שיצאה נשמתן של ישראל דכתיב נפשי יצאה בדברו.

And there is a hint to this in the Midrashim, which expounded that the soul of Bnei Yisrael departed, as it is written, "my soul went out when He spoke." (Shir HaShirim 5:6)

Chazal teach that at each utterance the neshamos of Bnei Yisrael left them from the overwhelming intensity of the revelation.

ויש לתמוה כי זאת נאמר בדורות אחרונים דודי חמק עבר נעשי יצאה כו'.

And one may wonder, for this verse — "my Beloved had turned away and was gone... my soul went out," etc. — is said regarding the later generations.

The puzzle is that the very verse describing the soul "going out" comes from a passage about Hashem's concealment in later times, not about the closeness of Sinai.

אכן לדברינו ניחא כי ע"י שפלות דורות אחרונים לכן הי' מזה הרגשה לאבותינו שעמדו על הר סיני ולכן נתרחקו.

However, according to our words it is well understood: it was precisely because of the lowliness of the later generations that our forefathers standing at Har Sinai felt this, and therefore they drew back.

The pain of the future's distance from Hashem was already "felt" at Sinai through those souls, and that very sensation is what made our ancestors recoil — resolving the puzzle.

ולכן צריכין אנחנו לשוב ולתקן את כל זה:

And therefore we must return and repair all of this.

It now falls to us, the later generations, to do teshuvah and mend that very distance which was sensed already at Sinai.

Summary: The Torah's wording "all the people saw" in the ongoing tense teaches that every future soul of Bnei Yisrael stood at Sinai and absorbed a share of the revelation according to its level. The generation at Sinai perceived the lowliness of later generations who could not bear the full light, and this perception itself caused them to "draw back" and their souls to depart. The task left to us, the later generations, is to do teshuvah and repair that distance.