The Gemara records that when God came to give the Torah, the Israelites were asleep and had to be woken — a teaching used by later authorities as the underlying reason for the Shavuot night vigil: to rectify (tikkun) that original slumber.
וְאָמַר רַבִּי יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בֶּן לֵוִי: כׇּל דִּיבּוּר וְדִיבּוּר שֶׁיָּצָא מִפִּי הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא יָצְתָה נִשְׁמָתָן שֶׁל יִשְׂרָאֵל, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״נַפְשִׁי יָצְאָה בְדַבְּרוֹ״. וּמֵאַחַר שֶׁמִּדִּיבּוּר רִאשׁוֹן יָצְתָה נִשְׁמָתָן, דִּיבּוּר שֵׁנִי הֵיאַךְ קִיבְּלוּ? — הוֹרִיד טַל שֶׁעָתִיד לְהַחֲיוֹת בּוֹ מֵתִים וְהֶחְיָה אוֹתָם, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״גֶּשֶׁם נְדָבוֹת תָּנִיף אֱלֹהִים נַחֲלָתְךָ וְנִלְאָה אַתָּה כוֹנַנְתָּהּ״. וְאָמַר רַבִּי יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בֶּן לֵוִי: כׇּל דִּיבּוּר וְדִיבּוּר שֶׁיָּצָא מִפִּי הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא חָזְרוּ יִשְׂרָאֵל לַאֲחוֹרֵיהֶן שְׁנֵים עָשָׂר מִיל וְהָיוּ מַלְאֲכֵי הַשָּׁרֵת מְדַדִּין אוֹתָן, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״מַלְאֲכֵי צְבָאוֹת יִדֹּדוּן יִדֹּדוּן״ — אַל תִּיקְרֵי ״יִדֹּדוּן״, אֶלָּא ״יְדַדּוּן״.
And Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: From each and every utterance that emerged from the mouth of the Holy One, Blessed be He, the souls of the Jewish people left their bodies, as it is stated: “My soul departed when he spoke” (Song of Songs 5:6). And since their souls left their bodies from the first utterance, how did they receive the second utterance? Rather, God rained the dew upon them that, in the future, will revive the dead, and He revived them, as it is stated: “You, God, poured down a bountiful rain; when Your inheritance was weary You sustained it” (Psalms 68:10). And Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: With each and every utterance that emerged from the mouth of the Holy One, Blessed be He, the Jewish people retreated in fear twelve mil, and the ministering angels walked them back toward the mountain, as it is stated: “The hosts of angels will scatter [yidodun]” (Psalms 68:13). Do not read the word as yidodun, meaning scattered; rather, read it as yedadun, they walked them.