An old joke I heard many years has a Rabbi delivering a forty-five minute drasha. After davening he is approached by a guest to the shul who tells him, "Rabbi, I work for NPR and think the thoughts you shared in your sermon would be perfect for our audience. Would you be able to encapsulate the sermon into a three minute segment?" The Rabbi, eager to increase his fame and renown, quickly answers, "Yes, of course!"
The guest deadpans, "Then why didn't you?"
Beyond the funny premise of the joke that rabbis' sermons have been known at times to be too lengthy, I take another point from the story. The point I appreciated is that while not all talks or classes can or should be three minutes long, they should be capable of being summarized. There was a Jewish magazine ten or so years ago called "Olam". It had its articles and Divrei Torah arrayed throughout the magazine according to attention span: Thirty second aphorisms, one minute thoughts, five and ten minute articles. Some of the differently lengthed articles spoke of the same topic, but with different lengths to attract people with different interests in depth.
The Gemara sends a similar message with a passage that says "Moses gave Israel 613 commandments, David reduced them to 10, Isaiah to 2, but Habakkuk to 1: the righteous shall live by his faith." The idea that long and complex things should be summarizable in what some people refer to as an "Elevator Pitch" is found in other places, including Parshas Yisro, Chapter 19:
3. Moses ascended to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, "So shall you say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel, 4. You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and [how] I bore you on eagles' wings, and I brought you to Me. 5. And now, if you obey Me and keep My covenant, you shall be to Me a treasure out of all peoples, for Mine is the entire earth. 6. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of princes and a holy nation.' These are the words that you shall speak to the children of Israel."
Rashi makes a big deal about the opening and closing remarks. On "So shall you say", Rashi explains that God meant "These words, in this order." And at the end of the tiny speech, "These are the words", Rashi explains, "No less and no more." This is the "Elevator Pitch" for the entire Torah.
We have 613 Mitzvos, containing thousands of details, and this is the summary, so concise that God wanted nothing more said at all. This is the gist: You know how much I love you, punished those who have hurt you for hurting you and not for all the other wrongs they committed. I have protected you till now and will be devoted to you. I believe this is the source in Chumash for the well known statement by Chazal in Avoda Zara 3a, "Ein HaKadosh Baruch Hu Ba B'trunia Im Briyosav" which basically means that Hashem does not expect people to do things that they cannot do. Mitzvos were not given to punish us, or make our lives more difficult, or to subjugate women. The entire system of Torah and Mitzvos, including Rabbinic Laws and interpretations whose legitimacy is based on Torah's, is built on the foundation of Trust we should have, a trust based not on blind faith, but on the experience of affection Hashem showed us.
This is the meaning of the statement by Chazal, the Sages, that Hashem offered the Torah to the other nations, who then asked, "What is written in it?" When they heard of some Mitzvah they couldn't fathom keeping, they rejected the offer. Only people who do not have a pre-existing relationship with the One making the offer can ask such a question. To those who cannot trust that the One making the offer has their benefit in mind, every Mitzvah is suspect.
To someone who has heard the pitch, "You know firsthand that I've got your back, defend you, protect you and will continue to treasure you", the only thing that needs to be said is "Naaseh", "We'll do it." The rest is all an expansion on that.
