Shavuot 5762 That is the essence of the festival of Shavuos that begins at sundown tonight, and lasts for two days (Friday and Shabbos). As I’ve written many times before, a Jewish holiday is no mere commemoration of ancient historical events, but a thrilling opportunity to actually re-experience those seminal events on a spiritual level. The Ramchal (Moshe Chayim Luzzatto), in his classic exposition of Jewish thought, Derech Hashem (The Way of G-d), explains that on each of our sacred days, "a great [spiritual] rectification was accomplished and a great Light shone." In His wisdom (and kindness), G-d arranged things so that on the recurring anniversary of each of those special days, "a counterpart of its original Light should shine forth, and the results of its rectification renewed to those who accept it." That is to say, when we are reclining at the Seder, we are not merely trying to remember the event of liberation from Egypt. Rather, our souls are experiencing the spiritual essence of liberation itself (cherus in Hebrew), which was the root and source of the historical Exodus. By the same token, tonight we will not be remembering the sacred event of Revelation at Sinai. We ourselves will be receiving the Torah. Accepting on ourselves once again the responsibility and privilege of being "a kingdom of ministers and a holy nation," (Exodus 19, 6) of serving as a "light unto the nations" by absorbing (and radiating) the holiness that is a result of the "righteous decrees and ordinances" (Deuteronomy: 4, 8) of our Torah. Accepting the commandments of G-d as written in the Torah (which means, "instruction"), so that, as Moshe promised us, "you shall live and it will be good for you" (Deuteronomy: 5, 29). It sounds inspiring…and simple. Just show up at your local synagogue (where there will probably be all-night Torah study going on, in keeping with an ancient custom), and your soul will be transported to Sinai. Just open your Chumash, and the Torah is as good as received, "the results of the [Shavuos] rectification renewed." Wrong. There’s one element missing from the picture, one necessary prerequisite for soaking up all that unique spiritual illumination mentioned above. It’s called, preparation. We need to be prepared to truly and maximally receive into our souls the essence of this "time of the Giving of the Torah." And though a jug or two of coffee might help get you through till dawn (hmm…wonder what form of caffeine was available to the ancient Children of Israel), there probably needs to be something more to rouse our souls (and not just our nerve endings) for the festival. The great Torah scholar, Rabbi Chaim Shmuelevitz, zt’l, in an essay from Sichos Musar, names three things we need to work on if we want to be prepared for receiving the Torah on Shavuos. (I know, I should have told you--and reminded myself--7 weeks ago, right after Pesach. Sorry.) He derives these from the verse in Exodus (19, 2) that tells us about the Jewish people’s arrival at Sinai: "They journeyed from Refidim and arrived at the Wilderness of Sinai and encamped in the Wilderness; and Israel encamped there, opposite the mountain." Three forms of preparation for Revelation are hinted at in this verse. "They journeyed from Refidim…" Refidim is the name the Torah gives to the place in which the Jews encamped directly before coming to Sinai, and it is related to the Hebrew word, "rifyon," which means, "weakness" or "feebleness." Our Sages say that in that place, the Jewish people weakened somewhat in their internal commitment to G-d, and slackened in their study of the few Torah laws Moshe had already taught them. (A tragic result of this spiritual weakening was a vulnerability to attack from the nation of Amalek.) So, now, the Torah informs us that "they journeyed from Refidim," meaning (besides the geographical information conveyed) that they had progressed beyond that previous state of spiritual weakness and feebleness. They had strengthened themselves in their commitment to G-d, and the Torah they knew He would give them. The first preparation for us, Rabbi Shmuelevitz explains, is strengthening our commitment to Torah study and practice. Not half-hearted dabbling (that’s the deadly rifyon we have to journey beyond), but whole-hearted striving to learn and keep the Torah, and achieve closeness to our Maker. "…and encamped in the Wilderness…" The Wilderness is a place where there is no ownership, no social and monetary stratification. It is a place devoid, therefore, of the most common triggers to arrogance and conceit. Our Sages tell us in many places that Torah is only acquired deeply by a person who is humble, by someone who rids himself of conceit and other ugly character traits that we use to oppress and intimidate others. Torah is only acquired by one who is humble. (Moshe, fittingly, is called, "the humblest of men.") Humility means realizing that all of our gifts (including the ability to learn Torah) come from G-d, and realizing that all men are created in His image. Arrogance and conceit are, in essence, a form of spiritual blindness to the truth of our situation in this world. The second preparation for receiving the Torah, then, is working on improving our character traits and especially, striving to root out arrogance from our nature (gahva)."…and Israel encamped there, opposite the Mountain." The Torah switches in this clause from plural (vayachanu) to singular (vayichan): Israel is pictured as a single entity, a unity, an individual. Our Sages tell us that although we fought among ourselves at every previous station in the wilderness (and would continue to fight throughout our history to the present day), we were completely "of one mind and one heart" as we encamped before Sinai. We were unified in our love of each other, and in our desire to become G-d’s holy people. The third and most important preparation for receiving the Torah, Rabbi Shmuelevitz writes, is strengthening our sense of Jewish unity. Torah was not given to an aggregate of individuals, but to a k’lal, a community! The Jewish people got the Torah, not a mass of feuding and psychologically isolated individual Jews. Only to the extent that we internalize care and concern for our fellow Jew, and make each other’s welfare our primary goal, are we spiritually prepared to receive the Torah. We must develop in ourselves the desire to be more deeply connected to the k’lal, to the totality of the Jewish people. (This will be aided by engaging in the first two forms of spiritual preparation: study of Torah, and working on humility.) There’s still time to prepare! Get busy. We can accomplish much more than we think in a short time. I WISH EVERYONE A WONDERFUL AND MEANINGFUL SHAVUOS. My e-mail address is yosefe@comcast.net Archives Insights
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Insights Into Exodus | Insights Into Leviticus Rabbi Yosef Edelstein, Savannah Kollel. Phone: 355-0157; fax: 354-9923 Produced and distributed by the Ben Portman Computer facilities of the Savannah Kollel. This Dvar Torah page created and hosted courtesy of OU.ORG. No responsibility for its contents may be implied or taken by the OU. |
