Yerushalayim - 28 Iyar & 6 Sivan
Yes, the Jerusalem Day that came from Day 3 of the Six Days War is the 28th of Iyar. (Interestingly, the yahrzeit of Shmuel HaNavi is 28 Iyar. His supposed burial place, Nebi Samuel, came back into Jewish hands on that very day, 34 years ago.) But in a certain way of looking at things, Shavuot is also Jerusalem Day, as we shall shortly see.

Ask someone for a nickname of Shavuot and for the meaning of Shavuot and he/she is likely to respond with something related to receiving the Torah at Sinai. And this is true... but it isn't the whole story.

Shavuot is also Yom HaBikurim, the day from which Bikurim are to be brought. In that role, Shavuot, in addition to the receiving of the Torah, commemorates the entrance into Eretz Yisrael AND the building of the Beit HaMikdash in Yerushalayim. 

NACHON L'ACHSHAV, at this time, these two roles of Shavuot are not equal. G-d's plan (a frequent topic of Torah Tidbits) was to bring us out of Egypt, in order to give us the Torah, bring us to E. Yisrael, and that we should build the Beit HaMikdash in the Special Place - Yerushalayim.

We received the Torah and it has been ours, with us, ever since Revelation at Sinai. And therefore Shavuot is ZMAN MATAN TORATEINU. Ever since the people asked G-d to allow the sending of scouts into the Land, and ever since 10 of the 12 scouts spoke against our crossing of the Jordan River, and ever since the widespread panic of the People and the unwarranted tears shed by the Generation of the Wilderness, our hold on Eretz Yisrael has been sporadic. And consequently, the mood of the Yom HaBikurim part of Shavuot's identity varies – sometimes (and hopefully soon again in our time) Shavuot is the complete celebration of the fulfillment of all of G-d's Plan, as expressed in the Hagada passage immediately following Dayeinu: AL ACHAT KAMA V'CHAMA... How much more so is the G-d's goodness to us, that He took us out of Egypt... and split the Sea... and fed us the Manna and gave us Shabbat, brought us to Sinai and gave us the Torah, took us into Eretz Yisrael, and built for us the Beit HaMikdash... The sequence of the 15 stages of Dayeinu flow from Pesach through Shavuot.

Shavuot is the Atzeret, the climax of Pesach. G-d's intention, so to speak, was to bring us into Eretz Yisrael right after giving us the Torah. Shavuot was meant to be a joint celebration of Torah and Eretz Yisrael. Any separation between the Torah aspect and the E.Y. aspect was and is our fault. And it remains our very precious challenge to rejoin those two aspects of Shavuot seamlessly and forever.

If the reader thinks that this Lead Tidbit is focusing on the calendar events of the next two Mondays while ignoring Parshat HaShavua, let him continue reading.

Parshat B'har declares (25:38), I Am HaShem, your G-d, who took you out of Egypt to GIVE YOU THE LAND, in order to be YOUR G-D. To be our G-d means to give us the Torah and mitzvot. Parshat B'chukotai clearly states the connection between Torah and the Land. IF we keep the Torah, then we keep the Land, and live in peace, tranquility, and prosperity. If we keep the Torah, then Shavuot will be both the celebration of the receiving of the Torah, and Yom HaBikurim, the ultimate expression of our gratitude to G-d for taking us unto Him as His Chosen Nation.

And so, the question of the opening pasuk of this week's sedra – MA INYAN SHMITA EITZEL HAR SINAI – is not really a question at all. The Meraglim would have asked that question, because they preferred a Torah life in the Midbar, and they rejected G-d's desired venue for living a Torah life. But we must rally to the call of Kalev and Yehoshua and obviate the Sinai-Shmita question. 

May we soon merit living Torah lives in E. Yisrael, with rebuilt Jerusalem. May we realize the prophecies of "And you shall dwell in security in your Land". And may we be privileged to fulfill the mitzva of Bikurim, including "And you shall rejoice in all the good that G-d has granted you and your family..."