Timely Reminders

One month (approx.) before Shavuot is Yom HaAtzmaut, the day that Eretz Yisrael came under Jewish sovereignty after a very long period of time under alien rule and desolation. To paraphrase the halacha about 30 days before the Chag, we ask about and study it, let us say that we are directed to begin focusing and thinking about the Chag a month before it comes, so that we might mentally and spiritually prepare for it (not to mention the practical preparation as well).

Exactly one week before Shavuot, we celebrate Yom Yerushalayim, the day that marks the reunification of Jerusalem and a miraculous victory over our enemies. The minus-one-week-and counting feeling sets in, and preparations intensify.

What do these two modern holidays say to us vis-a-vis the approaching Chag of Shavuot? How do these dates help us to prepare for the Holiday that marks the culmination of the Exodus experience that began seven weeks earlier at the Seder table?

For starters, they remind us of the other aspect of Shavuot. Say SHAVUOT to someone and ask him/her to associate and the likely result will be MATAN TORAH. But Shavuot is more than ZMAN MATAN TORATEINU. (In fact, from the Torah’s perspective, it isn’t really about getting the Torah.) Shavu- ot is about the follow-through of Pesach.

We see G-d’s Plan for us in many places. in Moshe Rabeinu’s first prophecies - at the Burning Bush in Parshat Sh’mot and a little later at the beginning of Va’eira, G-d reveals His Plan - to take us out of Egypt in order to make us His Nation (by giving us the Torah) and to bring us to Eretz Yisrael. Repeatedly in the Book of D’varim, Moshe Rabeinu reminds us of this by telling us that the purpose of Torah and Mitzvot is to live a Torah Life in Eretz Yisrael.

In Dayeinu at the Seder, we see the whole sequence - Exodus... giving us Torah and Mitzvot, bringing us into Eretz Yisrael and building the Beit HaMikdash.

Shavuot is Chag HaKatzir and Yom HaBikurim, which we can view as names that partner with Zman Matan Torateinu to tell us the whole Shavuot story. The agricultural aspects of Jewish Life and Calendar relate to entry into the Land, as represented in our own time by Yom HaAtzmaut. Bikurim is a symbol of the ultimate situation of having the Beit HaMikdash and peace and prosperity, represented by Yom Yerushalayim. We’re not there yet, but we should know how to set our sights, how to hope and pray.