There is an urgency in the two Torah commandments whose obligation is constant and ever-present, to learn Torah and to repent.\u00a0 The Torah is clear about this urgency in the Sh\u2019ma<\/i>:\u00a0 \u201cThese words, which I command you this day<\/i>, make them as a sign upon your heart and between your eyes\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Our Sages comment that the word hayom<\/i>, \u201cthis day\u201d means that \u201cthe Torah should be ever fresh in your mind, as though you received the Torah today.\u201d\u00a0 As for the duty to repent, Rambam teaches, \u201cA man should always regard himself as if his death were imminent and think that he may die this very hour, while still in a state of sin.\u00a0 He should therefore repent of his sins immediately and not say, \u2018When I grow old I shall repent,\u2019 for he may die before he becomes old.\u201d<\/p>\n
This matter of days and Torah is fresh in our minds as we turn our attention to S\u2019firat Haomer<\/i> and the coming of Shavuot, for what more concrete example of the importance of Torah and the power of days than the counting down from the beginning of Pesah <\/i>to the Chag Matan Torah<\/i>?\u00a0 Yet, despite our celebration of the revelation at Sinai, the chag <\/i>is not named in the Torah.\u00a0 How can we help but be intrigued by this omission of the name of the day towards which we ultimately count \u2013 Chag Shavuot <\/i>\u2013 or better yet Chag Matan<\/i> Torah, <\/i>the holiday of the giving of the Torah. \u00a0\u00a0There is the sense that the Torah is hiding the festival’s name<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you shall count for yourselves from the morrow of the Sabbath, from the day–<\/sup> you brought the sheaf of wave-offering; seven complete Sabbaths: \u00a0Even unto the morrow of the seventh Sabbath You shall count fifty days . . .\u201d\u00a0 Why not simply inform us to count towards the significant date of \u00a0Matan Torah? <\/i>Why doesn’t the Torah find it important to communicate that this counting is not merely related to Pesach, but rather that this day on which we received the Torah, this consequential Jewish historical event, is worthy in its own right?<\/p>\n Yet, it doesn\u2019t.\u00a0 And so the Talmud considers Shavuot <\/i>to be the culmination of Pesah<\/i>, not even a chag <\/i>in its own right.\u00a0 Does this diminish the power of that day at Sinai?\u00a0 Not at all.\u00a0 It is simply that the commemoration of the giving of the Torah must not be limited to a particular time.\u00a0 It applies at all times .\u00a0 This day <\/i>is each and every day.\u00a0\u00a0 As it is written, \u201cThis day the Lord thy God hath commanded thee to do these statutes and judgments.\u201d<\/p>\n Every day is Yom Matan Torah. \u00a0<\/i>Every day, the excitement, enthusiasm, and vigor of being a committed and learned Jew must be renewed and reinforced. \u00a0It is with this understanding that the Keli Yakar<\/i> found significance in the Torah’s use of the phrase Vehikravtem mincha chadasha<\/i> \u2013 \u201cand you shall offer a new offering\u201d \u2013 in regard to Shavuot.\u00a0 Each and every day, the Torah must be received anew, just as if it was received from Sinai each and every day.<\/p>\n The joy and satisfaction of Torah study must not be limited to special days, or occasions. It is to be ongoing, continually renewed and continually renewing.\u00a0 Torah study must always spiritually excite and emotionally uplift.\u00a0\u00a0 It is for this reason that the Keli Yakar <\/i>\u00a0says the same enthusiasm and ecstasy that occurred at the Revelation at Sinai must be searched for and found everyday.<\/p>\n The Keli Yakar <\/i>posits the same rationale for the Torah\u2019s omission of the name Rosh Hashanah and its direct association with din <\/i>and repentance.\u00a0 Should a man sin all year round and think of repenting only as he comes closer to Yom Hashem, when God sits in judgment?\u00a0 No.\u00a0 Rather, he should imagine that God sits in judgment recording his deeds everyday. \u00a0\u00a0If he can think this way, he will continually engage in repentance, each and every day.<\/p>\n Analysis, reflection, and introspection of man’s deeds and misdeeds must be an everyday experience. \u00a0For the thoughtful Jew every\u00adday is a Yom Matan Torah<\/i> and<\/b> Yom Hadin<\/i>.\u00a0 Such an attitude might also help us understand Lag B\u2019Omer, the thirty-third day of the counting of the Omer <\/i>when, according to the Talmud, the plague that caused the death of 24,000 disciples of Rabbi Akiva ended.<\/p>\n 24,000 brilliant young scholars!\u00a0 Lost!\u00a0 Our Sages ask why so many scholars died.\u00a0 According to Talmudic and Midrashic sources, they died because they did not sufficiently respect one another. Their scholarship, Torah learning, and erudi\u00adtion were taken for granted. For them, Torah learning was pursued as if any other knowledge, without an excitement, en\u00adthusiasm, and fire resulting in new insights, renewed motivation, and novel ideas. \u00a0They reveled in their Torah brilliance rather than the brilliance of Torah.\u00a0 They tallied up the pasukim <\/i>and dapim <\/i>they memorized, rather than the power of the words they were memorizing.<\/p>\n They hoarded their successes in learning the Torah rather than being humbled by them.<\/p>\n They were \u201csatisfied\u201d with their learning, not challenged or enlivened by it.<\/p>\n Lag B’Omer came to be known as \u201cScholar’s Festival\u201d to remind those who devote themselves exclusively to the pursuit of Torah learning that there is more to Torah learning than the \u201cquantity\u201d of knowledge, more than book knowledge and text absorp\u00adtion. \u00a0Torah learning encompasses the \u201cquality\u201d of learning as well, the love and devotion for fellow students, an excitement for the Divine word, growing sensitivity and feelings emanating from the subject being studied, a reaction to learning Torah that is to be likened to that of Matan Torah. \u00a0<\/i>Students of Torah are charged with examining their activity with the gauge of Mincha Chadasha<\/i>. \u00a0Is this day of learning like Yom Matan Torah <\/i>and Yom Hadin?<\/i><\/p>\n The Ramban notes that when the Torah communicates the obser\u00advance of Shavuot, it makes use of a phrase found only once more in the Torah, in regard to Yom Kippur \u2013 \u201cAnd you shall proclaim on this very day (b’etzem ha-yom ha-zeh<\/i>) a holy convocation\u2026\u201d.\u00a0 This call to observe Shavuot is the same call to refrain from work on Yom Kippur \u2013 \u201cand you shall do no manner of work b’etzem ha-yom<\/i> ha-zeh, <\/i>on this very day.\u201d<\/p>\n Why are both Shavuot and Yom Kippur referred to as “this very day”?<\/p>\n Who would ever question or doubt the unique and unequaled features of Yom Kippur? The affliction of the soul, the abstention from physical pleasures, and the consecration of the day are powerfully evident. \u00a0Who could ever confuse Yom Kippur with any other day in the calendar \u2013 chag <\/i>or no?<\/p>\n Yom Kippur is such a powerful spiritual presence that its spiritual effects must linger on b’etzem ha-yom<\/i> ha-zeh<\/i>, every day.<\/p>\n A Chassidic master once taught that the blowing of the shofar at Neilah <\/i>is simply a signal to begin<\/i> preparing anew for the coming Yom Kippur, to count every subsequent day as ha-yom ha-zeh<\/i>.<\/p>\n The same must be true of the effect of Shavuot, on this very day, every day. \u00a0The awe, trepidation, and ecstasy of the very day of Shavuot must be an each and everyday experience. No matter what day it is, on etzem ha-yom ha-zeh, <\/i>one must excite, inspire, innovate, and communicate as God did on \u201cthis very day.\u201d<\/p>\n The charge to make each day of learning like Yom Matan Torah <\/i>rests not only with students but with their teachers as well.\u00a0 Everyone involved in teaching Torah would do well to reflect and ask: Am I seeking new methods and exciting approaches for our Torah presentations? Am I creative and innovative in my Torah methodology and curriculum?<\/p>\n It is incumbent on students to learn.<\/p>\n It is incumbent on teachers to teach as we want our students to learn.\u00a0 The goal of effective Torah education must be to attempt to make each day, every day, a unique and special experience for students so that they leave our classrooms as our forefathers departed from Sinai \u2013 awed and inspired.<\/p>\n Each and every day.<\/p>\n The Midrash in Tanhuma<\/i> (Ki Tavo<\/i>) sums it up:\u00a0 What is meant by \u201cthis day\u201d? Had the Holy One, blessed be He, not ordained these precepts for Israel till now? Surely the year in which this verse was stated was the fortieth? Why does the Scripture therefore state: \u201cthis day\u201d? \u00a0This is what Moses meant when he addressed Israel: \u201cEvery day let the Torah be as dear to you as if you had received it this day from Mount Sinai.\u201d<\/p>\n Happy the man, and happy he alone, – John Dryden<\/em><\/p>\n In memory of HaRav Yosef Betzalel ben HaRav Yaakov Moshe Rabinowitz\u00a0ZT”L\u00a0who made each day, every day, a unique and special experience for students\u2026 who left his classroom as our forefathers departed from Sinai \u2013 awed, inspired, eager for more. \u00a0\u00a0Each and every day!\u00a0\u00a0 Yehi zichro baruch.<\/span><\/em> <\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There is an urgency in the two Torah commandments whose obligation is constant and ever-present, to learn Torah and to repent.\u00a0 The Torah is clear about this urgency in the Sh\u2019ma:\u00a0 \u201cThese words, which I command you this day, make them as a sign upon your heart and between your eyes\u2026\u201d Our Sages comment that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":296,"featured_media":38783,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[357],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-shavuot"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nHe who can call today his own;
\nHe who, secure within, can say
\nTomorrow, do thy worst; for I have lived today.
\nBe fair or foul, or rain or shine,
\nThe joys I have possessed, in spite of fate, are mine.
\nNot heaven itself upon the past has power. But what has been, and I have had my hour.
\nSo much may happen in a single hour,
\nA field of flowers may be touched by frost;
\nA war may start, a King may lose his power; A precious thing may be forever lost.
\nSo many lovely things may pass away,
\nMy dear, we dare not trust in a frail tomorrow; Let’s grasp and hold today while we may.<\/p>\n
\n