1. They call it the Magen Avraham’s kasha<\/i>. The most famous question regarding this least famous of Jewish holidays: Shavuot is 50 days after Pesach. Go back to the original Revelation and work out the math (we were redeemed on a Thursday and received the Torah on a Shabbos); it turns out that we received the Torah on day 51 after Pesach. So why celebrate Shavuot (\u201cz’man\u00a0matan\u00a0torateinu<\/i>\u201d) on the day before we actually received it? Many answers have been suggested.<\/p>\n
A simple and poignant approach distinguishes between the day we received<\/b> the Torah (kabbalat\u00a0hatorah<\/i>) and the day God gave<\/b> it to us (matan\u00a0torateinu<\/i>). On Shavuot, we celebrate the day that God gifted the Torah to His special nation. A meaningful act of giving requires a willing appreciative recipient who understands the gift\u2019s value. A Palm 750 is fairly useless in the hands of a monkey (or a techno-phobic human). Moshe, says the Talmud, added a day to the run up period of receiving the Torah. Perhaps this was a day of contemplation, a space to consider the greatest gift ever received \u2013 a veritable window into Hashem\u2019s \u201cmind\u201d. Where would we be without Torah? I feel bad for the Jews who have yet to appreciate its beauty. Theirs is a dry Judaism. Ta\u2019amu u\u2019reu ki tov<\/i>!. – Taste it and see how good it really is. Then I must turn inward – do I really appreciate it \u2013 so why don’t I learn it as much as I can?<\/p>\n
2. Why isn’t it<\/b> famous? Because there is no special discernible mitzvah on Shavuos (of course there are special sacrifices, but Rosh Chodesh also has them and it is not a moed<\/i>;) It almost seems that Shavuos is wholly unremarkable. Consider that:<\/p>\n Perhaps Shavuos simply highlights the extraordinary ordinary that is the hallmark of Jewish life. A traditional Jewish lifestyle might run approximately as follows: One wakes up, says modeh ani<\/i>, prays, learns Torah, goes to work, helps out, spends time with family and learns some more. It is all holy. Tosafot teaches that a Jew never lapses from his Torah consciousness. Shavuot celebrates the exalted mundane life of the striving Jew.<\/p>\n 3. Shavuos marks our personal relationship to Torah. In his wild quest to locate who stole the Torah, Satan<\/i> turns to Moshe (Shabbos 89a) and asks where it is. Moshe responds to the Satan: Who am I that God would give me the Torah<\/i>. Ultimately, Satan accuses Moshe of lying. Moshe responds: True, I have the Torah \u2013 but it is not mine<\/b>, for how can I possibly own God\u2019s Torah? Hashem corrects Moshe: precisely because you diminish yourself, you now become its proprietor (toras Moshe<\/b> avdi \u2013 Malachi 3<\/i>). In effect, Hashem is saying that to acquire Torah, humility is the requisite trait. The great paradox of owning Torah now becomes: the less one claims Torah, the more he has of it.<\/p>\n 4. On staying up all night Shavuot, I’ve heard it all: So why do we do it? The Jewish people understand that love can\u2019t be quantified in terms of efficiency, pragmatics and obligation. Au contraire, the loving act, at times might require grand impracticality and incredible inefficiency. Remember those late night phone calls with our chosson\/kallah<\/i> to be? Conversations of utter fatigue that at times might rightly have been termed out of body experiences. Yet, they create a bond. Sacrifice creates love. On Shavuos night we talk to our kallah<\/i> \u2013 even if we may not remember exactly what we said. Minimally, we are expressing in deed and in word: Hashem \u2013 we love you and your Torah.<\/p>\n Rabbi Asher Brander is the Rabbi of the Westwood Kehilla, Founder\/Dean of LINK (Los Angeles Intercommunity Kollel) and is a Rebbe at Yeshiva University High Schools of Los Angeles<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 1. They call it the Magen Avraham’s kasha. The most famous question regarding this least famous of Jewish holidays: Shavuot is 50 days after Pesach. Go back to the original Revelation and work out the math (we were redeemed on a Thursday and received the Torah on a Shabbos); it turns out that we received<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":223,"featured_media":43628,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[142,83],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-shavuot","category-torah"],"yoast_head":"\n\n
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