What really happened on Shavuot? We got the Torah but what did we really get? So what happened; Hashem said the first two דיברות. Then משה went up for forty days and nights and got the rest of the Torah. משה returned and saw we had made the עגל. He 'smashes' the לוחות. Moshe goes up on Rosh Chodesh Elul for another forty days and nights and returns again on יום כיפור with the Torah a second time. So in essence we only started learning the Torah immediately after יום כיפור. So what exactly do we celebrate on שבועות?
Let's start by asking something many people hav asked over the years. When I stay up learning all night I end up sleeping on ערב שבועות, until I finish מעריב and eating my yom tov meal it's usually very late. I learn for a couple of hours. I sleep through most of davening half asleep, and then sleep most of yom tov day. So I do more learning on a regular day and even less on Shavuot, so why should we stay up all night? We can learn more by sleeping a normal nights' sleep on yom tov?
Dov Shulman, a young, dynamic rabbi had just taken his seat on his return flight from Israel. Moments later, a well-dressed man with a look of affluence sat down next to him. The wealthy man introduced himself as Irving Levy from a town in the Midwest. Rabbi Shulman informed his companion of the next twelve hours that he was from a city of many outstanding Torah scholars.
After several minutes of animated conversation, Mr. Levy was clearly impressed with the inspiring individual sitting to his left. He told Rabbi Shulman that he had come to Israel in search of a rabbi for their community. He then made the following proposal: "Would you be willing to live with us in our town? Your starting salary would be $95,000, plus benefits."
Rabbi Shulman was flabbergasted. This was an opportunity to influence a whole community and to strengthen their ties to Torah values. He could give classes, run programs, bring in lecturers, refurbish the mikvah, and no worries on how to raise the funds for such undertakings. His mind was already whirling with ideas with what he could, and hopefully would, accomplish.
Like other Mishnaic tractates, Pirkei Avot deals with halachic issues, but differs from the others in that it deals primarily with laws directly related to character development. Originally, the custom was to study these teachings for a much shorter time, between Pesach and Shavuos, in order to improve our character traits in preparation for the momentous receiving of the Torah on the festival of Shavuos. The custom was later extended all the way until Rosh Hashanah.
The thirteenth Mishnah of chapter five, discusses four categories of people. The Mishnah mentions differing opinions regarding the status of a person whose attitude is, "That which is mine is mine, and that which is yours is yours." One view is that this person is an average citizen - not particularly righteous, but at the same time not evil. The other opinion characterizes this person as having the attributes of the residents of the infamous city of Sodom, who epitomized callous insensitivity towards others and were destroyed by G-d for their wicked behavior.
Rabbeinu Yonah, states that the Mishnah refers to a person who neither gives nor takes from others. If so, he wonders, how can this person be considered an average individual? Isn't he forgoing the positive Torah commandment of giving tzedakah?
"Sure," we say to ourselves, "I believe in G-d, and I even realize that I
can't do anything without His help." But do we make Hashem a real entity in our
lives? Is He an active part of our existence? Do we truly feel obligated and
responsible to Hashem for our every success in life? How often, when we
successfully accomplish a goal or assignment, do we mumble an empty mechanical
"Thank G-d", but deep inside feel haughtily that "it is my strength and my power
that accomplished this."
The question remains, is G-d a real entity in our lives? Do we truly realize
deep inside of us that it is He and only He that grants success, that it is He
who gives us the ideas, the talent, and the energy
Examining the Jewish calendar gives rise to the following query: Why is the
week-long yomtov of Sukkot followed by Shemini Atzeret, a short one-day
continuance, whereas the week-long holiday of Pesach is not followed by any such
brief closing chag? The answer is that Shavuot is really the conclusion of
Pesach.
True, we were freed from slavery on Pesach, but that was only a physical
freedom. Being free to do whatever we want to do - without any restraints - is
not true freedom, for we would remain slaves to our desires. Only when we
accepted the Torah on Shavuot and willingly bound ourselves to Hashem and His
way of life did we truly become free. Receiving the Torah imbued our
THE CUSTOMS OF SHAVUOS : The Book of Ruth In many synagogues the book of Ruth is read on the second day of Shavuot. There are several reasons for this custom: A) Shavuot is the birthday and yahrtzeit (day of passing) of King David, and the book of Ruth records his ancestry. Ruth and her husband Boaz were King David's great-grandparents. B) The scenes of harvesting, described in the book of Ruth are appropriate to the Festival of Harvest. C) Ruth was a sincere convert who embraced Judaism with all her heart. On Shavuot all Jews were converts having accepted the Torah and all of its precepts. Adorning the Home with Greenery & Flowers It is customary on Shavuot to adorn the home and synagogue with fruits, flowers and greens. The reason is that in the time of the Temple, the first fruits of harvest were given on Shavuot. As well, our Sages related that although Mount Sinai was situated in a desert, when the Torah was given the
When the Red Sea miraculously split and formed a protective wall for the Jewish people to walk through at the Exodus from Egypt, the Medrash records the complaints of the on-looking angels. The angels, seemingly with some justification, complained at what they viewed as an injustice; the Jewish people had become heavily assimilated into the idolatrous and immoral ways of the Egyptians at the time. Yet G-d was literally moving heaven and earth to save them, whilst allowing the Egyptian oppressors to face justice for their actions.
What is particularly interesting, for our purposes, is the timing of this incident. The splitting of the sea was the culmination of a year long
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Site Dedication
This website is dedicated to the memories of
Moshe Shlomo ben R'Shmuel | Shlomo ben R'Chaim | Aryeh Leib ben Pinchas Tzvi
