Shavuous
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Holy Days -
Shavuous
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Written by Rabbi Dr Raymond Apple
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The Aseret HaDibrot are justly acclaimed as the foundation of civilisation. The Jewish people are rightly acknowledged as the nation that brought them to mankind. But there is a question that any historian wants to ask. Why make such a fuss about these commandments when other peoples, other cultures, other systems, also have their ethical rules? Were the Israelites the first or only people to teach, “Do not kill, do not steal, do not commit adultery”?
Surely every people develops a social contract founded on similar principles. Every society accepts basic constraints in order to ensure, as Pirkei Avot puts it, that people do not eat each other alive
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Holy Days -
Shavuous
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Written by yonikampf
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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?
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Holy Days -
Shavuous
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Written by Rafi Jager
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Heard in my local community in RBS>>Israel.
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.
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Holy Days -
Shavuous
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Written by Rafi Jager
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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?
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Holy Days -
Shavuous
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Written by Rafi Jager
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"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
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