The holiday of Shavuot begins this year on the evening of May 28th. I started thinking about the holiday, it’s meaning and how to celebrate it more meaningfully when I saw a photo of my old rabbi from Congregation Etz Chaim in Lomard, Il, dressed as Moses and holding a staff and the tablets with the 10 commandments. He was on the roof of the synagogue, the peak of the roof rising behind him like Mount Sinai itself. (That’s one way to celebrate, I suppose…and so like him!)
What’s Shavuot really all about? Most of us know the basic facts: After leaving Egypt, the Israelites camped at the bottom of Mount Sinai and Moses went up the mountain not once but twice to speak with God. And for the first time in recorded history, God revealed himself and spoke to an entire nation of people, not to one lone visionary. Every Israelite at the foot of the Mt. Sinai saw and heard God reveal the Ten Commandments.
I think, thought, we can make it so much more personal, take it so much deeper than just the giving of the 10 commandments. We can look at how God gave entered into a covenant with us, made us a nation of priests and priestesses, and gave us the Torah…and ask ourselves what each of us now can do with that.
Indeed, Shavuot commemorates the face-to-face encounter between God and the Jewish people. Our tradition tells us that we all stood at Sinai, every Jewish soul, even those not yet born. The making of the covenant and the giving of the Torah serves as a shared experience among all Jews, past and present. We each entered into that covenant, that relationship, with God, and we accepted that Torah, that teaching. We connected ourselves with God and God’s wisdom for eternity.
Within the Ten Commandments, there are actually two sets of laws. One reflects man’s relationship with God, mitzvot beyn adam l’makom, and one set that reflects man’s relationship toward his fellow man, mitzvot beyn adam l’chaveyro. The revelation at Mt. Sinai continued beyond the tenth commandment, including an additional 603 ethical and religious laws to bring the total to 613 commandments. Of those 613 commandments, 248 are positive commandments, said to correspond to the number of bones in the body, and 365 are negative commandments, said to correspond to the days of the year. When viewed together, they suggest that we Jews devote every part of our bodies, every day of our lives, to following God’s Torah as revealed to all of us, born and unborn, that day at Mount Sinai.
I see this as an indication that we are imbued with Torah. Each and every one of us carries the Torah and its commandments within us. For what is Torah but wisdom and lessons and inspiration? Indeed, we are told that Moses brought down from that mountain not only the commandments but the oral Torah and the mystical tradition we know as Kabbalah.
All of this we commemorate on Shavuot. Every day, however, we have a chance to offer this Torah ourselves not only through our actions – by performing mitzvot– but also by actually offering our wisdom to others. We can inspire each other with our actions, our words, our experiences. That’s how we can continue the tradition of giving Torah every day. Maybe that’s part of our covenant with God, to actually take the Torah and make it alive, make it our own, transform it into something personal, and then share it. We need to pass it on l’dor v’dor, from generation to generation, making it constantly new and relevant.
Most Jews celebrate Shavuot with all-night study sessions. This tradition comes from the fact that the Israelites at Mount Sinai were so consumed with their fear-rather than their awe-of God that they could not listen to the revelation being given to them. (Exodus 20:15-18). Thus, our ancestors decided this holiday should be commemorated with all night study to prepare for this momentous event instead of going to bed as usual. To correct the mistake of failing to listen, in the future they prepared well to receive the Torah with “Tikkun Leyl Shavuot,” the “Preparation on Shavuot Night.” On this night before the full day of Shavuot, Jews study late into the night, sometimes till dawn, in the hope that once again God might choose Shavuot to reveal to Israel the hidden mystical truths underlying creation.
Here’s what I suggest, however. Let’s not wait for God to reveal these truths. Instead, let’s search within ourselves, we who are created in God’s image and who were there at the mountain that day. We may not have listened but we heard. Plus, we have a spark of divinity within us, a neshamah, a soul, connected to God. We have our own mystical truths to share, our own Torah to give that will inspire and enlighten others.
So, on Shavuot, why not write down or tell others your story? The written Torah is filled with stories that teach, enlighten, inspire, and show Jews how to live. Your story or stories can accomplish the same end. Or stand up and speak your Torah, offer it to others just as God did to all of us at Mount Sinai. Someone will gain something from your wisdom.
Yes, this Shavuot, let’s not wait to see if God reveals truths and lessons to us. Let’s channel the Divine Energy ourselves by offering our own Torah to our friends, families, and communities. Ask for Divine Wisdom. Meditate and pray and connect with God. Draw on old stories and apply them to your own life and experiences, thus renewing them and making them relevant once again. Or simply tell new stories of your own.
Everyone has a Torah. What’s yours? Give it this Shavuot.
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[If you want to find a Shavuot event in the South Bay, CA, read this San Jose Examiner post.]
You rock. World needs more souls like you.