This week, we focus on the holiday of Shavuot and the ongoing nature of revelation. Please note: next week's newsletter will still arrive on Monday even though it is the second day of Shavuot. Michael (MichaelStrassfeld.com) mjstrassfeld@gmail.com
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A word of Torah:
Pesah and Shavuot
On Pesah, by means of the seder, we strive to reexperience and not just remember the slavery and redemption. In the Haggadah, we state that all of us were slaves in Egypt and were redeemed. On Shavuot, we remember the tradition that says that all of us were present at Sinai. Yet, on Shavuot we do not really try to reenact the Revelation at Sinai. Why? Shouldn’t we try to make ourselves hear once again the voice of God amid the thunder and lightning?
Perhaps we don’t try to stand again at Sinai because Sinai is a continuous event. It is not accidental that originally no date was given for the Revelation at Sinai, for the voice of God constantly speaks to us. The Revelation continues to occur, as the Torah is unfolded by us, if we pay attention to it.
Sinai needs fulfillment, not reexperiencing;
enactment, not reenactment.
Our task is to hear anew and then renew the Torah each day. Therefore, Shavuot does not have a fixed date because perhaps Sinai is today. It is a mistake to circumscribe the giving of the Torah to one day. Any time a person studies Torah with devotion and holiness is a zeman matan Torah—the moment of the giving of Torah.
As the rabbis said: “Anything any student in any age will say was already given to Moses at Sinai.” This means anything we add to the Torah is considered as if it was part of what was originally transmitted to Moses. Revelation of the Torah began at Sinai, but has never ceased.
To hear the Voice of Sinai is difficult and can be sustained for only a brief time. The tradition tells us that only the Ten Commandments, not the whole Torah, was heard at Sinai. Or, according to another tradition, only the first two commandments. Or according to a third tradition, only the first word, anokhi— “I am.” Or as the Hasidic master, Menahem Mendel of Rymanov, suggests--just the first letter of the first word, the aleph—the paradoxical sound of a silent letter.
Amid the thunder and the lightning, the blaring of horns and dense smoke of our lives, the Voice can still be heard calling to us—and we respond by continuing to unroll the Torah for our times.
Intention/kavana for the week
The Hasidic master, the Sefat Emet refers to a midrash that says Moses foresaw the future destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. Realizing this meant the end of bikkurim /the offering of first fruits on Shavuot, Moses instituted the daily prayer services as a replacement. The Sefat Emet suggests that each of us can reflect on our lives and offer our first fruits/the best of our being as a kavanah each morning.
It seems particularly appropriate to use this as our intention leading up to and on Shavuot.
Song:
There is a paragraph in the Shabbat morning liturgy that begins with the words yismah moshe be-matnat helko--Moses rejoiced with the gift of his role, to be the one to receive the Torah.
Click on the link to listen to a joyous melody of these words.
