Reflections from Rabbi Ellis

Shavuot is a strange sort of holiday.  On Shavuot we celebrate G!d giving the Torah to the Children of Israel, but the written Torah was given to us only just before Moshe died; the Oral Torah is still being revealed.  Further the Torah never actually connects Shavuot to the giving of the Torah. Shavuot has three names in the Torah: holiday of the weeks, holiday of harvesting and holiday of first fruits. None of those names refers to the Torah at all. Why then do we make this connection?

The first and most obvious answer is that we did the math, it states in the Torah that the Children of Israel arrived at the wilderness of Sinai on the third month after leaving Egypt. Our tradition tells us that whenever it says “the month” in the Torah it means on the first day of the month, meaning that the Nation of Israel arrived at Sinai on the first day of the month of Sivan and met with G!d on the five days later on the sixth of Sivan. The sixth of Sivan is the day that we arrive at when we count fifty days from the second day of Pessah, as the Torah instructs us regarding celebrating Shavuot. 

How do the names of Shavuot connect it to the Torah? Hag Shavuot means the holiday of weeks, because we are instructed to count seven weeks and on next, the fiftieth day, is Shavuot. Fifty is the five books of the Torah multiplied by the ten commandments. The name Hag Habikkurim, the holiday of the first fruits.

Shavuot begins the process of the Children of Israel bringing their first fruit offering to the Temple in Jerusalem. The Midrash explains that Bikkurim is a reference to the Torah which is also referred to as the first. The final name the Torah gives to Shavuot is Hag Hakatzir, the holiday of the harvest. Harvesting grain is a major step in the process of producing bread. It fills us with great joy and represents a major milestone in the annual production process. However, it produces nothing of actual physical use to people. A great deal of effort and resources must still be invested before the final product can be enjoyed. So too Torah learning is a major part of our lives that produces great joy, but without applying it to the physical world we are lacking the final product that it was intended for, a world filled with loving kindness, justice and purity.

The connections between the date and names of the Shavuot and the giving of the Torah are now clear, but why is it a celebration of the giving of the Torah if the whole Torah was not given to us on Shavuot? The Torah is never given, it always has to be acquired through effort and love. The Torah is never fully transmitted, there is always more to be learned. Finally at Mount Sinai on Shavuot the whole Nation of Israel heard the voice of G!d and this is the very essence of Torah, the wisdom that allows the whole Nation of Israel to hear the voice of G!d. 

May we all merit to hear the small still voice that is always calling to us from Sinai!

Shabbat Shalom and Hag Sameah

Rabbi Yehoshua Ellis