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Shavuot is the day on which we recall the giving of the Torah on Sinai. The Torah itself does not explicitly mention the connection. It merely says, "You shall count fifty days (from the second day of Pesach)... and you shall proclaim on that selfsame day: It shall be a holy convocation unto you". Now, although we know that the Torah was given on the 6th of Sivan, during the time when the calendar was fixed by eyewitnesses to the new moon, the fiftieth day - Shavuot - could fall on the 5th, 6th, or 7th of Sivan. Nonetheless, now that the calendar is no longer variable, Shavuot always coincides with the 6th. And there is also a Biblical allusion to the significance of Shavuot in the fact that unlike the other festivals, the word "sin" is not mentioned in connection with the special sacrifices for Shavuot, and this is related to the Israelites' acceptance of the Torah, which gave them the special merit of being forgiven their sins.
These two Sichot are therefore meditations on the significance of the event at Sinai. What revolution in man's
spiritual possibilities was brought about by the Torah? What did that first Shavuot usher into the world that had never existed before? The first Sicha takes as its starting-point the fact that Sivan was the third month of the Israelites'
journey from Egypt to the Promised Land. Why was the Torah not given immediately? Is there any significance to the number three? Its theme is the different kinds of unity that a Jew can reach in his relationship with G-d. |
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The Third Month :
The giving of the Torah took place in the month of Sivan - the third month. Since this was clearly part of the Divine
plan, there must be a significant connection between the event and the date, between Torah and the third month. The point is
made explicitly in the Talmud: "Blessed be the Merciful One who gave a threefold Torah to a threefold people through a third
- born on the third day in the third month". The figure three is the constant motif. The Torah is in three parts: Pentateuch,
Prophets and Hagiographa (Torah, Neviim, Ketubim). Israel consists of three kinds of Jew: Kohen, Levite and Israelite. Moses
was born third, after Miriam and Aaron. The Torah was given in the third month, on the third day of the Israelites'
separation from their wives. Why, then, the figure three? |
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Surely the Torah was intended to be unique and to reveal the oneness of G-d. The principal event of the third month was the
giving of the Torah in itself. The commandments, as such, were not an entirely new disclosure. There had been commandments
before: The seven Noachide Laws, circumcision, and the things that were commanded at Marah. Sinai certainly changed the
nature of a Mitzvah, but the idea of a Mitzvah was not new. But the Torah was. And the difference between Torah and the
commandments is this: through a Mitzvah one becomes nullified in the face of G-d's will, as a "chariot to its rider". But
through Torah we become one with G-d. The two things are not the same. A chariot has no will other than that of its rider,
but chariot and rider are not one. The innovation at Sinai was radical - now the Jew could become at one with G-d. And if so
we must ask again: Why is three, not one, its symbol? |
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Two Kinds of Unity :
The purpose of the giving of the Torah was indeed unity. But what is a true unity? When a person recognizes the One
in the many, then he perceives unity in the midst of diversity. If he knows only one kind of existence, we do not know what
his response will be when he discovers another kind. Perhaps he will then say: There are two realities, G-d and the world. It
is only when he has encountered more than one form of existence and still maintains that G-d is the only reality that he has
seen the true Oneness of G-d. There is a traditional analogy. If we want to know how close is the bond between a prince and
his father, the king, we will not discover it in the palace but only by taking him from it and setting him amongst ordinary
men. If he still behaves like a prince, he is a true son of his father.
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So with a Jew, it is not within the Sanctuary but within the diversity of the world that his sense of G-d's unity is proved.
And he can preserve it in two ways. He can suppress his awareness of other things besides G-d. Or he can be fully aware of
other things of the world and in them discover G-d. It is the latter which is the deeper response. The person who suppresses
his senses and closes his eyes to the ways of the world, believes that they form something apart from and in opposition to
G-d, and must be kept at a distance. The unity of his religious life is neither deep nor secure. |
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Three Stages :
There are, as we can see, three phases in the growth towards the sense of the unity of G-d. And they correspond to
the three months from Pesach to Shavuot. Nissan is the month of the Exodus itself, when G-d was revealed to the Israelites.
They "fled" from Egypt, both literally and metaphorically - fled from the knowledge of the world and were filled only with
the revelation from above. Their unity was of the world-denying kind. G-d was One because they knew only one thing, because
the world had ceased to have being in their eyes. Iyar, the second month, is the month wholly taken up with the Counting of
the Omer, and preparing ourselves for the coming events at Sinai. We are aware of ourselves and our world as something apart
from G-d which had to be suppressed. Like the chariot and its rider, G-d and the world were one will but two things. Sivan,
the third month, was the time when the Torah was given, when G-d and the world became one thing. This was the moment of
genuine unity, when what had seemed two things became a third, including and going beyond both.
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The High and The Low :
This is why the Torah was given on the third month. For, through fulfilling a commandment we efface our own
existence, but we are not yet at one with G-d. The ultimate unity comes only through (learning) Torah, when the mind of man
and the will of G-d interfuse. The two become a third thing, a complete unity. This is why Moses received the Torah at Sinai.
The Rabbis said that Sinai was chosen because it was the lowest (i.e., the humblest) of the mountains. But if lowness was the
sought-for virtue, why was the Torah not revealed on a plane or a valley? Because Sinai represented the fusion of two
opposites, the high and the low, G-d and man. And this is the significance of the Torah.
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Besides the revelation in the wilderness, there are two other events which occurred on Shavuot, at widely separated intervals
of time, namely the deaths of two of the greatest figures in history. This serves as a reminder to us that revelation was not
just a moment but a continuing process; that new faces of the infinitely meaningful Torah have always been revealed at the
critical moments of our religious development; and that Sinai posed an immense challenge to the Jewish people to which we
continue to try to rise. These two figures stand at key points in the development of this response, and thus have a special
relationship to Shavuot. |
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Three Events :
The main event which Shavuot commemorates is, as we say in the prayers and the Kiddush of the day, "the time of the
giving of our Torah." It is the day of the revelation at Sinai. Many generations later another event occurred on the same
date: The death of King David. And within the span of more recent history a third memory was added to Shavuot: The death of
the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Chassidut. Seen in the light of Divine Providence, the occurrence of these three events on
the same date is no coincidence. It is a sign of an inner connection between them, namely that the initial disclosure of the
voice of G-d at Sinai was brought into greater openness by King David and subsequently by the Baal Shem Tov. They represent
three peaks in the continual unfolding of the Divine revelation.
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The Meeting of Heaven and Earth :
In the Midrash we are told, about the new state of affairs brought into being by the giving of the Torah, that "David
said, Even though the Holy One, blessed be He, decreed that 'The heavens are the heavens of the L-rd, but the earth He has
given to the sons of men...' when He wished to give the Torah He annulled the initial decree and said, the lower (worlds)
shall ascend to the higher, and the higher descend to the low. And I shall take the initiative, as it is said, 'And the L-rd
descended upon Mt. Sinai' and (subsequently) it is written, 'And to Moses He said, come up unto the L-rd' ". It is
significant that though the Midrash quotes G-d as saying "I shall take the initiative," and though the descent of G-d in fact
preceded Moses' going up, it still mentions the ascent of the lower worlds before the descent of the higher. This is because
the ascent of the low was the ultimate purpose of the giving of the Torah, and the ultimate purpose is the last to be
realized. Though Moses' ascent came after G-d's descent, it was nonetheless of greater importance. But G-d's initiating step
was needed beforehand, before man could rise to meet Him.
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The Descent of G-d :
What was new at Sinai was the descent of G-d to the (lower) world. Although there had been Divine revelations
beforehand, especially to the Patriarchs, they were purely spiritual events which did not enter and affect the fabric of the
material world. But when "G-d descended on Mt. Sinai," the effect was felt within the world. At that moment, says the
Midrash, "No bird called, no bird flew" and "the voice which came from G-d had no echo" because it was absorbed into the very
texture of the world. The Torah was no longer "in heaven." The word of G-d had descended to earth. Only afterwards did the
work begin of refining, sanctifying and raising the world in spiritual ascent. This was the worship of the Jewish people, to
turn the world into a "vessel" receptive of G-d. The possibility of this achievement was created at Sinai; the actuality
began later. Just as the descent of G-d to the world began with Abraham and culminated in Moses, so the ascent of the world
to G-d began after the giving of the Torah and reached its climax in David and Solomon, his son, who in building the Temple
took the Jewish people to a new apex in their upward climb to G-d.
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The Ascent of Man :
With the advent of David came two new developments. Firstly, he was the first king to rule over the whole of Israel
(unlike Saul, who according to the Midrash did not rule over the tribe of Judah), and the dynasty was entrusted to him in
perpetuity: "The kingship shall never be removed from the seed of David". Secondly, although the Temple was built by Solomon,
it was planned and prepared by David, and it was even called by his name. Both the kingship and the Temple are symptoms of
the real nature of David's achievement: The elevation of the world and the ascent of man. |
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Kingship :
The bond between a king and his subjects is different to and deeper than that between a teacher and his pupils. A
pupil owes much of what he is to his teacher; but he has a life outside the classroom. The king, however, holds sway over
every aspect of his subject's being. Thus the penalty for an Israelite disobeying a king of Israel is death - even if the
command in question has, on the face of it, no connection with the king's proper field of authority; if, for example, he
says, "Go to such and such a place," or, "Do not leave your house." The reason is that kingship is absolute, its domain
unlimited and the whole of the subject's life is bound up in it. This, of course, is a special kind of monarchy. For the
absolute obedience of the people to their king rests in turn on the king's absolute obedience to G-d, the King of Kings. And
thus it is that through the intermediary of kingship, Israel has an obedience to G-d which is both total and extending to
every aspect of their being. Thus, we can see the difference between the acceptance of the Torah at Sinai and the obedience
to G-d involved in the idea of Kingship, which David initiated. The revelation at Sinai was an act of G-d: "I shall take the
initiative." It did not come from within the hearts of the people. And so it did not affect their whole being absolutely. But
kingship does come from the people - their obedience is the source of the king's authority. David's reign signifies a new
phenomenon: The voluntary, inward acceptance by the people of an absolute authority over them. |
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The Temple :
The same idea of the elevation of man and the world can be found in the Temple, David's other monument. There was a
difference between the Temple, and the Tabernacle (Mishkan) which the Israelites carried with them in the wilderness. The
places where the Mishkan rested did not become permanently holy. When the Mishkan departed, so did their sanctity. But the
Temple site remains holy ground even after the destruction of the Temples. In both Tabernacle and Temple was the indwelling
presence of G-d; but only in the latter did this presence permanently sanctify and elevate the earth on which it stood. |
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The Baal Shem Tov :
These two movements, of G-d reaching out towards man and man aspiring towards G-d will ultimately become one in the
Messianic Age, when unity will prevail. Indeed, ever since the Torah was given, this unity has become possible, because the
"decree" separating heaven and earth was annulled. But the great impetus to bringing about this unity and the Messianic Age
has been the teaching of the Baal Shem Tov. He and the Chassidut which flowed from his inspiration have taught us to see the
world as filled with the light of G-d, and to understand that it is the indwelling word of G-d that sustains all things.
Through him we have learned to see G-d in the world.And this elevation of the world, the Baal Shem Tov revealed through
Torah, which represents a revelation from above. And so the Messianic Age will be brought by the spreading of the teachings
of the Baal Shem Tov; and Messiah will be versed and steeped in Torah like his ancestor David.
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