Shavuot is like the poor cousin of the three pilgrimage holidays. Passover
lasts for seven days in Israel and eight days in the Diaspora. We celebrate
Passover with an elaborate Seder with symbolic food. Sukkot along with Shemini
Atzeret lasts for eight days in Israel and nine days in Diaspora. We build
Sukkot and eat our meals in them. Some people even will sleep in them. We waive
the four species, the Lulav and the Etrog as well as march around the sanctuary
holding them. But Shavuot is only celebrated one day in Israel and two days in
the Diaspora. There are no special symbols involved in the rituals and we have
a custom of only eating dairy in conjunction with this holiday. The mystics
though created the custom of studying all night erev Shavuot with a Tikkun L’al
Shavuot.
I am especially happy for the holiday of Shavuot this year because in
our daf yomi journey we will have spent yesterday, today, and tomorrow studying
the giving of the Torah upon Mount Sinai which occurred according to tradition on
Shavuot. In other words we will have made this two day holiday to at least a “five
day holiday.”
Today’s daf TB Shabbat 88 explicates what it first glance seems to be an
illogical response by our ancestors at the foot of Mount Sinai. “Rabbi
Elazar said: When the Jewish people accorded precedence to the declaration “We
will do” over “We will hear,” a Divine Voice emerged and said to them:
Who revealed to my children this secret that the ministering angels use? As it
is written: “Bless the Lord, you angels of His, you mighty in strength, that
fulfill His word, hearkening unto the voice of His word” (Psalms 103:20). At first,
the angels fulfill His word, and then afterward they hearken.” (Sefaria.org translation)
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel writes: “A Jew is asked to take a leap of
action rather than a leap of thought. He is asked to surpass his needs, to do
more than he understands in order to understand more than he does. In carrying
out the word of the Torah he is ushered into the presence of spiritual meaning.
Through the ecstasy of deeds he learns to be certain of the hereness of God.
Right living is a way to right thinking…. Man is responsible for His deeds, and
God is responsible for man’s responsibility. He who is a life giver must be a
lawgiver. He shares in our responsibility. He is waiting to enter our deeds
through our loyalty to Hi will s law. He may become a partner to our deeds….
“In other religions, gods, heroes, priests are holy; to the Bible not
only God but ‘the whole community is holy’ (Numbers 16:3), was the reason for
Israel’s election, the meaning of is distinction. What obtains between man and
God is not mere submission to His power or depends upon His mercy. The plea is
not to obey what He wills but to do what He is (holy-gg).” (Between God and
Man: An Interpretation of Judaism from the writings of Abraham J Heschel
selected, edited, and introduced by Fritz A. Rothschild, (Pages 83-86)
Starting this past week with the murder of George Floyd, another in a
long list of unarmed Black men, by a policeman and the ensuing peaceful
protesting and rioting highlight the systemic injustice and racism in our
society against people of color. People of color suffer incarceration out of
proportion to their numbers in a broken criminal justice system, discrimination
in housing, jobs, and healthcare. This moment calls upon white America to face
this truth and make systemic changes so that all people enjoy life, liberty, the
pursuit of happiness. God waiting for us to answer today as our ancestors
answered so long ago and Shavuot “We will do and we will do.”
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