THIS IS THE 3,338th Shavuos of history. The Jewish People first received Torah in 2448 (1313 BCE), and it is now 5786, so, that’s 3,338 years, a very large number and hard to relate to.
It becomes more tangible if we talk about it in terms of generations, which are about thirty years long. That would make our generation the 111th since the one that actually heard G–D speak and personally received his Torah. That’s a much smaller number and certainly one we can imagine. People have stood in line for something and started off at least a hundred spots back. This morning at the Kosel I was surrounded by at least a hundred people there for the same reason.
You could call it the birthday of the giving of the Torah, but it is obviously so much more than that. Birthdays usually only “celebrate” that a person is one year older with very little connection to the past. This “birthday” celebrates our ability to re-experience an event from our national youth. It’s like a time machine to go back to the original receiving of Torah.
Why do we even need to? Because it’s all about roots. We are what we are and we do what we do because of our roots, spiritually and physically. Children are too young and unaware to know that what they are living through will leave an indelible impression on the rest of their lives until the day they die from old age. Similarly, we are what we are based upon the root of our soul, and there is nothing we can do to change that, not our roots or the spiritual tendencies they give to us. We’re better off to understand them and use the knowledge to our understanding than to fight against it.
That’s why the Torah is spending so much time in these parshios on yichus, our familial origins since Mt. Sinai. I don’t know if it is only my imagination (I believe that it is real), but I feel some kind of historic connection, as a Levi, to my ancestors when we read these parshios about the Levi’im. It feels like a resetting of history every time we get here each year.
After all, though most of the flower is above ground, a plant only grows as well as its roots below ground. Flowers and leaves can fall off and later grow back, but a diseased root can kill the entire plant for good. A good gardener knows how to protect the root to help the flower thrive.
What this means in practical terms is don’t celebrate Shavuos 5768, because, as you can, it doesn’t mean that much beyond cheese cake and staying up all night and learning. Both are great in and of themselves but neither is unique. What makes them unique is the fact that they are tied to what happened 3,338 years.
So, instead, celebrate Shavuos 2448 by taking time to recount what it must have been like to stand at the base of Har Sinai, actually hear the Creator of the Universe break protocol and talk to man, and then share his “thoughts” in the deepest intellectual form ever. If your body doesn’t tingle from top to bottom thinking about Torah, then you haven’t really come to grips with what it is and what it means to all of mankind.
You’re not alone in that. Unfortunately, it is the reality of many Jews, religions ones as well, today. That’s why G–D gave us the holiday of Shavuos, as virtual door that we can walk through to recreate the Sinai experience according to personal worthiness. We just have to turn and face it, open it, and be willing to step through. Hashgochah Pratis will take care of the rest.
Chag Shavuos Samayach,
Pinchas Winston
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Sha’ar HaGilgulim, Version 3, VOLUME 2 is now available through Amazon and Thirtysix.org.
The “Sha’ar HaGilgulim Course” began, on April 27, and Session 4 is this week, b”H, with four more to go after that. For more information, go to: https://www.shaarnunproductions.org/Sha-ar-HaGilgulim-Course.html.
Have a great Shabbos,
Pinchas Winston
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