[This was first posted May 2013; contributed by BAN@S6K, translation is EF/Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses. For two other excellent articles, please go to this links:
- Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation
- ARTICLE: Israel’s Wedding – Thoughts on Shavuot from Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks
—Admin1.]
Image from Chabad of South Orlando
On May 30, 2017, Torah believers will be celebrating Shavuot, a biblical feast, the name of which is almost unknown to most, since the feast of Shavuot is more widely known throughout Christendom as the ‘feast of Pentecost.” Christians celebrate it 50 days after Easter because for them, it commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the 12 disciples of Yeshua/Jesus and multitudes gathered with them; on this occasion, the Holy Spirit is said to empower them so that they could spread the gospel that is proclaimed in the New Testament (read Acts 2:1-31). Pentecost commemorates for Christians, the birth of the Christian church. But what originally and biblically is the “feast of Shavuot”?
The Torah calls Shavuot the “Festival of Weeks” (Numbers 28:26). The very word “Shavuot“ is Hebrew for “weeks,” referring to the seven weeks counted from the second day of Passover, when the Omer (barley) offering is brought each day until the feast of Shavuot. It is one of the three biblical feasts (the other two being Pesach and Sukkot), when every man in the land of Israel was commanded to come up to celebrate the festival when the Temple still stood in Jerusalem.
What is most significant about Shavuot is — it commemorates the single important event in the Torah as well as in Jewish history—the receiving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. For more then 3,300 years ago, the Israelites directly experienced divine revelation (Deuteronomy/Davarim 4:12-13).
The giving of the Torah was an event of awesome proportions which indelibly stamped the people and nation of Israel with a unique character, faith and destiny. And in the 3,300 years since then, the Torah’s ideals of monotheism, justice, responsibility have become the moral basis for Western civilization.
If you ask people: “To whom did God give the Torah at Mount Sinai?” Most will reply, “God gave it to Moses”. But what does the biblical account say? That a mixed multitude that left Egypt during the Exodus heard God speak on Mount Sinai, that all of them experienced national revelation. God did not just appear to Moses privately, He appeared to everyone—some 3 million people. The Torah mentions this many times:
Moses told the Israelites:
Deuteronomy/Davarim 4:9-13
9 Only : take you care, take exceeding care for your self, lest you forget the things that your eyes saw, lest you turn-aside in your heart all the days of your life; make-them-known to your children, and to your children’s children:10 The day that you stood before the presence of YHVH your God at Horev, when YHVH said to me: Assemble the people to me, that I may have them hear my words that they may learn to hold me in awe all the days that they are alive on the soil, -and their children, they are to teach!-
11 you came-near, you stood beneath the mountain: now the mountain was burning with fire, up to the (very) heart of the heavens, (in) darkness, cloud and fog.
12 And YHVH spoke to you from the midst of the fire: a voice of words you heard, a form you did not see, only a voice!
13 He announced to you his covenant which he commanded you to observe, the Ten Words, and he wrote them down on two tablets of stone.
4:32-36
32 For inquire, pray, of past days, which were before you: from the day that God created humankind on the earth, and from one edge of the heavens to the (other) edge of the heavens: has there ever been such a great thing, or anything heard like it?
33 Has a people ever heard the voice of a god speaking from the midst of the fire as you have heard, yourself, and remained-alive?
34 Or has a god ever essayed to come and take himself a nation from within a nation, with trials, signs, portents and deeds-of-war, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm and with great awe-inspiring (acts), according as all that YHVH your God did in Egypt before your eyes?
35 You yourself have been made-to-see, to know that YHVH-he is God, there is none else beside him!
36 From the heavens he had you hear his voice, to discipline you; on earth he had you see his great fire, and his words you heard from the midst of the fire.
5:1-4
1 Moshe called all of Israel (together) and said to them: Hearken, O Israel, to the laws and the regulations that I am speaking in your ears today! You are to learn them, you are to take-care to observe them!
2 YHVH our God cut with us a covenant at Horev.
3 Not with our fathers did YHVH cut this covenant, but with us, yes, us, those here today, all of us (that are) alive!
4 Face to face did YHVH speak with you on the mountain, from the midst of the fire.
The Torah claims that the entire Jewish nation heard God speak at Sinai, an assertion that has been accepted as part of their nation’s history for over 3,300 years. Shavuot is the birthdate of Torah believers, Jews and Gentiles alike, their acceptance and commitment to follow God’s directive on how life has to be lived. No leap of faith was taken, their faith was based on revelation that was experienced by all of them, at the same time, at the same place. Furthermore, the author of the Torah predicts that there will never be another claim of national revelation throughout history.
4:32-33
32 For inquire, pray, of past days, which were before you: from the day that God created humankind on the earth, and from one edge of the heavens to the (other) edge of the heavens: has there ever been such a great thing, or anything heard like it?
33 Has a people ever heard the voice of a god speaking from the midst of the fire as you have heard, yourself, and remained-alive?
This Jewish claim of the revelation at Mount Sinai is a fact. No other nation has ever claimed such similar national revelation. It is a one time event because God decreed it to be so. History has validated it. This is what is so remarkable about the feast of Shavuot.
Let us take a look at how world religions came to be, thousands of religions have been started by individuals who claimed to have received a personal communication from God. All religions based on some type of personal revelation share the same beginning. A holy person goes into solitude, suddenly gets communication from God, goes back to his people, announcing that he had received a personal revelation from his God and was appointed as a prophet by his God.
To give two examples;
- this was how Islam was born, when Mohammed claimed that he received a personal revelation from God, was appointed a prophet by his God,giving birth to the religion of Islam.
- The apostle Paul had the same experience, had a vision of Christ, stayed for 14 years in the desert to study and emerged as the foremost theologian of Christianity.
All one has to do is study how all the world religions had emerged and the common thread will be a personal revelation from God, of all the founders. Is the claim credible? Maybe yes, maybe no. The claim is unverifiable.
Personal revelation is an extremely weak basis for a religion since we can never know if it is indeed true, even if the individual claiming personal revelations, performs miracles. Miracles do not prove anything.. All it shows, assuming the miracles are genuine, is the person has certain powers It has nothing to do with his claim of prophecy.
Maimonides writes:
“Israel did not believe in Moses, on account of the miracles he performed. For when one’s faith is based on miracles, doubt remains in the mind that these miracles may have been done through the occult and witchcraft… What then were the grounds of believing him? The revelation on Sinai which we saw with our own eyes, and heard with our own ears, not having to depend on the testimony of others.
What about us Gentiles? What does Shavuot mean to us? Shavuot is the holiday on which the nation of Israel celebrates the giving of the Torah to them. We, Gentiles, as Torah believers can commemorate this feast too as a celebration of our acceptance and commitment to the Torah. It is a day upon which we recommit ourselves once again to accept the Torah and treat it, through study, with honor and dignity that this precious gift deserves. This acceptance each year carries with it ramifications for spiritual growth.
On each Shabbat, we read and study a portion of the Torah. We start each yearly cycle on the Shabbat following the feast of Simchas Torah, with the first portion, that of Genesis. However during the feasts, there are special portions of the Torah read. These portions deviate from the yearly cycle. Instead, the subject of the portion read relates to the particular feast.
Rabbi Moshe Chayim Luzzato explains further the concept of reading the Torah. He writes—
“. . . the reason for the reading of the Torah is that the Torah consists of something that was given to us by God to read. It was furthermore designated so that His holy light should be transmitted to us through such reading . . . .
On certain special days, it is also appropriate that special portions be read, relating to the concepts of those days, In this way, the special holy light of these days is strengthened through the power of the Torah, which is the strongest power that we have.”
The Torah was given to us to read, to study and to explore. So that we maximize our spiritual benefit from this reading, it was ordained that we read the Torah every week and on special days. On these special days, our spiritual benefit is increased, we receive not only the holiness that comes from the reading of the Torah but also that from the holiday itself.
By reading the passages concerning the giving of the Torah, with a spirit of devotion, it is as if we ourselves stood at Sinai and accepted the Torah. On Shavuot, we are presented with an unparalleled opportunity to achieve spiritual greatness. The devotional reading of the Torah bestows upon us spiritual benefit. We read the Torah with appreciation.
Without the Torah,
- we would not know how to function .
- We would not know the best way to serve our Creator.
- We would not have the tools to distinguish between reality and illusion, between light and darkness.
- We would not have moral clarity.
- We would not have a guidebook for living.
- We would not know how to confront the greatest challenges of life or answer life’s difficult questions.
We would still be wondering in the desert of spirituality.
Shavuot is a time to appreciate, to say thank you, to imagine the void of a life without Torah and to experience it as if, for the first time, how it lights up our lives and lifts up our souls. In the midst of our daily lives, our chores and our struggles, we may end up obeying commandments routinely, taking our Torah values and lifestyles for granted.
Shavuot is an opportunity to see the values of Torah with new insights, to look with wonder and awe to our ALMIGHTY’S wisdom and generosity. Torah is HIS gift to us so that we can keep HIS LAWS.
May Shavuot remind us always what a magnanimous GOD we have, that HE has given us the Torah, what a privilege it is and how we should cherish it.
BAN@S6K
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