This evening and tomorrow day (in the Diaspora the next two) are the festival of Shavuot (Pentecost), the day that the Jewish people received the Torah on Mount Sinai. The Jewish people left the land of Egypt fifty days before receiving the Torah. There they had been on the forty-ninth level of impurity. Nevertheless, G-d redeemed them with ten plagues and the splitting of the sea. Why would G-d go to all this trouble for an undeserving people? Rav Akiva Tatz explains that this is a theme that every person goes through in life. First, there is a period of great inspiration and clarity. But it never seems to last, and a person’s psyche reverts to doubt. Similarly, the Jewish people were shown great miracles and redeemed, even though they didn’t deserve it. But then G-d put them up to the ultimate test, a barren desert, where they had to work their way up to the level of receiving the Torah at Sinai. In life, G-d gives us moments of clarity to show us what our purpose is. Then our task is to work our way up to that clarity, but not in superficial way, rather to build a strong foundation for it.
The Bnei Yissachar, of sainted memory, alludes to this process by examining the sacrifices given on Pesach (Passover) and Shavuot. The sacrifice brought on the second day of Pesach is the Omer, consisting of barley, animal feed. This represents the fact that at that point in time the Jews were on a low level, still subject to their animalistic desires. The sacrifice brought on Shavuot, however, was of fine wheat. This is to show us that in a mere seven weeks the Jews had raised themselves up from the forty-ninth level of impurity to the forty-ninth level of holiness.
Why is there this pattern of seven: seven weeks of seven days, forty-nine levels of impurity, forty-nine levels of holiness-everything seems to have a common denominator of seven! In Judaism, seven represents natural order. Thus, the world was created in seven days. Six Mitzvot were given to Adam, and a seventh to Noach (Noah). These seven Mitzvot represent the natural order. But an eighth Mitzvah was given to Avraham (Abraham), circumcision, as an eternal bond that the Jewish people are beyond nature. Thus, before Shavuot we count seven weeks of seven days to represent natural order. But on the fiftieth day, Shavuot, we begin to touch on the infinite. That is why we were given the Torah then, because it bonded us forever with the infinite G-d. This concept that eight is representative of the infinite is coincidentally hinted to by the symbol 8, which is a sideways infinity sign (∞).
This pattern of seven repeats itself in another aspect. In Sefer Yetzirah, an ancient book of Kabbalah attributed to our forefather Avraham, says that the month of Sivan, in which the Torah was given, was created with the Hebrew letter zayin. Zayin has a numerical value of seven. G-d created the world to be a dwelling place for His Presence. The sins of man removed G-d’s Presence from the world seven times, each time to a higher heaven, through seven generations of sin from Adam until the Egyptians. But the seven generations from Avraham to Moshe (Moses) brought the Divine Presence back down into the world. The climax of this was the giving of the Torah to Moshe in Sivan, the month created with the letter ziyan, which has the value of seven.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe, of sainted memory, explains that the order was so because the Torah is dependent on women. In Judaism the woman is called “the foundation of the house.” She is the one responsible for pushing her husband to fulfill his potential. The first years of a child’s life, the most crucial of its development, are in the care of its mother. The women were taught the Torah softly, and therefore they have the unique ability to teach it to their children in their tender years.
Rav David Pinto, one of the leading Kabbalists alive, gives a different reason why the women were given the Torah first, which also explains why the men were spoken to more harshly than the women. He writes that the purpose of all this is that a man learns the virtue of humility from a woman. If on Mount Sinai it was the Torah that reminded man to conduct himself with complete humility, who would remind him to do so in his own home, if not his wife? The Midrash teaches that all while being strong, a woman is born with a discreet, modest disposition. That is why a man must learn humility from a woman.
This is one of the many reasons that Megillat Rut (the book of Ruth) is read on Shavuot. Rut is praised by the Sages for her incredible modesty. She also willingly accepted upon herself the entire Torah, and in the merit of this combination she was the great-grandmother of King David. This is alluded to in her name. A gentile is expected to keep the seven Noahide laws. So when she came to convert, she was accepting an additional 606 Mitzvot. The numerical value of the word Rut is 606.
When Rut’s mother-in-law Na’ami tried to convince her not to convert, Rut’s response was, “Where you will go, I will go. And where you will sleep, I will sleep. Your nation is my nation and your G-d is my G-d. Where you will die, I will die, and there I will be buried (Ruth 1:16-17).” The Sages elaborate that when a gentile wants to convert to Judaism, we inform them of a few easy Mitzvot and a few difficult Mitzvot. So when Rut wanted to convert, Na’ami told her that it is forbidden for us to walk 2,000 cubits out of a city on Shabbat. Rut responded, “Where you will go, I will go.” It is forbidden for us to be secluded with a man, “where you will sleep, I will sleep.” We are required in 613 Mitzvot, “Your nation is my nation.” We are forbidden to worship idols, “your G-d is my G-d.” Four deaths are given to the hands of a Jewish court, “Where you will die, I will die.” Two burials are given to the hands of a Jewish court, “There I will be buried.”
Rav Nebenzahl, the rabbi of the Old City of Jerusalem, elucidates further that these verses hint to the fact that Rut wanted to rectify the previous sins of her nation, Moav (Moab). “Where you will go, I will go,” as opposed to her ancestor Lot who separated himself from Avraham. “Where you will sleep, I will sleep,” as opposed to Lot who slept in the cave with his two daughters and committed incest. “Your nation is my nation” as opposed to Balak the Moabite who said “behold a nation has left Egypt.” “Your G-d is my G-d,” as opposed to the daughters of Moav who seduced Jewish men to serve idolatry. “Where you will die, I will die,” as opposed to Haran, Lot’s father, who was ready to believe in G-d only if his brother Avraham survived a fiery furnace. “There I will be buried,” as opposed to Lot’s wife that was turned into a pillar of salt and was never buried.
Another reason why the book of Rut is read on Shavuot is because Shavuot is the day King David, her great-grandson, passed away.
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The Midrash says that when G-d came down to give the Jewish people the Torah, they were sleeping and G-d got angry at them. Though I can readily identify with them for sleeping in, how did they do such a thing? For seven weeks they were preparing to accept the Torah, and when the grand day arrived they slept in?! You would think they would have set an alarm or something!
The first Lubavitcher Rebbe, of sainted memory, explains that when they went to sleep that night they were preparing to receive the Torah. How would this serve as a foundation for accepting the Torah? The Rebbe explains that when a person sleeps the major portion of his soul ascends to heaven. The closeness that a soul feels in heaven can never compare to that felt on earth. So the Jews went to sleep before the giving of the Torah because they wanted to attain greater spiritual heights. They thought that this would be the best preparation for the great revelation they were about to behold. If so, why did G-d become angry with them? Because the entire essence of the giving of the Torah was that now Mitzvot could be performed with physical objects and thus raise them up from their level of crassness to G-dliness. Therefore the preparation for receiving the Torah should not have been done by separating oneself from physicality, but rather by embracing it and elevating it.
The Magen Avraham, of sainted memory, writes that we have the custom of staying up all night studying Torah on Shavuot to rectify this error of our forefathers.
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The Jewish zodiac of the month of Sivan, in which the Torah was given, is twins. This is to indicate that it is a month of unity, of G-d with the Jewish people, but more importantly of the Jewish people with one another. Immediately before the receiving of the Torah it says, “And he camped there; Israel opposite the mountain.” Why is this verse written in singular? The great Torah commentator Rashi, of sainted memory, explains that the Children of Israel had journeyed to receive like a single person, with a single heart. This is to teach us the importance of the unity of the Jewish people; it is a precursor for fulfilling the Torah.
Rav David Pinto writes that this concept is alluded to when the Jewish people accepted responsibility for each other. They were to be guarantors for one another, zeh bazeh. Zeh bazeh has a numerical value of twenty-six, the same as that of G-d’s Divine name. The meaning of this is if harmony reigned among them, the Divine presence would reside in their midst. Consequently, only perfect unity allows for the study of Torah and the acceptance of the yoke of Mitzvot. Neither the Evil Inclination nor foreign nations will have any power over Jews if they refrain from committing sins (Ketubot 66b). If the Evil Inclination finds the slightest fault or the least bit of disagreement among them, the Divine Presence will no longer abide with the Jewish people. However, if harmony reigns among the Jewish people, they can very well find themselves “opposite the mountain” (an allusion to the Evil Inclination), all while triumphing over it.
Rav Nebenzahl writes that this theme is further indicated by the fact that in several places the Torah refers to the day of the giving of the Torah as “The day of congregation (Ex.: Deuteronomy 9). Why? Because this is the day that the Jews became a “congregation,” no longer a gathering of individuals, but one nation in perfect unity. Additionally, when Moshe informed the Jewish people that G-d wanted to give them the Torah, they responded with “All that G-d speaks we will do (Exodus 19:8).” They didn’t say “I will do,” but rather “we will do,” as an indication of them accepting responsibility for one another. The reason for this is because that is the only medium in which a Torah and its lifestyle can exist.
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If anyone has read this far, first I thank you for your time. Second, I wish you the best possible Shavuot, one in which we truly accept the Torah upon ourselves and become united “like a single person, with a single heart.” May we merit to see the rebuilding of Jerusalem with the Final Redemption speedily in our days.
Elisha
