The 3 rd Month of Sivan
Matan Torah – The Giving of the Torah
From the Heart of Heaven – Reflections on the Sinai Experience
Part of an Ongoing Series entitled Hidden Sparks beneath the Surface
By Elisheva Tavor aka Betty Tabor Givin
In the midst of the horrific terror attacks on our beloved Israel and the Jewish people all over the world, how can we summon the courage to celebrate? Just a week ago from this past Shabbat upon completion of the reading of the book of Leviticus, the Jewish people in synagogues all over the world, stood together as one and chanted the traditional Hebraic words, “Chazak, Chazak, V’Neit Chazek,” meaning, “ Be strong, be strong and let us encourage one another!”
From history we know that the Jewish people have been persecuted and relentlessly attacked time and time again throughout the centuries, yet have endured against all odds and to this day remain strong and resilient! Like the waxing and waning of the moon,“B’ezrat HaShem” (with the help of HaShem), the Nation of Israel will continue to survive and celebrate her Festivals! And now after having celebrated Passover and the deliverance from Egyptian bondage we have come to the close of the seven-week period of counting the omer as mandated by Torah, (Lev. 23:15-16) and find ourselves with yet another wonderful opportunity to embrace this Festival of Shavuot!
Background-from the Torah and Traditions
The Festival of Shavuot is related to the celebration of the wheat harvest and the ripening of the first fruits; thus it has two other biblical names…Yom Habikurim or the “Day of the First Fruits,” and Chag HaKatzir, the “Harvest Festival.” Shavuot, along with Sukkot and The Feast of Unleavened Bread following Pesach was one of the three mandatory Pilgrim Festivals or Regalim (literally translated Foot Festivals) held in Jerusalem each year (Deut. 16:16) Shavuot also means “oaths,” for according to Jewish tradition it was on this day 3333 hundred years ago that HaShem made a covenant with His people. The Jewish sages have compared it to a wedding, with the Torah being the ketubah or marriage contract, between HaShem and His people…and what an awesome wedding it was!
The Sinai Experience
This event is the single most remarkable awe inspiring happening in the history of mankind…when HaShem the G-D of all Creation, YHVH (Hebrew, Yod Hey Vav Hey), descended upon Mt Sinai amidst the fire and smoke, the darkness, the thunder and lightning and spoke to His people panim b’panim, “face to face, out of the midst of the fire”(Deut. 5:4) and called them into covenant relationship with
Him!
How can we even fathom such an awesome event, one that occurred approximately 3333 years ago and bring it into our day and time? Beyond the written page, we attempt to draw it down and internalize it into our lives as we ask ourselves, what meaning does it have for us? We read in Deuteronomy 4:10-11 how the people were told to gather together at Mount Sinai to hear the words of their G-d, learn to fear Him, and teach these words to their children, dor v’ dor, passing them on from generation to generation. If we simply read the English, we miss the rich wording of the Hebrew text, “and you came near and stood ‘tachat,’” literally at the foot of the mountain or under the mountain. Why under? Picture in your mind’s eye a Jewish wedding ceremony with a magnificent chuppah, a wedding canopy. The Midrash brings forth a thought-provoking idea for it says that the mountain was lifted up and became like a giant chuppah with the people standing under it. It is not clear whether this is to be taken literally or not. HaShem certainly could have performed this miracle should He have chosen to do so. The point is this…that this was a totally awe-inspiring one-time event in history….for amidst the fire, the clouds, the thick darkness and the thunder and lightning, the blaring sound of the shofar and HaShem’s powerful Voice, the people entered into a marriage type covenant with their G-d on that day for they responded, “We will do and we will hear.” N’aseh, v’nishma! (Exodus 24:3-7). This shows the kavanah, the intent and true heart of the children of Israel and their willingness to follow HaShem even before they knew what He was to ask of them.
The beautiful words of Hosea 2:21-22 come to mind here…”I will betroth you to me forever”…How breathtaking… HaShem, the Creator of the entire universe is speaking to His beloved, “I will betroth you to me “(for how long?)…Forever. I will betroth you to me with righteousness, justice, lovingkindness and mercy. I will betroth you to me with fidelity (emunah) and you shall know Me.” Every year on the holiday of Shavuot we are reminded of this awe-inspiring event and have the opportunity to once again renew our covenantal relationship with Him!
The texts of this account are indeed chilling. You can read them in Exodus 19- 20 and Deuteronomy chapters 4 and 5. These verses indicate that they not only experienced this phenomenal event with all their senses heightened to the max, but that that they actually saw the voice…but how does one see a voice? We ask the question, did they actually see the voice or perhaps simply perceive the voice?
The Midrash teaches they saw the fiery letters coming forth from the mountain which was burning “up to the heart of heaven!” Again, whether we take this literally or not, the phenomenal experience they must have witnessed was beyond amazing…thick cloud and darkness and fire, “burning up to the heart of heaven,” from which it came…Wow, what powerful language…thus we have the term, Aish
Da’at – the fire law!
The Edut, the Testimony of HaShem
The rabbis teach that HaShem created the world with the letters of the Hebrew aleph bet and some studies have indicated that there is a powerful connection between the Hebrew letters and their vibration frequency. Perhaps this in some way brelates to the awesome Sinai experience, when the Creator of the Universe came down and gifted humanity with what are commonly referred to as the Ten Commandments, which in the actual Hebrew text is aseret ha’deberot and more accurately should be translated as The Ten Words, The Ten Sayings or Matters…for within them encompass all of Torah and its timeless guidelines for every society on earth. These Ten Words form the moral compass of the universe and cannot be taken lightly, for they are the words of the Creator of the Universe, written by His own finger…etched through both sides of the tablets. In Hebrew they are referred to as the Edut, The Testimony, which is derived from ed, which means witness. Moses was told to carve a wooden box to house these remarkable tablets. This simple wooden box would later be placed in another box; a beautiful box made of pure gold and would become a box within a box which would be known as the Ark of the Covenant. This ark which housed the Edut, would take a central place in the tabernacle and would under HaShem’s direction, lead the children ofIsrael in their journey through the wilderness. As it led the ancients in their day, so may it lead us in our journey through the present-day wilderness that we face in
our current shattered world.
HaShem begins His testimony by giving witness to Himself with the powerful words Anochi, YHVH Elohecha, I AM HaShem your G-d! (Exodus 20:2, Deut.5:6). He makes it very personable. In Isaiah 43:10-11 He gives the edict to Israel that in turn they are to be not only His servants but His witnesses. HaShem promises in the book of Jeremiah that His life-giving Torah will one day be written in our hearts (Jer.31:32). As we strive to carry out the directive and be His witnesses, I often wonder if perhaps that etching of hearts has begun …with njust the surface barely scratched?
When the World Stood Still
When HaShem gave the Torah, “There was thunder and lightning, and a heavy cloud on the mountain…Mount Sinai was all asmoke…, the entire mountain the ram’s horn, and the mountain smoking. And the people trembled, standing far-off” (an excerpt from article by Rabbi Eliyahu Touger based on insights of the Rebbe Shlita entitled ‘In the Garden of Torah’ based on Exodus 19:16-18, 20:15). So powerful was the Voice of HaShem that the people asked Moshe to speak to them instead lest they die upon hearing G-d’s voice. The Talmud speaks of the reverberation of that Voice and the effect it had throughout the world at large when it says that, “No bird chirped…, not did an ox bellow, nor the sea roar.” (Shemos Rabba 29:9) A still hush permeated all existence while HaShem spoke…the world was in awe!
King David speaking of this breathtaking event says at Mount Sinai, “the earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of HaShem: even Sinai itself at the presence of HaShem the G-d of Israel” (Psalm 68:8-9). Interestingly the letters in the word Sinai and those in the word sullam, meaning ladder, have the same gematria or numerical value…which is 130. Additionally, in nthe account of Jacob’s ladder the language is similar. “And behold a ladder set up on the earth and the top of it reached to heaven (Gen. 28:12).
The Voice from the Wilderness
Each year the Torah portion immediately preceding Shavuot read by Jews in synagogues around the world is called Bamidbar and is from the first few chapters of the book of Numbers. Bamidbar in Hebrew means “in the wilderness.” But, what does the wilderness have to do with the initial giving of the Torah? There are numerous reasons that have been suggested. Two reasons stand out most prominently in my mind. The first is that the wilderness is a quiet place, a place bwhere each of us can go into ourselves and meditate, and individually hear the Voice of HaShem and receive the Torah. The second is that the wilderness was a place belonging to no one…therefore no one nation of people can claim it exclusively for their own…not even the Jews. Yes, the children of Israel were initially given the Torah, but they were not to keep it exclusively as their own, but nrather were to be a light to the nations and share it with all… for one day the Torah will go forth from Zion and the “earth will be full of the knowledge of HaShem as the waters cover the sea!”(Isaiah 11:9).
When the people stood at Sinai as a whole congregation (Deut.5:19), it was as if Sinai were a ladder from heaven extending down to touch each individual heart with its message from above as they stood together as one, echad…one people…one heart!
This was a truly a one-time event, yet the power and scope of HaShem’s Presence there on the mountain has come down through the generations. His Voice, reverberating through the wilderness at that awesome one-time event in history has reverberated down through the ages and is continuing to echo ‘round the world which indicates that in a sense, we too have heard that Voice today. You may be thinking, when did I hear that voice? You each heard it when you answered the clarion call to come to Torah!
Listen to the words of Deut. 29:9, 13-14. “You stand this day all of you before HaShem your G-d; your captains of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, with all the men of Yisrael, your little ones, your wives, and your stranger that is in your camp… Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath, but with him that stands here with us this day before HaShem our G-d, and also with him that is not with us this day.”
Return it to Your Heart!
In Deuteronomy 4:39 we read the poignant words, “Know today and return it to your heart that HaShem, He is G-d! “ Think about it a minute… the text says to return it to your heart; this presupposes that it had to have once been in your heart, right? Was it in utero as the sages of blessed memory teach or was it at Sinai or perhaps both? The sages also teach that we who seek to follow HaShem and His Torah all stood at Sinai and the written text in Deut.29 as quoted above validates that you and I along with all others truly seeking Him were in some sense
indeed there. The prophet Jeremiah says, if you seek me with all your heart, then you will find me! (Jer. 29:12-13) Baruch HaShem! We sought and we found…and, if we are still searching, we are still in the process of finding as we continue our journey and diligently seek to uncover those hidden sparks beneath the surface…those hidden sparks within the Ten Words imbedded in the Torah that we have overlooked, those hidden sparks all around us that we have unknowingly let pass us by because so often we are living on auto pilot…those hidden sparks within each of us that we have either consciously or unconsciously been afraid to acknowledge for fear stepping out of our comfort zones and letting go of our preconceived notions or fear of rejection.
Each day that we live, we have the opportunity to reconnect with our Creator and the awesome Sinai experience! As we open the Torah, read and pore over His life-giving words of wisdom, may we be encouraged to look for these sparks, to let them flow freely and take root in our hearts as we live them out in our lives and share them with others.
Just as the ancients stood “like one person with one heart” echad at the foot of Mount Sinai 3333 years ago, so must we stand together today those of Judah and all the tribes of Israel and all lovers of Torah! May we each strive to carry the Ten Words and the awesome Sinai experience of Shavuot in our hearts as we let them permeate us to the very core of our being!
May we daily acknowledge His Presence in our lives as we continually seek to live in covenant with Him and become His witness…His Ed, ד ע which is spelled out with the bold enlarged letters found in the Hebrew text of the Shema as illustrated below (Deut.6:4-9.) Note the ayin ( ע ) at the end of the first word, Shema and the dalet (ד )at the end of last word, Echad…just another example of those Hidden Sparks beneath the
Surface!
שְׁמַע, יִשְׂרָאֵל: יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ, יְהוָה אֶחָד.
Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheynu, Adonai Echad! Chag Shavuot
Sameach!
