Hamaayan / The Torah Spring Edited by Shlomo Katz SHAVUOT May 24, 1996 / 6 Sivan 5756 ******************* This week's issue of Hamaayan is an anthology of articles on Shavuot that have appeared in previous years. ******************* Rav Yehuda Ze'ev Segal zatz'l offers the following "Words of Awakening" regarding Shavuot: Now that we have reached the holiday of Shavuot, baruch Hashem, one must know that Shavuot is exactly like Yom Kippur - it is the day of judgment over Torah study. . . . [Moshe Rabbenu asked Hashem to postpone giving the Torah for one day.] Moshe sensed that the Jews were not yet ready to receive the Torah. Contrary to what we think, being ready to receive the Torah does not mean having a new suit. On Shavuot we must accept the Torah anew. Decorating the shul with flowers for Shavuot is a nice custom, but a person must "decorate" himself as well. This can be done only by accepting the Torah and studying Torah. [How does one prepare to receive the Torah?] Rabbenu Yonah comments on the Mishnah: "If there is no derech eretz there is no Torah." A person must correct his character flaws and then the Torah will reside within him. However, the Torah never resides in a body which has bad character traits. A key character trait is gemilut chassadim - performing acts of kindness. One must not wait for opportunities to perform kindness; one must seek them out! And when one meditates upon the idea of kindness, he sees that there are so many ways to help others. When Rabbi Yisrael Salanter was on his deathbed, he took the time to reassure his nervous attendant that there was no reason to fear a corpse. This is greatness! Did Rabbi Yisrael not have many lofty matters to meditate upon? [Another character trait:] The blessing we say in the morning, "Who forms the light and creates darkness, makes peace and creates all," is based on a similarly-worded verse in Yishayah (45:7). However, that verse actually has the phrase "creates bad" instead of "creates all." Why do we change it? So that our daily language will be "clean." (Yir'ah vaDa'at I 173) ********************* Shavuot is the most "soft-spoken" and "subtle" of all of our holidays, writes Rav Avraham Eliyahu Kaplan zatz'l (1890-1924; dean of Berlin's Hildesheimer Seminary from 1920). Pesach and Sukkot both have names that vividly portray the nature of the holiday: "Chag HaPesach" - "The holiday when G-d skipped over the homes of the Jews." "Chag HaMatzot" - "The holiday when the Jews left Egypt so quickly that they had no time to bake bread." "Chag HaSukkot" - "The holiday commemorating the 'Clouds of Glory' which protected Bnei Yisrael in the desert." Not so Shavuot! Its name - "The Feast of Weeks" - tells us only that it follows a period during which we eagerly counted-off the days until this occasion. Another example of Shavuot's low key nature: Pesach coincides with the beginning of the harvest, when the Jewish farmer joyfully goes out to the field, full of thanks to the Creator of all. Sukkot falls at the end of the harvest, when the same Jew celebrates the success of his harvest season. Shavuot? It falls early in the summer when the harvest is in full swing and the farmer is about to turn his attention towards cutting his wheat - the most basic and "unromantic" of all crops. Shavuot is a holiday with no mitzvot of its own; it does not need any. Shavuot celebrates the most basic of all of man's needs: Torah, for the soul; bread, for the body. Shavuot does not advertise itself through great miracles (as does Pesach) or a plethora of mitzvot (as do all of the other holidays). Shavuot expects us to understand on our own, and those who are close to the ideals that Shavuot represents do. (B'ikvot Hayir'ah, p.234) ************************************ The Gemara (Shabbat 88a) relates that Hashem held Har Sinai over the heads of Bnei Yisrael and forced them to take the Torah. This, says the Gemara, was an excuse for generations which did not observe the Mitzvot. R' Mordechai Gifter, shlita (Telshe Rosh Yeshiva) notes that this Gemara appears to contradict the Gemara in Avodah Zarah (3a). There we find that, in the future, the nations of the world will complain that they were not forced to accept the Torah. This, says R' Gifter, implies that being forced to accept the Torah does have a binding effect. R' Gifter resolves this based on the following two points: First, we learn in Masechet Nedarim [which Daf Yomi participants concluded this week] that the basis for the annulment of a vow is changed circumstances, i.e. that the assumptions upon which the vow was based are no longer valid. When the Jews accepted the Torah, they did so through a vow. Second, the Jews were forced to accept the Torah -- not literally, but through their recognition of the Truth, brought about by their exalted spiritual level. The Jews assumed that they would always remain on that level. However, with their exile from Eretz Yisrael, they fell from it. They thus had an excuse to cease performing the Mitzvot until they reaccepted the Torah (for all time) after the Purim miracle. The nations of the world, however, were not forced to accept the Torah. Hashem did not raise them to the same spiritual level to which he raised the Jews. This will be the nations' complaint in the future. [Ed. note: see Avodah Zarah 3a for Hashem's answer.] (Pirkei Mo'ed p.129) ************************************ The Rambam, in Moreh Nevochim ("Guide to the Perplexed") cites three views regarding the origin of the world. Some believe that it is very ancient, having formed itself at some time in the past when conditions were ripe. A second group believes that some higher being created the world, but did so with matter that existed previously. The Torah view, by contrast, is that G-d formed the world "Yesh Mai'Ayin" - "something out of nothing" - not because any outside conditions required it, but simply because He so chose. Rambam also cites three views regarding the nature of prophecy. Some believe that a person need only prepare himself, and prophecy will come on its own. Others believe that even after one has prepared himself, prophecy will come only if and when G-d chooses. Finally, there are those who believe that no preparation is required, for G-d alone determines who His prophets will be. Note how each view of prophecy roughly parallels one of the views of creation in regard to whether G-d acts alone, circumstances act alone, or the two act in combination. Interestingly, while the Torah's view is that G-d created the world from nothing, needing and receiving no help from any other source, the Torah's view of prophecy is that "G-d does not reveal his presence except on one who is wise, rich, brave, and humble" (Nedarim 38a). In other words, the prophet requires preparation. Why? Although Hashem created the world from nothing, He decreed that never again would such a miracle occur. Henceforth, He would work through nature. Thus Chazal tell us that such miracles as the splitting of the Red Sea were ordained at the time of creation. (See Chazal's comment on Sh'mot 14:27.) Why? Because if Hashem would repeatedly change creation it would call into question creation's perfection and (G-d forbid) that of G-d himself. One time in history, prophecy was given to those who were not prepared for it. These were the Jews at Har Sinai. A new creation was brought into being for their benefit: Prophecy without prerequisites. Why? Chazal say that Hashem did leave one aspect of creation imperfect. As Rashi (B'reishit 1:31) explains, G-d made the world's permanent existence contingent on one thing. If Bnei Yisrael had not accepted the Torah when it was offered at Har Sinai, the world would have returned to its state before creation. Without Torah, the world cannot exist. It turns out, therefore, that not until the great revelation at Har Sinai was the work of creation finished. It is certainly fitting that just as the world was created by Hashem without preparation, so, when Bnei Yisrael brought it to completion, they should merit a similarly miraculous gift. (R' Meir Leibush Malbim, Eretz Chemdah: "Drush L'Chag Shavuot)