Bamidbar – Thought for the Day
We always read Parshat Bamidbar right before Shavuot. The connection is simple. The Torah was given in the dessert on Mt Sinai.
A dessert was chosen as the location for Divine revelation to teach us that the Torah is not limited by a specific time or place. A dessert is a place of isolation away from life and society.
Interestingly in our Shavuot Liturgy we call Shavuot, “Zeman Matan Torateinu” -The Time of the Giving of the Torah.
The focus is on the giving not the receiving.
In contrast in Ethics of the fathers it opens with the phrase “Moshe Kibel Torah Misinai” – Moshe received the Torah from Sinai.
There is a profound difference between the two concepts of giving and receiving.
When we think about the experience at the Giving of the Torah we become overwhelmed. We are reminded of the verses describing the revelation:
“It came to pass on the third day when it was morning, that there were thunder claps and lightning flashes, and a thick cloud was upon the mountain, and a very powerful blast of a shofar, and the entire nation that was in the camp shuddered … And the entire Mount Sinai smoked because the Lord had descended upon it in fire, and its smoke ascended like the smoke of the kiln, and the entire mountain quaked violently.”
Shavuot is the time to connect to the idea that God reveals Himself to mankind. The experience is ineffable, utterly overwhelming, smashing to pieces our mortal sense of self, revealing our human frailty and vulnerability. Yet at the same time it is inspiring, lifting us out of our mundane reality to the greatest heights. We are the passive recipients. God is the Actor.
But then after Shavuot comes the hard work of receiving the Torah where we have to integrate the voice of Hashem into our lives in the physical form of Mitzvot.
May we all be inspired this Shavuot to feel a special connection to our Torah. It is not only the blueprint for Jewish existence but for the very existence of the world.
Its message has percolated through society over millennia and will continue to do so.
This Shavuot when we are at home let us remember that we are the carriers of the message of the Torah.
Shabbat Shalom