By Rabbi Judith Beiner, JF&CS Community Chaplain
This year we celebrate Shavuot beginning on the evening of June 1. In biblical times, Shavuot marked the end of the grain harvest (which began with the bringing of the Omer on Pesakh) and was called hag ha’katzir (The Harvest Holiday). The ritual ushering in of the new agricultural season—the bringing of the first fruits of the land to the Temple—was also celebrated on Shavuot. From this practice Shavuot gets its third name, hag ha’atzeret (The Holiday of the First Fruit Offering).
With the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, Shavuot’s association with agricultural rites became obsolete. It was at that time that the rabbis began to connect Shavuot with the Revelation on Mount Sinai. In our day Shavuot celebrates the giving and receiving of the Torah. Another name for the holiday is z’man matan torateinu, (The Time of the Giving of the Torah).
From the Kabbalists (the sixteenth-century mystics of Safed) we inherited the tradition of staying up the entire (first) night of Shavuot studying Torah. Known as Tikkun Leil Shavuot, this all-night study session is an opportunity to recommit ourselves to the study of Torah.
Tradition teaches that the skies open during this night for a moment, and God favorably answers all our prayers. The kabbalists also think of Shavuot as the moment when God and Israel wed; the Torah is the ketubah (marriage contract) or written affirmation of the covenant between them.
The Torah is the most sacred object for the Jewish people. It contains the foundational stories of our people, along with the laws and ethical directives that guide our lives. We treat the physical Torah in the most holy and respectful of ways, taking it out of the ark dressed in its elaborate mantle and crowns, reading the text with blessings and according to scripted melodies, surrounded by witnesses. These sacred scrolls have been handed down from generation to generation, forming a chain of continuity for the Jewish people, as we learn and live according to its teachings.
Rebbe Yizchak Meir Alter (1799-1866) shares this insight: The giving of Torah happened at one specific time, but the receiving of Torah happens all the time, in every generation. As we celebrate revelation and receive the Torah anew, we recommit to upholding our covenant with God and infusing our deeds with the values of Torah.