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Shavuot - May 2002 by Brett Krichiver, Student Rabbi When Israel stood to receive the Torah, the Holy One, blessed be God, said to them: "I am giving you my Torah. Bring me good guarantors that you will guard it, and I shall give it to you." They said: "Our patriarchs are our guarantors." The Holy One, blessed be God, said: "Your patriarchs are unacceptable to me. Yet bring good guarantors and I shall give it to you." They said: "Master of the Universe, our prophets are our guarantors." God said to them: "The prophets are unacceptable to me. Yet bring me good guarantors and I shall give it to you." They said: "Behold, our children are our guarantors." The Holy One, blessed be God, said: "They are certainly good guarantors. For their sake I give the Torah to you." Shavuot is the Jewish holiday, occurring seven weeks after Passover, which commemorates the awesome event experienced by the children of Israel when they camped at the foot of Mt. Sinai. This event was the Revelation, when God's will was revealed to Israel. This was an event of enormous proportions and a unique spiritual experience that indelibly stamped the Israelites with our unique character, our faith, and our identity. We would never again be as close to God as we were in that moment. On the other hand, the rabbis teach us that Revelation occurs in many forms, each day: in every meeting of Shabbat school, in every Jewish family experience, in every year, and in every generation. The transmission of "Torah," of the teachings and traditions of our community and our synagogue, happens every moment. The written Torah teaches that in that first divine moment of inspiration, God spoke to each and every Israelite individually, and that each of us heard God's will in our own way. Teachers will agree that each student is likely to hear a lesson in their own way according to their own ability, their own interests, and their relationship with the teacher. And so it is with us. Each of us needs to honor and celebrate our unique connection to Judaism, and to the temple. We celebrate Shavuot each year to remember not only the divine covenant we made with God at the foot of Mt. Sinai, but also the divine covenant we made, and continue to make, with our community; our families, ourselves. The famous Rabbi Hillel wrote, "If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?" Our covenant, our Brit, is a commitment not only with God, but with the community. Every year we re-evaluate the programs and the goals of our Jewish community. How well are we transmitting our traditions, our culture, our "Torah," to the next generation? For it is not enough to remember and appreciate the tremendous effort of our Shabbat school teachers, volunteers, youth group leaders and board members of the past year. Rather the rabbis teach us, "it is not your responsibility to complete the task, but neither are you free to desist from it." On Shavuot we gather to celebrate that most precious of all gifts, the gift of the future. This fun, yet vitally important work is the keystone for the future of the temple. How do we define ourselves as Jews? What is our tradition, our unique culture, our "Torah," and how do we communicate it? Shavuot celebrates the nourishment we all receive from our community, and from our tradition. |