Shavuot

Shavuot is not simply a holiday in the Jewish calendar. It is the day that changed the direction of all human history. On this day the Torah was given not to angels, not to an abstract spiritual world, but to a human being — a complex, contradictory creature who unites within himself earth and heaven.

And it is precisely here that the depth of the holiday begins.

Before the giving of the Torah the people of Israel had to prepare. These were days of separation, purification, inner attunement. People had to withdraw from ordinary bodily life, immerse themselves, concentrate, as if rising above the everyday. Why? Because the encounter with the Torah is not just receiving a book of laws. It is an encounter with the Divine will.

A human being is made in a remarkable way. On the one hand he resembles an animal: he eats, reproduces, has bodily needs. On the other hand he resembles an angel: he stands upright, speaks, thinks, is able to rise above instinct. Even the word «adam» can be understood deeply: the letter alef hints at the Divine beginning, and dam means blood, the life force of the body. A human being is a union of the spiritual and the material.

And therefore before the giving of the Torah a person had to become, for a short time, as close as possible to the angelic state. Not because the body is evil. In Judaism the body is not considered evil. But there are moments when a person must show: in me there are not only desires, not only instincts, not only the earthly side. In me there is the capacity to hear a voice from above.

There is a well-known explanation: the Almighty appointed two days of preparation before the giving of the Torah, and Moshe Rabbeinu added one more day on his own. At first glance this is impossible to understand. How can a person postpone the day of the giving of the Torah? The Almighty sets a day, and Moshe seems to say: «No, let’s do it tomorrow»?

But it is precisely here that enormous depth opens up.

The first explanation is connected with the counting of days. From the exodus from Egypt to the giving of the Torah, forty-nine days had to be counted, seven full weeks. But before the giving of the Torah the order of the day was still perceived differently: first day, then night. After the giving of the Torah the Jewish day begins in the evening: first night, then day.

And this is not just a technical detail of the calendar. It is a view of life.

If first comes day and then night, it means: first light, ease, pleasure, and then darkness. But real spiritual life is arranged differently: first night, then day. First difficulty, work, effort, inner struggle — and only then does true light come.

Every genuine value is acquired through labour. A person does not become wise by accident. He does not become deep without inner work. He does not become free merely because he was given freedom outwardly. First one must travel the road, learn to govern oneself, purify intentions, endure the darkness — and then the day comes.

In this sense the giving of the Torah showed humanity a direction: life is not a chaotic circle of pleasures and sufferings. The world has a purpose. A person has a path. And this path was not invented by man from within his limited life. True meaning must come from above man, otherwise it will remain merely a human fantasy.

Therefore the Torah is not only a religious text for Jews. It is the revelation that the world has meaning, history has a direction, and a person has a task.

The sages have a saying: if a person says «I toiled and found,» believe him. If he says «I did not toil and found,» do not believe him. Truth does not come without seeking. But it is interesting that it says precisely «found,» and not «obtained a result.» Because when a person labours spiritually, the outcome is often greater than his effort. He does what he can, and then more is revealed to him than he could ever have built himself.

This is expressed also in the counting before Shavuot. Seven weeks, forty-nine days — this is the fullness of human work. Seven is the number of the world: seven days of the week, seven colours, seven notes, seven levels of inner correction. A person goes through his forty-nine steps, does the maximum possible. But the fiftieth step is already a gift from above.

There is a simple parable. A king built an enormous tower of a thousand floors and said: whoever climbs to the top will receive the greatest reward. People looked and did not even begin: it was too high. One man nevertheless set out. He climbed ten floors, then twenty, then fifty, then a hundred — and collapsed from exhaustion. And then the elevator doors opened, and he was lifted to the top. Why? Because the impossible was not demanded of him. He was asked to go as far as his own limit.

So it is in spiritual life. A person is not required to be someone else. He is required not to stand still.

This applies not only to a religious person. Every person understands: life demands development. A small child says his first word — everyone rejoices. The next day they already expect the next step from him. But if an adult is praised for doing what he should have mastered in childhood, it is no longer praise. What is an achievement at one stage becomes insufficient at another.

So also spiritually. Today a person has come to the Torah for the first time, has thought about the meaning of life for the first time, has wanted to become better for the first time — this is a great joy. But tomorrow they expect from him not a repetition of yesterday’s state, but movement. Even a small movement, but movement.

Judaism looks not only at the result but at the effort. The Talmud tells of a man who saw the spiritual world and said: «I saw an upside-down world: those who are above here are below there, and those who are below here are above there.» This does not simply mean that the rich and famous turned out to be lower than the sages. The depth is elsewhere: even among people of the Torah, assessment goes not by outward result, but by how far a person has realised his potential.

One could have learned a great deal, but used only a small part of his strength. Another could do very little, but reached his limit. And the second may turn out higher than the first. Because Heaven judges not by how a person looks next to others, but by how far he has become who he could become.

This is a very important thought. A person often compares himself with others: who knows more, who has done more, who is more successful, who is more spiritual. But the Almighty looks differently: what was given to you in particular? What strengths, what opportunities, what trials? And what did you do with them?

Therefore spiritual work is not a competition with others. It is honesty before one’s own purpose.

If a person does the inner work himself, he does not need life to break him from outside. The sages say: if a person takes upon himself the yoke of Torah, the yoke of worldly circumstances is removed from him. The meaning is not that he will have no difficulties at all. The meaning is that if a person himself works on anger, passions, pride, greed, indifference, he does not need to receive heavy blows from outside in order to learn the same thing.

A simple example: a person was supposed to give money for a good cause and did not. Then something breaks at home, and he pays the same sum to a repairman. A wise person will say: «Next time I had better give where it will bring good.» An unwise one will say: «It’s a good thing I didn’t donate, or I would have had nothing to pay for the repair.» One sees a lesson, the other sees only chance.

So Moshe adds a day so that the preparation would be complete: first night, then day. First labour, then light. First work, then revelation.

But there is also a second explanation, even deeper.

The first commandment given to the Jewish people while still in Egypt is the commandment of sanctifying the month. At first glance it is strange: why is it the first? Why not faith, prayer, a moral law, something more «grand»?

The sanctification of the month means that the beginning of a new month was established not only astronomically. Witnesses had to come, see the new moon, give testimony before the court, and only after that was the month sanctified.

And here something astonishing is revealed: even if astronomically the new moon had already appeared, but the witnesses did not come, the month was not sanctified. And if the witnesses came, the court accepted their testimony and sanctified the month, then the law was established here, on earth.

This means something incredible: the Almighty gave man a share in establishing spiritual time.

For example, Rosh Hashanah — the day of judgment for all humanity — depends on the sanctification of the month. If the earthly court did not sanctify the month today, then the Heavenly court, figuratively speaking, is also postponed. This does not mean that man controls God. It means that the Almighty Himself gave man the authority to act within the Torah in such a way that an earthly decision has heavenly significance.

This is why the sanctification of the month is the first commandment. It shows that the Torah was not given as an external order before which a person remains passive. The Torah was given to man in such a way that he becomes a participant in the Divine plan.

This helps us understand the expression «the giving of the Torah.» When a person gives something to another, the thing ceases to belong only to the giver. It becomes the possession of the one to whom it was given. Of course, the Torah remains Divine. But after the giving of the Torah it is in man’s hands in the sense that man must study it, understand it, apply it, and reveal its law within the framework of the transmitted tradition.

That is why in the midrash the angels seemed to object: how can the Torah be given to people? Did they begrudge it? No. Their question is deeper: if the Torah is given to people, then the decision about its application will take place below, in the human world. The angelic world is static, pure, spiritual. But man lives amid doubts, weaknesses, disputes, mistakes, bodiliness. And it is precisely there that the Almighty hands over His Torah.

This is the greatness of Shavuot: the Torah was given not to a perfect being, but to a human being who must grow.

Now it becomes clearer why Moshe could add a day. He was not «arguing» with the Almighty. He showed the very essence of the giving of the Torah: the Torah is truly handed over to man. Within the framework of the Divine will, man receives responsibility, a voice, participation.

And here there is one more important step.

The sages compare Noach, Avraham and Moshe.

Noach lived in the generation of the flood. When he was told that the world would be destroyed, he saved himself and his family, but did not pray for the generation.

Avraham, when he heard of the possible destruction of Sodom, began to plead: perhaps there are fifty righteous people there? Forty? Thirty? He prayed at least for the righteous.

Moshe went further. After the sin of the golden calf, when the people committed a terrible fall, Moshe prayed not for the righteous, but for the sinners. He said to the Almighty: if You do not forgive them, blot me out of Your book too.

And the question arises: what is the Almighty like in this picture? If He is ready to forgive sinners at Moshe’s prayer, why did He not forgive the generation of the flood? The answer is very deep: the Almighty reveals Himself to a person to the extent that the person is ready to open Divine mercy in the world.

The same situation can be seen through strictness, or through mercy. One can say: the person is guilty. Or one can say: yes, he is guilty, but we must understand what circumstances led him to the fall, whether there is a path of correction, whether he can be lifted up.

And both can be true. Strictness too is part of the truth. Mercy too is part of the truth. The question is which quality a person awakens in the world.

If a person here below looks at others only through judgment, accusation and harshness, he as it were opens the same judgment from above. If a person knows how to seek justification, the possibility of correction, a path of return, he reveals mercy in the world.

Moshe became the greatest leader not because he justified sin. He did not say that there had been no sin. He said something else: even after a fall a person must not be finally written off. Even after sin the people can return. Even after the bond has been broken the covenant can be restored.

This too is connected with Shavuot. The Torah was given to man not because man is perfect. It was given because man is able to rise above himself.

Shavuot says to a person: you are not obliged to be an angel forever. But you are obliged to remember that there is an angelic side in you. You are not obliged to reach the fiftieth step at once. But you are obliged to go through your forty-nine. You are not obliged to be better than everyone. But you are obliged not to betray your own potential.

The Torah reveals a great truth to the world: the meaning of life is not simply to live out one’s days, take pleasure, achieve outward success and vanish. The meaning is to turn life into a path. Into work on oneself. Into revealing light through effort. Into the ability to join earth and heaven within a human being.

Therefore Shavuot is a holiday not only of receiving the Torah. It is a holiday of the Almighty’s trust in man. God as it were says to man: I give you My wisdom. I give you responsibility. I give you the ability to influence the world. Now it depends on you whether this world becomes a place of chaos or a place of meaning.

And the main question of Shavuot is not only whether the Torah was given once at Mount Sinai. The main question is whether a person today is ready to accept it so that it changes him himself.

Not just to know more.

Not just to say the right words.

But to become a person in whom the head governs the heart, the heart directs the desires, and the desires serve meaning.

First night — then day.

First work — then light.

First a person does everything he can — and then more is revealed to him than he could have imagined.