These and Those

Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem

Week of Majesty

Posted on May 29, 2012 by AdAm Mayer

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Originally posted to my blog last week before Shavuot:

This week was the week of Joyceee
It was also the week of Majesty
I barbequed, I went to different natural springs, and I danced!
I was at a baby naming 🙂 and now we will always be reminded how much of a Blessing Jerusalem is!

We are approaching Shavuot where we receive the Torah anew. We get to relive that experience. The three days beforehand are reserved for preparations – spiritually and physcially. The supermarkets bring in an extra portable refridgerator stocked with cheeses and other dairy products. Teachers and friends are preparing teachings to share, and people go to dip in the mikvah.

I remember two ideas that I read in the Eish Kodesh about Shavuot. These ideas make G!D seem like he operates under the same rules that we humans do. Perhaps.

The first is related to the fact that upon receiving the Torah we saw the sounds. He explains that whenever a teacher teaches he is also learning as well. We know (in our human way) that one is expected to preserve the distinction between the Oral Torah and the Written Torah by not to reciting words of the written Torah by heart. In the description of the event of Sinai, even G!D was learning the Torah, so when G!D spoke the words of the Torah to us, G!D also ‘read’ the words to us. We saw the written words! We were able to see the sounds! And so, if G!D was learning while he was teaching us the Torah, then we too are always learning even while we may be teaching.

And this is a blessing!

The second idea is related to revelation. Every time I truly speak I reveal part of my soul. Therefore – whenever one captures the words spoken – on paper or in a recording – only part of the experience has been captured. During the revelation at Har Sinai G!D truly spoke to us, and our souls were forever marked. This is exactly what happens every year on Shavuot – we don’t only remember what happened, rather we relive what happened, and our souls are also marked by the word of G!D. This can even happen every day to anyone who opens himself to an O[o]ther with true speech.

When you devote your entire being to God,
  even your words themselves become God’s
           SO SPEAK!
                 – Fow Ti