What Makes Shavu'ot Unique

Shavu’ot is an unusual holiday when we compare it with the others on our calendar. Every other holiday has its own gimmick: Rosh Hashannah has the shofar, Yom Kippur, fasting. Sukkot has the sukkah and the four species. Pesach has the seder, matzah, and the havoc played with our digestive tracts. But what about Shavu’ot? It is the shortest of all holidays - one day in Israel, two in the Diaspora - so it is over before we know it, and more often than not, totally overlooked.

What makes Shavu’ot unique is its lack of anything that we might think of as unique. It seems like the most vanilla of all holidays; though if one is into vanilla ice cream it isn’t so bad, given the custom of eating dairy on this holiday. Cheesecake, blintzes, kugel; it is the easiest of holidays for the desert enthusiast (that’s me - and I make a mean cheesecake!)

Shavu’ot has its own troubled history. Unlike other holidays, there is no discretely stated date for this holiday in the Bible. Its scheduling is a matter for interpretation; read Lv 23:15-16 and you will see two verses that contributed to centuries of sectarian conflict and different calendars that existed in ancient Judaism. Evidence to some of these radically different calendars can be found among some of the Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in the past 60 years.

The historical motive behind the celebration of Shavu’ot is the revelation at Sinai, the day when all of Israel stood at the foot of Sinai and heard the utterance of the Ten Commandments. Perhaps, then, it is fitting that the celebration of the revelation is unlike any other in our calendar. Our tradition is almost entirely based on interpretation; we are recipients of a code that is all inclusive, that contains everything that we, as Jews, need to know, and it is up to us to figure out how to apply it to every situation. Hence, the Mishnah, known as the “Oral Torah,” the Talmuds, midrashic literature and the codes and responsa of Jewish law contain endless interpretations of how Torah is applied to every possible situation in our lives. We celebrate this great anniversary by understanding that it, too, is dependent on interpretation.

One of the great Shavu'ot traditions that has developed over the centuries is the study of Tiqqun Leyl Shavu’ot. The text of the Tiqqun includes the opening and closing verses of each Torah portion and select other passages, the opening and closing passages of each tractate of the Mishnah, and of other sacred texts. In this way, we are, in effect, receiving all of Torah, written word and oral tradition, once again. While some continue the recitation of the Tiqqun, others will gather on this night to engage in some form of extensive study of Jewish texts.

A midrash tells us that all Jews - all of us - were present at the foot of Sinai, and that we all participated in accepting the covenant between God and the Jewish People, binding ourselves for all time to that contract. It is a moment that is likened to a wedding, the marriage between God and Israel, and some synagogues have a custom of erecting a chuppah on the bimah. Sefaradim have the custom of reading a Ketubah, a marriage contract, between God, the groom, and His people Israel, the bride.

I recently read a lecture given by Sir Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of Great Britain, on the subject of revelation. In his speech, he mentions that the Hebrew language lacks a word like the English word “obey.” The closest analogue would be the Hebrew word shema, to hear, listen; Sacks notes that older English translations of the Torah tried to capture a more emphatic understanding of the word by using the archaism “to hearken.” If Sacks is correct, then our understanding of a covenantal relationship between us and God takes on a unique and powerful dimension. True, we have commandments, but our sense of “obedience” is vested in an act of communication. We see God coming to us in that most fundamentally human manner. God gives us words, God’s words, and God expects us to hear and respond. Our actions should lead us to dialogue, to hearing and understanding on a deeper level.

As Israel stood at the foot of Sinai, they accepted the covenant (or, according to that midrash, we accepted the covenant) by saying na’aseh v’nishma, we will act, and we will hear. Hearing on a deeper level, on an intimate level, depends on something more than just words, but on interaction that goes beyond words and expresses itself in action and deed.

Shavu’ot demands something from us that surpasses the ritual demands, or the gimmicks, of other holidays. Ritual has a place in our lives, but rituals can become rote. Our tradition is aware of the apparent conflict between keva, fixed rituals, and those acts based on kavannah, intention or internal motivation. Without the specific demands of a ritual, Shavu’ot asks that we recommit ourselves to receiving revelation, that we do so both intellectually and emotionally, that we engage in the ongoing conversation between us and God, and between ourselves and our tradition. We do that by engaging in the words with which God communicates with us, and by examining the ways others like ourselves engaged in that conversation over the centuries.