As Jews prepare to commemorate receiving the Torah on Mount Sinai this Shavuot, an interesting individual comes to mind: Clayton Moore. He began his long career as a stunt man and “B movie” actor, though he later earned fame as the title character of the 1950s’ TV Western “The Lone Ranger.”
Conventional wisdom has it that when off-screen, TV and film actors tend to shed their characters’ personas and resume regular life. Sometimes, however, an actor may play a certain character so convincingly that audiences may not be able to separate the real-life person from their onscreen roles.
Even with his steady voice, upright posture and calm moral authority, Moore wasn’t known for his stellar acting abilities. Though his character represented a passion for and dedication to promoting justice and morality, there are those who opined that Moore spoke his lines with a monotonous cadence and no change of emotion or affect.
Yet he will always be remembered for that part. Why?
Because rather than shedding the persona of the character when he was off-screen, he felt called to make it an authentic part of his existence. Years, even decades, after the series ended, Moore continued to be that ranger. Appearing at events and in commercials in his ubiquitous white Stetson and black mask, he committed to personifying the character.
Which brings us to Shavuot.
Moore may have been an anomaly in his profession. But given what this holiday is about, arguably, his is the example we Jews are called to follow. It affirms the central message of Shavuot: Jews are called not merely to act as Jews sometimes, but to be Jews all the time.
Shavuot commemorates God’s giving the Torah at Sinai. Just before that dramatic event that transformed a gaggle of newly liberated slaves into a people, God declared our assigned purpose for coming into existence: to be a kingdom of priests and a holy people (Exodus 19:6). He reaffirmed it when He told Moses: Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: You will be holy, for I, the Lord, your God, am holy” (Leviticus 19:1-2).
Here, the Divine operative words are not “act holy.” They are “be holy.”
We are commanded not merely to assume the persona of a Jew—doing certain actions and reciting certain scripted words of prayer at certain times (annually, weekly, even daily)—but then feeling free to return to “real life.”
Shavuot calls us as Jews to follow the example of Clayton Moore: to make the character’s persona authentically our own. It calls us not just to act the role of a Jew sometimes, but to embody Jewish teachings and values 24/7.
In his paraphrase of the oft-recited first paragraph of the Shema, known as the V’ahavta (Deuteronomy 6:5-9), the late Rabbi William Berkowitz poignantly echoes this admonition:
Love your God with every heartbeat,
With every breath,
With every conscious act.
Keep in mind the words I command you today.
Teach them to your children,
Talk about them at work:
Whether you are tired or rested.
Let them guide the work of your hands;
Keep them in the forefront of your vision.
Do not leave them at the doorway of your house,
Or outside your gate.
They are reminders to do all of My mitzvot,
So that you can be holy for God. (emphasis mine)
Tradition teaches that every Jewish soul was present at Sinai on that first Shavuot, and that besides the revelation that was experienced by the entire people, every individual soul received a message specific to it.
In preparation for the upcoming holiday, may we recall what was specifically spoken to each of us. And to remember that part of that message was a call not just to act, but to truly be.
