I knew a rabbi who loved food and would always say that Shavuot was his favorite holiday. Why? He explained, “On Passover, you can eat where you want, but you may not eat what you want. On Sukkot, you may eat what you want, but not where you want. But on Shavuot, you can eat what you want and where you want.”
Shavuot, one of the three pilgrimage festivals along with Passover and Sukkot, starts on Sunday evening, June 1. The word Shavuot means “weeks” and refers to the commandment to count the seven weeks from Passover. This is referred to as “Counting of the Omer,” and it culminates with Shavuot, literally the “Festival of Weeks.” The Israelites counted the days from the Exodus from Egypt until the day they would be given the Torah at Mount Sinai in eager anticipation. And we do the same today.
But Shavuot has other names. Quite a few, in fact. Chag Habikkurim, the “Day of the First Fruits,” when the farmers would bring their first fruits to Jerusalem in thanksgiving to God for the land and its produce. Chag Hakatzir, the “Festival of Reaping,” as the holiday falls at harvest time. Atzeret is another name meaning the cessation or the conclusion. This is a reference to the fact that no work may be done on Shavuot, and also that it is the ultimate culmination of Passover, as the purpose of the Exodus was to receive the Torah and our Jewish way of life.
In our prayers, we refer to Shavuot as Zman Matan Torateinu, the “Season of the Giving of the Torah.” In my own opinion, this is the name most relevant today. We do not bring an omer offering, so today our counting of the weeks is more symbolic than practical. We are no longer all farmers, and the harvest doesn’t make us feel rich and flush as it did in ancient times. Nor do we bring bikkurim. Yes, there are nice customs in many synagogues where the children bring fruit baskets that are then given to the poor, but that is not a mitzvah, simply a sweet tradition.
But the season of the giving of the Torah is as relevant today as it has ever been, and, dare I say, perhaps even more. Yes, the Torah was given to us on Mount Sinai more than 3,300 years ago, but the Torah is a living document. It is our way of life. It is the user’s manual for life itself. It has never become outdated or obsolete, God forbid.
I would argue that Torah is more necessary today than ever before in history. We are living in the most morally confused generation ever. The lines between good and evil have never been as blurred as they are now. It’s not only Jewish survival that depends on Torah, but humanity itself is desperately in need of guidance and clarity like never before.
When today’s bastions of civilization, like Ivy League universities and progressive countries such as Canada and France, do virtually nothing to stop Jew-hatred, it is no wonder that a seemingly “normal” man can shoot down an innocent young couple in cold blood in Washington, D.C., and convince himself that he was fighting for a just cause. “Free, free Palestine! … I did it for Gaza!”
And when a U.S. congresswoman cannot bring herself to condemn such an outrage or even offer condolences to the family, and when a social-media influencer with millions of faithful followers applauds this insanity, then I’m afraid we are living in a very sick society indeed.
And, sadly, far too many Jewish youth right now seem to be standing with agents of terror and tyranny, as they join the protests and demonstrations. Instead of wearing a kippah, they don a keffiyeh, and in place of some good old-fashioned seichel, or common sense, they join the masked missionaries of madness shouting platitudes they don’t even understand.
How can this be happening? How can Jewish kids whose grandparents were proud, even practicing Jews, not see the truth? The answer is tragic.
Ignorance. Specifically, Jewish ignorance.
They know nothing of Jewish history, ancient or modern. They have been fed a diet of so-called democratic values and principles with no knowledge of their own heritage, which has been the backbone of universal morality throughout the ages. They learned no Torah, but they watched TV. The Bible is foreign to them, and the media is their god. The self-loathing Jews of our time are the biggest defamers of Israel. And whether it’s an anonymous Jewish college student or Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, their almost total ignorance of Judaism, Jewish values and principles no longer shocks us. They are surely the most educated, ignorant people in the world. Any Jew who would have studied Judaism meaningfully could never do as they do.
So, my friends, public enemy No. 1 today is not Iran or Hamas or the Houthis. Public enemy No. 1 is Jewish ignorance! That’s why the long-term campaign to save Israel, world Jewry, and, indeed, civilization, is not only fought on the battlefields but in classrooms and Jewish homes. A solid Jewish education for the next generation of Jews is critical. Then our youth will have the answers even before any questions arise.
Shavuot is the “Season of the Giving of the Torah.” Today, we need the Torah more than ever. God is there to give it to us. Let’s make sure we are here to accept it and pass it on to our children and grandchildren.