May 29th: Shavuot
THIS WEEK IN THE TORAH
Rabbi David E. Ostrich
The idea of Israel being the Chosen People is at the heart of the Mount Sinai story. So, as we celebrate Shavuot, the traditional anniversary of Matan Torah, the Giving of the Torah, let us consider this significant assignment. In the chapter leading up to the Ten Commandments, God explains: “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Me. Now then, if you will obey Me faithfully and keep My covenant, you shall be My treasured possession among all the peoples. Indeed, all the earth is Mine, but you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” (Exodus 19.4-6)
Apparently, many people—both Jews and Gentiles—failed to read this verse carefully and somehow thought that the Chosen People status meant that Jews were better than other human beings. To remedy this false impression—for both Jews who might think they can get away with ungodly behavior and for Gentiles who think the Jews consider themselves better than everybody else, prophets as early as Amos decried the idea that God’s love is particular and not universal. “To Me, O Israelites, you are just like the Ethiopians—declares the Lord. True, I brought Israel up from the land of Egypt, but also the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Arameans from Kir.” (Amos 9.7) The Rabbis followed suit, creating Midrashim about Israel being God’s last choice. God needed someone for the mission of bringing the Torah to the world, and, since no one else would take the job, God was stuck with us!
The details of this holy mission are found in many places in Jewish Tradition. One of the more vivid is in the second section of Alaynu, where doing God’s work is likened to hard farm labor. We look forward to the day when everyone else will join us in bearing “Ol mal’chut hashamayim,” the Yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven. Some may not consider it a compliment to be compared to an ox, but, if everyone is an ox, is it not an honor to to be the ox that pulls God’s load?
More details are found in Ahavah Rabbah, the second prayer after Barchu in the Morning Service. After thanking God for the overwhelming love shown for us by teaching us the chukay chayim, the laws of life, we ask God to help us learn, teach and observe these laws. “Enlighten our eyes with Your Torah; focus our minds on Your Mitzvot; and unite our hearts and minds to love and revere Your Name.” Part of our holy purpose is to devote ourselves to God’s Name—that is, to God’s reputation in the world. We are God’s representatives.
A few sentences later, we get a glimpse into another of our sacred duties. “For You are God...Who chose us, drawing us near to Your great Name...so that we may give thanks to You and unite You in love.” Note that the Hebrew, l’yached’cha does not say unite with You, but rather unite You, suggesting that our work is not just for the benefit of God’s reputation. There are things in our holy mission that have an effect on God’s substance—bringing God together, helping God, enhancing God. Lurianic Kabbalah even suggests that our holy work can heal God. This is the origin of the term Tikkun Olam, the Repair of the World. Though we now use it to refer to social justice work, the original Kabbalistic term meant repairing or healing a primordial injury experienced by the Deity.
There are several ways to understand this dynamic, two of which appeal to me. First is the idea of God being in need—in need of connection with the world. God created the world, but the separation between God and the Creation can potentially leave God out of contact and yearning for closeness. When we do godly things—helping the poor, healing the sick, feeding the hungry, struggling for justice, and fostering our awareness of God’s Presence, we connect God to the Creation and create a profound unity. Rabbi Akiva likened this to the connection between a mother cow and its calf. “More than the calf wants to drink, the cow want to give the milk.” (Talmud Pesachim 112)
Second is the spiritual process we effect when we focus on God in prayer. Being the God of all the universe, God can be pulled in all directions and suffer from an in-cohesiveness. This is reflected in the Hebrew word for God, Elohim, which is actually a plural term. God is the combination of all the godly forces. However, we have the ability to focus God’s Presence into a unity—l’yached’cha, uniting God with our spiritual energy. This is one way for us to understand the Shema: “Shema Yisrael, Adonai Elohaynu, Adonai Echad. Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.” The forces and dynamics in the universe can seem disparate and disarrayed, but we have the ability to recognize the unity at the heart of it all. The Ayn Sof, the Infinite, can be united—can be understood as One.
The profundity of this sublime insight can be sensed in the Mount Sinai story when we imagine the interface of this finite world with Infinity: “As morning dawned, there was thunder, and lightning, and a dense cloud upon the mountain, and a very loud blast of the shofar; and all the people who were in the camp trembled. Moses led the people out of the camp toward God, and they took their places at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was all in smoke, for the Lord had come down upon it in fire, the smoke rose like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled violently. The blare of the shofar grew louder and louder. As Moses spoke, God answered him in thunder.” (Exodus 19.16-20)
Spiritually speaking, we are called to listen carefully and still hear that thunder.