“Yom HaKahal”:
One Day per Year,
or Everyday?
R. Yaakov Bieler
Shavuot, 5768
The festival of Shavuot is
referred to in a number of ways by the primary sources of Jewish tradition:
1) Devarim 16:9-10
Seven
weeks you will count to yourself; from the time that you put the sickle to the
corn, you will begin to count seven weeks.
And you will make Chag Shavuot (a festival of weeks)
to the Lord, your God, with a tribute of a freewill offering of your hand that
you will give when Lord, your God, Blesses you.
2) Shemot 23:16
And
Chag HaKatzir (a festival of harvest) the first fruits of
your labors, which you have sown in the field. And the festival of ingathering
(Sukkot) which is at the end of the year, when you have gathered in your
labors out of the field.
3) BaMidbar 28:26
And
on the Yom HaBikkurim (the day of the first fruits) when
you offer a new meal offering to HaShem BeShevuoteichem (in your
festival of weeks) you shall have a holy gathering, all creative
physical activity you shall not do.
4)
Mishna Challa
…The people of
Tzivo’im brought their first fruits before Atzeret (the culmination,
gathering, prohibition against Melacha—the culmination of the
festival season that began with Pesach; the gathering, i.e., a
final day for the people to come together before they would return to their
individual homes; as opposed to Cholo Shel Moed, another day where Melacha
is prohibited) and they did not accept (them) from them because of the
verse in the Tora (Shemot 23:16) “And Chag HaKatzir the first
fruits of your labors which you have sown in the field…”
Whereas
all of these sources share the common theme of a spring agricultural harvest,
none of them appear to associate Shavuot with the great Revelation on
Sinai, referred to in our liturgy as “Zeman Matan Torateinu” (the time of the Giving of
our Tora). While we are able to make a calculation based upon several Tora
references that the festival of Shavuot coincides with the anniversary
of the Jewish people receiving and accepting the Tora from God,[1] it is curious that the Tora
itself does not overtly state the association.
But
the Tora does provide a name for the day of giving the Tora, repeated in three different verses in Devarim:
Devarim 9:10
And HaShem Gave to me (Moshe)
two tablets of stone, written with the Finger of God, and upon them in
accordance with all of the things that Hashem spoke with you on the
mountain in the midst of the fire BeYom HaKahal (on the day of
the congregation.)
Ibid. 10:4
And He Wrote on the (second) tablets
like the first writing (on the first tablets), the Ten Commandments that HaShem
Spoke with you on the mountain in the midst of the fire BeYom HaKahal
(on the day of the congregation) and HaShem Gave them to me.
Ibid. 18:16
In accordance with all that you asked
from the Lord, your God, on (Mt.) Chorev BeYom HaKahal (on the day
of the congregation) saying I will not continue to hear the Voice of the
Lord, my God, and this great fire I will no longer see, so that I will not die.
A previous verse suggests that the origin of
this term for the day of receiving the Tora is HaShem Himself:
Ibid. 4:9-10
Only be very careful and guard your
soul exceedingly, lest you forget the things that your eyes saw, and lest there
be removed from your heart all the days of your life, and you will make them
known to your children and your children’s children. The day when you stood
before the Lord, your God on Chorev when HaShem Said to me: HaKhel
Li Et HaAm (congregate for/to Me the people) and I will Make
them Hear My Words that they will learn to fear Me all of the days that they
are living on the earth, and their children they will teach.
The assumption that HaShem Wished to
Give the Tora to the Jewish people only after
they had been “congregated”, casts new light on a well-known interpretation of
a verse that describes the people’s state of mind when they stood at Sinai:
Shemot 19:2
And they journeyed (plural) from Refidim
and they came (plural) to Sinai and they encamped (plural) in the desert, and
RaShI
“And (
It is commonly presumed that the final phrase
in Shemot 19:2 reflects positively on the Jewish people at least during
this moment in history, i.e., that despite their “normal” tendencies towards
contentiousness, as reflected in the numerous challenges that they present to HaShem
and His Representatives, Moshe and Aharon, when the people stood at Sinai, they
somehow willed themselves to come together in a significant way. However,
looking back on the experience, Moshe in Devarim 4:10 discloses that he
had been given a Divine Command to force the people to come together, as part
of the prerequisites—see Shemot 19:14-15—for them to be worthy to receive the Tora. The source in Devarim
therefore suggests that unity was a quality that was imposed from without,
rather than something that welled up from within individual Jews. What we can
then wonder about is how did Moshe manage to do this? What strategies did he
employ to bring such disparate individuals together, to share a profound sense
of unity? It is also possible that a combination of both factors are required
to achieve the desired state of togetherness, i.e., there has to be a basic
willingness on the part of the members of a group to find common ground; but
the presence of such good will alone does not obviate the need for particular structures
and procedures if true unity is to be achieved..
In
Yehuda HaLevi’s classic philosophical work, The Kuzari,[2] the Rabbi tells the King of
the Khazars that the collective communal Revelation at Sinai provides Judaism a
claim of veracity that outstrips other religions:
The people did not
receive these Ten Commandments from single individuals, nor from a prophet, but
from God, only they did not possess the strength of Moses to bear the grandeur
of the scene. Henceforth the people believed that Moses held direct
communication with God, that his words were not creations of his own mind, that
prophecy did not (as philosophers assume) burst forth in a pure soul, become
united with the Active Intellect (also termed the Holy Spirit or Gabriel), and
be then inspired.
MaLBIM on Devarim 4:10 similarly states that the prophetic experience involving
the entire Jewish people both convinced them that prophecy was actually
possible[3] as well as established the
standard that should someone come along in the future and claim that God has in
some way Rescinded the laws that He Gave to the Jews via Moshe, this could only
be justified if it was preceded with a similar collective Revelation comparable
to that of Sinai!
Yet,
in the interest of full disclosure, it must be noted that while such a
first-hand experience might leave a deep impression upon the actual
participants, aren’t those, including ourselves, who come afterwards, left with
the same doubts and questions harbored by at least some of the Jews prior to
Sinai? RaMBaN, in his commentary on Devarim 4:9, suggests a basis for
why this experience ought to be naturally passed down from generation to
generation:
When we pass this matter down to our
children, they will know that it is true without doubt, and it will be as if
this event was seen/experienced by all generations. For we would not give false
testimony to our children and we wouldn’t hand down to them something that was
empty/meaningless and without value. They will not at all doubt our testimony
that we will testify to them, but they will believe with certainty that we all
saw with our own eyes all that was told to us.
While we could argue that times have
certainly changed,[4]
and the assumption that children will believe without reservation all that
parents tell them is regrettably no longer true, what RaMBaN’s comment can teach us is that matters of faith such as
these very much depend upon the environment in which a child is brought up, the
manner in which he sees Judaism practiced, as well as the verbal and implied
expressions of faith and commitment that are made. It is possible that today’s
parents and teachers will face a great deal more questioning about Jewish
belief than did parents and teachers in the RaMBaN’s day; however we should
approach such a reality as a challenge rather than use it as an excuse, i.e.,
how can we help these present and future generations to develop for themselves
affirmations of our beliefs and practices in such a way that the continuity of
Judaism will be assured?
One
approach might entail self-consciously extending the statement in Mishna
Pesachim 10:5, which also has been incorporated into the Passover Haggada,
“A person is obligated to see himself as if he has left Egypt”à“A person is obligated to see himself as if
he is standing at Sinai.” Not only do we
try to personally reenact the Giving of the Tora by staying up Shavuot
night to both study Tora, as well as imaginatively
ready ourselves to receive that Tora at the “crack of dawn” when the
Divine Presence Descends on Sinai,[5] but the liturgy associated
with the public reading of the Tora on Shabbat, Yom Tov and during the
week contains references intended to help us envision ourselves as receiving
the Tora each time it is removed from the Ark and chanted.[6] Megilla 21b quotes R.
Yehoshua ben Levi that the reason why minimally 10 verses are to be read
from the Tora anytime it is taken out to be read, is to create the association
with the Ten Commandments given at Sinai. If we imagine the emotions that the Jewish people
experienced during the declaration of the Ten Commandments,[7] and as a result attempt to observe
the Halachot concerning decorum during the Tora reading both during and
between Aliyot, avoid if possible
leaving the synagogue while the Tora is being read, stand either for at least the blessings if not the
reading itself, such actions could help each of us to think, at least for part
of the time, that Sinai is evolving before us in real time.[8] If we can do this more
regularly for ourselves, then it becomes that much more of a reality for our
children.
A second factor
worthy of consideration is the attitude with which we respond to what is being
read and/or studied. The Midrash Halacha sets the following standard:
Siphre on Devarim
11:32
“And you will observe to do all of the
statutes and laws that I am Giving to you today.”
“That I am Giving to you today”—They
should be as beloved to you as if you first received them today from
Particularly for those of us who are
privileged to be Jewishly educated, there is a tendency to take for granted the
parts of our tradition with which we think we are quite familiar. Forcing
ourselves to read slowly and reflectively, thereby searching for new insights
that will not only engage our minds, but will reflect a readiness to
continually reengage ideas that not only we may have studied years before, but
that were first revealed to the Jewish people thousands of years ago, can make
the Sinai experience that much more of a reality for each of us. The Ba’alei
Mussar (masters of ethical thought) have continually pointed out that the
greatest obstacle to spiritual growth and inspiration is Hergel (routinization.) If we realize that this is not only potentially
a problem with regard to ostensibly repetitive rituals, but also with respect
to Tora study itself, a tactic that might allow us to approach the study of
Tora with new energy and commitment is to project ourselves back to Sinai, and
literally imagine what it felt like to hear the Ten Commandments for the very first
time.
But
it is important to also emphasize the theme with which we began this discussion,
i.e., that the Sinai experience apparently entailed a singular sense of unity
that pervaded the Jewish people en masse; God Insisted it had to be a “Yom
HaKahal” in order to take place at all. Down through the years, Jews
have not only confronted disruption from without, but also from within. While
some might view the eternal fractioning of the nation as a whole as an
evolutionary process intended to ultimately refine Judaism to an ever purer
form,[9] the divisiveness that has
been experienced by Jews in virtually every century and community in terms of
denominations, factions, reform, politics, social strata, ethnic origins, etc. has
resulted in painful, destructive and personal clashes regarding ritual and
ideology. While it would be unreasonable and perhaps even unnatural to expect
people to always agree, the maintenance of civility and mutual respect is
critical if a community is not only to survive, but also continue to grow and
thrive in terms of Tora and Mitzvot.
So many Commandments both in the Written and Oral Traditions are clearly
designed to guarantee that interpersonal relationships, even when there may
exist deep divisions relating to aspects of the religion or community
governance, remain amicable and proper, devoid of people making unfair
judgments about both policies and one another.[10] When there is a breakdown in
community purpose and mutual support, not only energy and resources that could
have gone into improving everyone’s lot and experience are instead focused upon
questionable objectives and result in hurt feelings, simmering resentments, and
general upset, but the type of spiritual and social Menuchat HaNefesh
(peace of soul) required to constitute a holy community, cannot take root.
A
powerful example of how disagreements have held us back from achieving truly
significant gains on behalf of our religion, is associated with a strange
passage in Maimonides’ Mishneh Tora:
RaMBaM, Hilchot Sanhedrin 4:11
If there were in the
And sure enough, during the 17th
century, there was an attempt to confer Ordination on R. Yosef Karo, and
thereby begin a process to renew the Sanhedrin. Sadly, RaDVaZ describes
how the initiative was thwarted by the objection of a single Rabbinic leader.
Who knows where Judaism would be today had communal disunity not reared its
head yet again.
Finally,
particularly on a day when Yizkor is recited, it is appropriate to
consider a profound comment made by R. Joseph Soloveitchik, ZaTzaL,[11] regarding the implication of
the term “Beit Kenesset” (lit. a house of assembly; synagogue):
There is a visible
Kenesset Yisrael (congregation of
Just as the community standing at Sinai and
declaring, “We will do and we will hear” included not only those alive at the
time, but also those who had lived before and would be born afterwards, so too
our sense of community should reflect a balance between the things that we
consider important to us individually as well as what might be in the best
interests of the community—literally and figuratively the “greater
community”—that includes not only ourselves, but also are relatives, friends
and neighbors, ancestors and unborn children and grandchildren. Only when there
is this type of serious ongoing consideration of what is best for such a
concept of community, can we make decisions that are in the best interests of
us all, and be in a position to receive the Tora each and every day. .
[1] The people first come to Sinai in Shemot 19:1
In the third month (Nissan,
Iyar, Sivan) from the leaving of the Jewish people from the
Shemot 19:3-7 describe the activity on the second day of Sivan, i.e., Moshe goes up to God, receives the proposition that he is to present to the Jewish people, and comes down to discuss this with the people.
Ibid. 8-15 describe what takes place on the third day of Sivan, i.e., Moshe informs God of the people’s readiness to accept what has been proposed, and God then tells Moshe to instruct the people to ready themselves for a Revelation in three days, i.e., the sixth of Sivan, the day upon which Shavuot is annually commemorated.
A key source establishing the sixth of Sivan as the date for Shavuot appears in VaYikra 23:15
And you will count yourselves from the day following Shabbat (interpreted by the Rabbis to connote the day after the first day of Pesach) from the day that you bring the Omer wave offering (a sacrifice offered on the second day of Pesach) seven complete weeks it will be.
From the second day of Pesach (the sixteenth of Nissan) until the sixth of Sivan is 49 days—15 days in Nissan, 29 days in Iyar, and 5 days in Sivan.
[2] Schocken
Books,
[3] Someone who is not a prophet himself could always wonder whether those who claim to be the recipients of such revelations, are actually telling the truth. Maimonides in The Guide for the Perplexed, III:24, notes the case of Yitzchak, who at the Akeida, had to assume that his father Abraham actually was Divinely Commanded to offer his son as a sacrifice without really being sure.
[4] In my edition of R. Shaul Yisraeli’s Perakim BeMachshevet Yisrael (Midrashit Noam, Pardes Chana, 5724, p. 29) which I studied during the years I spent in Yeshivat Kerem B’Yavneh, 1969-71, I wrote the following comment next to RaMBaN’s argument, reflecting my being a product of the ‘60’s:
אבל
מה תהי' תוצאה
של האוירה של
הזמן הזה כאשר
הבנים לא
מאמינים כל כך
חזק בדברי
הוריהם?
(But what will the outcome be
during the current Zeitgeist when children do not believe very strongly in what
their parents tell them?)
[5] See e.g., Magen Avraham, Shulchan Orech, Orech Chayim, beginning of #494.
[6] E.g., 1) The blessings recited over the Tora all end, “Blessed are You, HaShem, Who Gives (present tense) the Tora.”
2) When the Tora is lifted for Hagba, the congregation declares while pointing to the scroll: “VeZot HaTora Asher Sam Moshe Lifnai Benai Yisrael, Al Pi HaShem, BeYad Moshe.” (And this is the Tora that Moshe placed before the Children of Israel, according to God’s Word, via Moshe.)
[7] See Shemot 20:15-18.
[8] See e.g., Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim, #146.
[9] My first
Chumash teacher, R. Moshe Besdin, ZaTzaL, was fond of pointing
out that whereas
[10] E.g., Prohibitions against Lashon HaRa, Rechilut, Ona’at Devarim, hating another in your heart, properly giving Tochecha, bearing a grudge, taking revenge, cursing political leaders, respecting Rabbinic authority.
[11] “The Synagogue as an Institution and as an Idea”, in Rabbi Joseph H. Lookstein Memorial Volume, ed. Leo Landman, Ktav, New York, 1980, p. 337.