The Giving of the Torah: Imbuing the Physical world with Spirituality
By Chaya Mushka and Nechama Krimmer
Unlike holidays in the Jewish calendar, such as Rosh Hashanah, Chanukah, and Passover that are celebrated with gusto by Jews far and wide, the holiday of Shavuos is sometimes pushed aside as a minor holiday.
Yes, the Torah is read on Shavuos in reverence in the synagogue, and if you're lucky, you have cheesecake and ice cream to look forward to, but unlike other holidays, there are no special mitzvos associated with the holiday. No shofars to be blown, no Menorahs to be lit, no Seders to attend with family and friends. No matzah and maror to be eaten.
In other words, unlike other holidays where physical objects -shofars, Menorahs, and matzah, for example -are used to connect with Hashem, Shavuos, it seems, is a purely spiritual occasion.
The irony of Shavuos being looked on as a minor holiday, however, is that without Shavuos, when Hashem gave the Torah to the Jewish people, we would have no holidays to celebrate! Yom Kippur may be the holiest day of the year, but Shavuos MADE Yom Kippur the holiest day of the year through the giving of the Torah, where Hashem gave us the instruction manual on how to manifest this holiness.
Shavuos not only changed the reason d'etre of the Jewish people but it changed the nature of the physical world itself, as we will explain. Shavuos is no small holiday!
Prior to the giving of the Torah, there was a separation, if you will, between the spiritual and physical worlds. Through the giving of the Torah, however, Hashem imbued the Jewish people with the ability to turn physicality into spirituality through the performance of mitzvos.
The giving of the Torah was integral to the very purpose of creation. When Hashem created the world, He had a desire to create a Dwelling-Place for the Divine here in this physical world as elucidated by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Laidy in his seminal work, the Tanya.
There were two driving factors for the creation of the world, hinted at by the first letter of the Torah, Beis, numerically the number two, representing the two reasons for creation: the Jewish People and the Torah. Even prior to the six days of creation, Hashem had planned the unfathomable revelation that occurred on Shavuos, when the soul of every Jew in every generation, including future converts, would receive the Torah.
The Torah was given after the Exodus of Egypt, after the liberation from the harsh decrees and backbreaking work commanded by Pharaoh and the cruelty and idol worship of the Egyptian people. This act of liberation taught us that, with Hashem's help, we can, collectively and individually, break through any boundary or barrier we face, anything that tries to hold us back. This was a catalyst to the giving of the Torah, the awesome time when Hashem, Himself, broke the barriers separating the physical and spiritual worlds!
Shavuos is sometimes compared to a wedding between Hashem and the Jewish Hashem, with the Ketubah, the marriage contract, being the Torah. When we, as Hashem's bride, internalize the true blessings of the Torah -and its tremendous responsibilities- it will, without a doubt, inspire and motivate us to follow its commands with enthusiasm and joy, imbuing this world with spiritual light through each and every mitzvah we perform, be it small or large.
May we all be granted success in the receiving of the Torah in a way which permeates and inspires us and may we merit the penultimate purpose of creation, the Messianic Era, where as the Torah says, "the knowledge of G‑d will cover the earth like the waters cover the sea".
