Published May 2025
THE FAITH LIFT
This is the season of Shavuot, the holiday that celebrates the Torah. The Exodus from Egypt occupies a major role in the Bible and subsequent Jewish thought. However, the Exodus was only the prelude to the main event which was “Matan Torah,” the giving of the Torah. According to tradition this occurred when Moses received the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai and then gave it to the Jewish people.
The upper reaches of the mountain flash lightning and a loud roaring noise fills the air. As God descends to its top, the mountain seems consumed in flame, and the terrifying voice of an unearthly shofar issues out of its depths. Moses alone is present when God speaks the words of the Ten Commandments. The experience of Israel at Sinai, as described in the Bible, was extended even further by the Rabbis into a potentially universal human experience, properly available to all peoples everywhere. The Talmud declares: “All the peoples of the world” heard the Ten Commandments at Sinai, because the Decalogue was spoken simultaneously in all the seventy languages of humanity.
In the same vein, the Midrash asks: “Why was the Torah given at Sinai, in a wilderness so far from human habitation?” And the answer given is: “Just because it is a wilderness, belonging to no one, so that no people can say the Torah was given in its land, thus no people will be able to lay exclusive claim to the Torah.” The Torah is really meant for all people, not just for Jews.
When we look into the Torah, we learn to reconcile ourselves with the community, with our environment, and with our very own selves. The Torah is not just a word; it is a whole way of life.
Shavuot comes to us to remind us that “the Torah is our life and length of our days.” Shavuot is a renewal of the commitment. Shavuot is a faith lift.
Rabbi Alvin Kass
Chief Chaplain of the NYPD