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IN HONOR OF ROBERT SEGAL AND IN MEMORY OF SUSAN JANE BUCHALTER SEGAL

DEAR SHALHEVET COMMUNITY, RABBI ARI SEGAL HEAD OF SCHOOL

WWW.SHALHEVET.ORG

There are many designated periods of preparation built into the Jewish calendar. Before major fast days, we eat a preparatory seudah. Before Pesach, we designate time to search for and destroy chametz. And depending on our tradition, we spend anywhere from a week to an entire month before the Yomim Noraim reciting Selichot to prepare ourselves for prayer and judgment. But as far as preparations go, there’s nothing quite like the 49 days leading up to Shavuot. Over seven weeks of careful counting, we follow in the steps of our ancestors, newly redeemed from Egypt. Day by day, we ready ourselves to accept the Torah anew. At least, we try to. In our modern world, it’s always hard to find the time and concentration needed to truly prepare for a spiritual experience — much less to do so for 49 days! Luckily, we at Shalhevet are no strangers to the time crunch (it comes with the job!) and I’m thrilled to share with you our Shavuot edition of Orot Shalhevet. In this compendium, you will find thoughts, insights, and inspiration from Shalhevet faculty and alumni, specifically tailored to Shavuot. With Orot, we hope to not just help you prepare with a few wise words for the upcoming holiday, but to equip you with ways to bring the Shalhevet philosophy of engagement, commitment, and respect to each moment of chag. The Pesach edition of Orot Shalhevet was wonderfully received, and I’m honored to be able to continue this project. It is the hope of the entire faculty that Orot Shalhevet will enrich your Shavuot, and help you prepare for this profound holiday of giving and acceptance. Wishing you and your family a wonderful chag, Rabbi Ari Segal

TABLE OF CONTENTS SHAVUOT: IT’S ALL ABOUT THE PROCESS ADAM KAUFLER

OVERCOMING EXCLUSION: THE LESSON OF RUT AND THE BIKKURIM MS. ATARA SEGAL

FROM BLINTZES TO BOREKAS: WHY DO WE EAT DAIRY ON SHAVUOT? RABBI ABRAHAM LIEBERMAN

WHY IS RUTH IN THE CANNON? SIGAL SPITZER

THE CIRCLE OF LIFE RABBI DAVID BLOCK

LEARN THE NIGHT AWAY YAEL MARCUS

BUILDING (AND REBUILDING) A NATION: THE SECRET BEHIND SEFIRAT HAOMER RABBI DAVID STEIN

WHEN THE TORAH WON A NOBEL PRIZE RABBI DANIEL BOUSKILA

WHEN 49 IS 50 JOSH MEISEL

THE FAILURE OF THE GREATEST RABBI YAGIL TSAIDI

PUTTING THE DERECH ERETZ INTO KABBALAT HATORAH MS. SARAH EMERSON

REVELATION FOR THE MODERN ERA RABBI ARI SCHWARZBERG

THREE FOR THE PRICE OF ONE MA'AYAN WALDMAN

ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS: THE VALUE OF PREPARATION RABBI DEREK GORMIN

THEY’LL BE COMING UNDER THE MOUNTAIN WHEN THEY COME RABBI ARI SEGAL

THE GREAT EQUALIZER: RECREATING MATAN TORAH MS. ILANA WILNER

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Dedicated in honor of our dear father (and Sabba) Robert Segal and in loving memory of our dear mother (and Savta) Susan Jane Buchalter Segal (Sara Charna bat Shmuel Gershon) z"l, who passed away on Shavuot seventeen years ago. We are blessed with a father and grandfather who provided a model for Torah learning, intellectual curiosity and personal integrity, and who supported us in all that we do. In addition to being a ba’alat chesed of the highest order, our mother and Savta loved learning Torah and we are sure that she would have enjoyed reading this edition of "Orot Shalhevet". We hope that the learning of the Torah in this edition will be l'ilui nishmata. Ari, Atara, Noa, Lehava, Revital and Nili Segal (and Laila Latka)

THE CIRCLE OF LIFE: EXPLORING THE CHAGIM AS AN INTERCONNECTED WHOLE RABBI DAVID BLOCK R AB BI DA V ID B L O C K IS T HE MA SHGIA CH R U C HA NI A ND A MEM BER O F TH E L IM UDEI K OD ESH F ACULT Y A T S H ALHEV ET H I G H SCHO O L. H E F ORM ERLY W O RKED A S TH E C O NT EN T AN D C U R RICULUM D E V ELO PER A T AL E PH BET A AN D A T R AM BA M MESI V T A IN N EW YO RK. D AV I D R E CEIV ED R AB BINIC OR D IN A T IO N A T Y E SHIV A U N I V ER SIT Y , W H ERE HE AL S O C OM PLET ED A N M. A . IN JEW ISH H I S TO RY , A N M. S. IN E D U CA T IO N, AN D IS C U R REN T LY W O RKING O N HIS D OCT O R A T E. HE I S A WEX NER G R ADUA T E FELLOW/ D AV I DSO N S C H OLA R .

If I were to ask you to capture the holiday of Shavuos in a sentence, I imagine that many would say – without batting an eyelash – that it’s about Matan Torah, the giving of the Torah at Sinai.1 And that is quite true. But it’s not the whole truth. While our halachic rituals and prayers all focus on Matan Torah, the Torah itself consistently labels Shavuos as an agricultural holiday – it is “Chag HaKatzir” – the Harvest Festival (Shemos 23:16). Needless to say, harvesting and Torah-accepting hardly seem related. Is God’s plan that we should hold in our consciousness – and celebrate (!) – two entirely disconnected, independent ideas at the same time? If not, which is it? Is Shavuos a celebration of Matan Torah or a harvest festival? The truth is that Shavuos is not the only chag that has a built-in duality. Pesach commemorates the Exodus from Egypt, but the Torah also insists that Pesach always fall out in “Chodesh Ha’Aviv” – the springtime (Shemos 23:15, Devarim 16:1).2 Indeed, throughout Rabbinic literature, Pesach is called “Chag Ha’Aviv” – the Holiday of Spring. Sukkos commemorates God’s protection of B’nei Yisrael in the desert, but the Torah also calls it “Chag Ha’Asif” – the Ingathering Festival (Shemos 34:22). Thus, each of the three major holidays has two entirely distinct elements – a historical element and an agricultural one. And it begs the very same question: are we really meant to keep both disparate ideas in our heads at once? Is one of the two elements considered more primary than the other one? Or, perhaps, is every chag meant to be a “choose your own adventure”? All of those options hardly seem likely. Instead, perhaps the two elements – the historical and the agricultural – are, somehow, more closely related than they seem. Indeed, R. Samson Raphael Hirsch, in his seminal work on Jewish Philosophy, Horeb (p.85), suggests just that: In each chag, “Nature and Historical Revelation coincide, complementing and supporting one another.” But what exactly is that connection? I’d like to share the approach that R. Hirsch develops there. We will then add one more piece to the puzzle that will, with God’s help, help us re-envision the impact that the chagim are meant to have on the consciousness and experiences of its observers. R. Hirsch posits that the interrelationship of the chagim exists in two planes. Each holiday is a piece of a larger historical narrative, and, separately, a larger agricultural progression. Once those independent progressions are highlighted, a fundamental relationship between them emerges. Historical Each of the chagim commemorates a historical event. But that history is more than just what happened generally. B’nei Yisrael, the ones charged to observe these holidays, are also meant to see these historical events through the lens of their importance vis-à- vis the creation and

1 It is important to note that the Torah itself does not attribute Matan Torah to Shavuos. The Torah, consistently, sees Shavuos as an agricultural holiday. Regardless, the notion of Shavuos as the holiday of the giving of the Torah is universally and unequivocally accepted in our tradition. 2 This is the primary reason why the halacha requires the Jewish calendar to have leap years; otherwise, like the Islamic holidays, Pesach would cycle its way throughout the calendar.

education of their nation – the Jewish people. Indeed, each chag plays a vital role in that process. Pesach, amidst the grand miracles and freedom from slavery, marks the beginning of nationhood of the people of Israel. During this time, God saved B’nei Yisrael from their physical bondage. The offering of the Korban Pesach (paschal sacrifice) is the first time the people acted collectively, and, on the shores of the Yam Suf, as Israel looked back to see the mighty Egyptians drowning at sea, Israel stood, for the very first time, as a physically independent nation. As R. Hirsch notes, “Pesach, the commemoration of the Exodus from Egypt, therefore means for Israel the foundation of existence” (Horeb, pg. 86). But physical freedom and peoplehood does not a Divine nation make. The “body” of B’nei Yisrael was created on Pesach, but their existence would not be complete until they would be infused with a “soul,” a spiritual code and mission. Shavuos, the commemoration of the giving of the Torah, gave “spiritual completion to that which had been begun physically in Egypt” (ibid.). Once the creation of B’nei Yisrael was complete (both physically and spiritually), Sukkos came to ensure that that nation would be preserved beyond those initial moments of its founding. Throughout our vulnerable years in the barren desert, God protected B’nei Yisrael with “sukkos” – either physical dwellings or Clouds of Glory (see Sukka 11b). Regardless of the precise definition, the “sukkos” preserved the nation and ensured its survival. The holiday of Sukkos consequently preserves that which was created on Pesach and completed on Shavuos.3 Thus, the historical pattern of the chagim is: conception, completion, preservation. Agricultural With that in mind, let’s now turn to the agricultural elements of the chagim. Pesach, or “Chag Ha’Aviv,” marks the season when the very first crops of the year begin to emerge after months of barren winter. For the first time that season, the raw matter that lay undefined beneath the surface first takes form and materializes as a whole entity. Then, around Shavuos time – the “Harvest Festival,” the first crops fully ripen and are ready for harvest. That which began to emerge on Pesach is completed on Shavuos. Finally, after a bountiful summer, autumn arrives; Sukkos – the “Ingathering Festival” – marks the final time in which that which had grown over the previous months is gathered and preserved in order to sustain us throughout the infertile, bleak wintry months. Thus, the agricultural pattern of the chagim is: conception, completion, preservation. Does that sound familiar? Apparently, what happens on the holiday in one realm is perfectly mirrored in the other! On Pesach, B’nei Yisrael was first conceived as a nation; the spring is when the year’s crops are first conceived. On Shavuos, that which was created on Pesach was completed; agriculturally, too, that which was first conceived at the start of spring is now complete. On Sukkos, God preserved B’nei Yisrael, which was earlier conceived on Pesach and completed on Shavuos; in the natural world, too, autumn marks the preservation both of that which grew earlier in the Spring and Summer months, and that of the people whom it sustains. The two elements of the chagim, which once appeared entirely disconnected, are actually two manifestations of the same fundamental pattern. And that, R. Hirsch claims, has profound theological purpose: If you still doubt that the processes of Nature, however uniform they be, are sustained, directed and ruled by an only God, then turn your attention to history, where God manifested Himself as a similar Guide. And if you doubt that God, the All-highest, is yet so near to our low and earthly life, that He cares about human destiny and that He intervenes in order to develop it as the past history of your ancestors would teach you—behold the God governing the earth in the same manner every year in the unfolding of the seasons before your very eyes. (ibid.) With these two interrelated patterns in mind, one thing becomes abundantly clear: To look at just one of these chagim as an isolated holiday would be to ignore the elegant spiritual whole that the chagim create together. 3 R. Hirsch suggests that Shemini Atzeres, as an independent chag, plays a part in this progression as well. His approach to this enigmatic holiday is fascinating , but beyond the scope of this essay.

A Third Pattern Once the precedent for a holistic view of the chagim is established, I’d like to suggest a third pattern, a third spiritual progression that winds its way through the chagim – and it is this pattern that may give us something quite tangible on which to focus during each of the holy days. This pattern asks us to look not only at what happened on each chag, but at how it happened. More precisely, it asks us to look at the extent of explicit Divine intervention on each chag. Historically, Pesach is the holiday, which, undoubtedly, commemorates the most explicit Divine intervention of all the chagim. The grandiose miracles and plagues of the Exodus story were incontrovertibly supernatural, what could only be the result of Divine meddling. The turning of the Nile to blood, the simultaneous death of all of Egypt’s firstborn, the splitting of the Red Sea – all of these were blatant acts of a powerful God. And the scale was quite grand as well: Not only was Israel privy to seeing God’s unambiguous hand, but Egypt was as well. The giving of the Torah on Shavuos was quite miraculous as well, albeit on a slightly humbler scale. Yes, the thunder, lightning, engulfing smoke, quaking rock, and – of course – Divine Revelation itself were all obviously supernatural occurrences. Still, these miracles did not quite save a powerless people from the bonds of death or destroy the most powerful nation on earth. And while the impact that the Revelation had on B’nei Yisrael was indelible, only B’nei Yisrael witnessed the events at Har Sinai. The pattern continues with Sukkos: While still quite miraculous, the miracles of Sukkos were less explicit than those of Shavuos in their defiance of the natural order. Security vis-à- vis other nations in the desert was certainly provided by God, as was protection from the natural elements; yet, those may be construed as less necessarily the result of Divine intervention. Together, the three chagim create a progression from miracles that are more explicitly Divine to less explicitly Divine. And I can’t help but wonder whether Chazal, noticing this pattern, established the two rabbinic chagim – Chanukah and Purim – to help continue that very progression. Following Sukkos, the next holiday on the calendar is Chanukah. The miracles on Chanukah – the military victory and the miracle of the oil – were moments of Divine “winks.” While it is quite miraculous for one-day’s- worth of oil to last for eight days, the scope of the miracle is more modest than even those of Sukkos – both in its magnificence and in its audience (indeed, this miracle was not even witnessed by all Jews, but only by those Kohanim, priests, who had access to the inner chamber of Beis Hamikdash, the Temple). Finally, Purim is the only holiday that does not commemorate any nes nigleh (open miracle) at all. If one would want to see the trajectory of the Megilah’s events as coincidental or as deft political maneuvering, one could. God’s name is never mentioned in the Megilah. The miraculous nature of Purim is clear only to those who look for it. Thus, beginning on Pesach and culminating with Purim, the chagim represent a progression of the recognizable Divinity in miracles that goes from incontrovertible to unrecognizable. Why? The purpose of such a progression lies, I believe, in a comment of the Ramban (Shemos 13) that we studied together in my previous essay (see Orot Shalhevet: Pesach). The chagim, beginning with Pesach, are meant to train us, slowly, to recognize the miraculous nature of everything in our lives – even that which appears utterly mundane. It is quite easy to attribute the splitting of the Red Sea to God; it is much harder to appreciate the Divinity in breathing. The progression of chagim is meant to help us recognize that God’s role in both is quite the same. Pesach starts by showing us, undoubtedly, that God plays a role in the world. It sets the baseline: There is a God, God is the creator and sustainer of life, God is author of the supernatural. And then, each holiday after that begins to wean us off needing the grandiose miracles to recognize that Truth. As the miracles become less overt, we are meant to realize that those, too, are from God. As they become even less recognizable, they teach us that God is not only the author of the supernatural, but of the natural as well. Ultimately, we arrive at Purim, the end of our cycle. If we have been successful until this point, God’s concealed hand in the Megilah should appear just as present, just as overt, just as supernatural, just as Divine – as the grand, majestic miracles of the Pesach story. And then the training cycle renews. Circling back to our original proposition, it is clear that the chagim do not exist in a vacuum; together they create an elegant pattern, an educational cycle. An appreciation of one requires an appreciation of them all. The interrelationship of the three progressions – historical, agricultural, and miraculous – point to a God that not only intervenes on a national scale, not only causes and guides nature, but is the underlying cause of everything we have, everything we are. 5

WHEN THE TORAH WON A NOBEL PRIZE On Dec. 10, 1966, Shabbat in Stockholm ended at 3:55 p.m. This gave Israeli writer S.Y. Agnon, his wife Esther and their daughter Emunah exactly 35 minutes to travel from the Grand Hotel to the Stockholm Concert Hall, where Agnon would receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. As Shabbat ended, Agnon prayed the evening Maariv service, made Havdalah for his family, and — being that it was the fourth night of Chanukah – lit four candles and recited all of the accompanying blessings. He rushed to get dressed in his tuxedo and tails, and the family then met the limousine driver who hurriedly drove them to the ceremony. To save time, Agnon shaved in the limo. When Agnon arrived and ultimately took the stage to receive his Nobel Prize from Swedish King Gustav VI Adolf, the audience noticed that in place of a top hat, Agnon had a black velvet yarmulke perched atop his head. Upon receiving the prize from the king, Agnon recited the Hebrew blessing traditionally said upon seeing a king. On this night, the European-born boy originally known as Shmuel Yosef Czaczkes became the first-ever Hebrew language writer to be awarded a Nobel Prize. Moreover, he did so as a citizen of the State of Israel, becoming the country’s first ever Nobel Prize winner in any category (and to this day, its only winner in literature). He also did so as a religiously observant Jew who was always deeply engaged in the study of Torah. Agnon delivered his acceptance speech in an ancient Hebrew dialect, staking his claim as a Hebrew writer who represented the continuity of a canon of sacred literature. Agnon connected his writing to that of his Jewish ancestors, and viewed himself as following in the famed “Chain of Tradition” that began when the Torah was given at Mount Sinai: Who were my mentors in poetry and literature? That is a matter of opinion. Some see in my books the influences of authors whose names, in my ignorance, I have not even heard, while others see the influences of poets whose names I have heard but whose writings I have not read. And what is my opinion? From whom did I receive nurture? Not every man remembers the name of the cow which supplied him with each drop of milk he has drunk. But in order not to leave you totally in the dark, I will try to clarify from whom I received whatever I have received. First and foremost, there are the Sacred Scriptures, from which I learned how to combine letters. Then there are the Mishna and the Talmud and the Midrashim and Rashi’s commentary on the Torah. After these come the Poskim - the later explicators of Talmudic Law - and our sacred poets and the medieval sages, led by our Master Rabbi Moses, son of Maimon, known as Maimonides, of blessed memory. Then I first began to combine letters other than Hebrew, I read every book in German that came my way, and from these I certainly received according to the nature of my soul. As time is short, I shall not compile a bibliography or mention any names. Why, then, did I list the Jewish books? Because it is they that gave me my foundations. And my heart tells me that they are responsible for my being honored with the Nobel Prize. Agnon’s connection to Torah was so deep that in addition to his award-winning novels, novellas and short stories, he felt compelled to compose a special book exclusively devoted 6

RABBI DANIEL BOUSKILA RABBI DANIEL BOUSKILA IS THE DIRECTOR OF THE SEPHARDIC EDUCATIONAL CENTER, AN INTE RNATIONAL ORGANIZATION WITH BRANCHES AROUND THE U.S. AND A HEADQUARTER CAMPUS IN THE OLD CITY OF JERUSALEM. HE TEACHES TALMUD AND ISRAEL EDUCATION AT SHALHEVET. HE STUDIED AT YESHIVA KEREM B'YAVNEH IN ISRAEL, SERVED IN THE IDF'S GIVATI BRIGADE, STUDIED BIBLE & HEBREW LITERATURE AT HEBREW UNIVERSITY FOR A YEAR, EARNED A B.A. IN HISTORY FROM UCLA AND SEMIKHA FROM YESHIVA UNIVERSITY.

to Matan Torah, when God gave the Torah to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai. Titled Atem Re’item (the English version is titled “Present at Sinai: The Giving of the Law”), this special book is a rich anthology of Biblical, Talmudic, Midrashic, Rabbinic and Kabbalistic texts — all on the subject of the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. This unique volume includes texts that speak of the Torah’s mystical origins in heaven prior to the creation of the world, the revelation of Torah from heaven by God at Mount Sinai, a section on the Ten Commandments, and “post-Mount Sinai” reflections on the deeper meanings of Torah beyond Sinai. In “Present at Sinai,” Agnon is at once editor and author. As editor, he consulted hundreds of books of rabbinic literature and selected from them the precise texts to include. His talent as an author is expressed in the creative way that he arranged the texts. Rather than present them by textual chronology (Bible, Mishnah, Talmud, etc.), Agnon presents the sources by theme, creating a chronology from “Before Creation” to “The Giving of the Torah” and beyond. Each section contains selections from the full gamut of the rabbinic corpus, and with his storytelling genius, Agnon arranged these texts in a flowing narrative, with the sources doing the talking in their original language. In this book, one is not reading stories written by the author; instead, one is reading one grand epic “Story of Torah” — as told in the language of the classical texts of Torah — woven together by Agnon. What prompted Agnon, a master of original fiction writing, to create an anthology of rabbinic texts relating to Matan Torah? As an author who understood the Jewish people’s deep connection to books, Agnon had a special relationship with Shavuot, a holiday he saw as a celebration of the centrality of books in Judaism. Agnon was intrigued by the divine origins of Judaism’s very first book, and felt that he was privileged to continue the “mesorah” of sacred writing. In some of his other stories as well, Agnon refers to the Torah and sacred books, which occasionally even seem like actual characters. For example, in his story “The Sense of Smell” the narrator (which is typically Agnon’s voice) proclaims: “Since the Temple remains destroyed and we have no priests at service or Levites at song, instead I study Torah, the Prophets and the Writings, the Mishnah, the halachah and the haggadot, tosefta, dikdukei Torah, and dikdukei soferim. When I look at these works and see that we have very little that remains from this once glorious culture, I am overtaken with pain. That very pain stirs my heart and moves me to write stories, feeling like a man who was exiled from his father’s palace, sitting instead in a small hut describing in my stories the glory that once was.” In another story – Ha-Siman (“The Sign”) – which is actually set on Shavuot, the narrator connects himself to the revelation at Sinai, saying “In God’s love for His people, He still gives us some of that same power which He gave us as we stood before Sinai and received the Torah and commandments.” In fact, the Torah and sacred texts of the Jewish tradition to which he refers in his stories are also the very texts that helped him shape his unique style of writing in modern Hebrew literature. The language of Agnon’s novels and short stories is based on the Hebrew of rabbinic literature, whose many periods and genres Agnon brilliantly synthesized in a style all his own. Agnon opens “Present at Sinai” with a midrash about the creation of the world, where the Torah declares, “I was the artistic tool [kli omanuto] of the Holy One, blessed be He.” This midrash is as much about Agnon as it is about God. Much like the Torah served as God’s artistic tool in creating the world, so too did the library of Torah serve as Agnon’s artistic tool in creating his own world of literature. As such, Agnon’s voice is deeply embedded in “Present at Sinai,” the voice of a modern author who is in love with the texts and language of his ancient tradition. In this era when Jews are known as the outstanding doctors, scientists, economists and innovators of the world, and where Israel is known more for creating cell phones and firewall technology than it is for literary or spiritual achievements, Agnon’s Nobel Prize – Israel’s first ever – is a symbolic reminder of that which we celebrate on Shavuot: our deep connection to Torah, books and matters of the intellect and spirit.

PUTTING THE DERECH ERETZ INTO KABBALAT HATORAH What conditions do I need to succeed at Torah study? One might answer: intelligence, a supportive family and free time, among other things. But when we look at the story of Matan Torah, we find that the Torah does not mention any of these. Instead, a very different trait is emphasized by the Torah, even before the formal preparations by the people have begun. When the Jews arrive at Har Sinai, at the very beginning of Shemot chapter 19, the Torah states the following: “.‫ ויבאו מדבר סיני ויחנו במדבר ויחן שם ישראל נגד ההר‬,‫”ויסעו מרפידים‬ “And they traveled from Refidim, and came to the desert of Sinai, and they camped in the desert, and Israel camped there opposite the mountain.” Notice the contrast in the Hebrew between the plural form in the first section of the pasuk – ‫ ויחנו‬,‫ ויבאו‬,‫ – ויסעו‬and the singular form at the end – ‫ויחן‬. Why are the Jews referred to as a group in the plural with regard to their travels, but suddenly when they camp at the mountain, they are referred to in the singular, as one nation? Rashi, citing the Midrash, famously answers that at that time, the Jews were united. As opposed to their previous travels, during which there was constant controversy, at this time they were so united in their desire to accept the Torah that they were viewed by the Torah as one person with one heart, ‫כאיש אחד בלב אחד‬, quite a remarkable achievement for three million people. Rav Shlomo Levenstein (among others), author of the series known as Umatok Ha’or, comments on this incident that the Torah is teaching us the necessary prerequisite for accepting and studying the Torah – unity with other Jews and treating them properly. Rav Levenstein further explains that according to many commentaries, whenever we enter the time period of a certain holiday, we receive a special extra force of spiritual energy that parallels the uniqueness of that holiday in its original time. On Shavuot, for example, because our ancestors demonstrated an incredible degree of unity and comradery, the time is ripe for us to work on our interactions with others, ensuring that we are conducting ourselves properly. This notion that appropriate and higher level interpersonal conduct is a prerequisite for accepting and studying the Torah is reflected in the famous saying of the mishna in Pirkei Avot (3:17), “Im ein Derech Eretz, ein Torah,” if there is no proper conduct, there is no Torah.1 As Rabeinu Yona explains there, “this refers to positive character traits, and in this way the Torah will rest upon him, as it will not rest upon a person without them.” Pirkei Avot is probably the most famous collection of these types of statements in our tradition concerning appropriate conduct. If appropriate conduct is indeed a prerequisite to receiving the Torah, one might think that the values discussed in Pirkei Avot are simply important ideas, but not necessarily Torah directives regarding how we should conduct ourselves. If that is the case, though, it is difficult to understand why the very first Mishna of Pirkei Avot begins with a description of the transmission of Torah She Baal Peh, the oral Torah (which includes the entire Mishna and Gemara), from Moshe, all the way to the 1 There is a similar, equally famous expression used by the Midrash (Bereshit Rabba, Parshat Bereshit) of “derech Eretz kadma l’Torah,” derech eretz precedes the Torah.

MS. SARAH EMERSON MS. SARAH EMERSON IS THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AT SHALHEVET HIGH SCH OOL IN LOS ANGELES. HER FORMER WORK IN THE NON-PROFIT SECTOR WAS WITH CEDARS-SINAI MEDICAL CENTER AND YESHIVA UNIVERSITY. SHE EARNED HER UNDERGRADUATE DE GREE FROM STERN COLLEGE FOR WOMEN AND HER L AW DEGREE FROM NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW. PRIOR TO MOV ING TO LOS ANGELES, SHE WORKED AS A TAX ASSOCIATE AT TH E LAW FIRM OF MILBANK TWEED HADLEY AND MCCLOY AS WELL AS THE DIRECTOR OF WOMEN'S LEADERSHIP PROGRAMMING AT STERN COLLEGE FOR WOMEN.

anshei kenesset hagedola, the men of the Great Assembly (in the beginning of the second Temple period). Why would this description of the transmission of our tradition be placed specifically here as an introduction to Pirkei Avot rather than anywhere else in the Mishna? Rabbi Ovadya of Bartenura in his commentary on the Mishna explains that the Mishna wished to stress that even ideas such as those that are found throughout Pirkei Avot, which we might think are simply common sense, are also rooted in the Torah and required practices of our religion. Thus, the holiday of Shavuot celebrates not only receiving all the mitzvot in the Torah, it also celebrates all the “common sense” ideas of Pirkei Avot as well. Rabbi Bentzion Mutzafi, a well-known Sephardic Rav in Israel,2 cites this as one explanation for the widespread custom of studying Pirkei Avot specifically during the weeks of Sefirat HaOmer leading up to Shavuot: This is precisely the time during which we need to work on our midot and personal conduct, in order to be properly prepared for receiving the Torah. In this context, it is not surprising then that the Tosefot HaRosh, one of the Talmudic commentaries, states3 that not only are we encouraged to work on our midot and personal conduct, but this “work” of fulfilling the mitzvot bein adam l’chavero, interpersonal mitzvot, is actually more important than fulfilling the mitzvot bein adam l’makom, mitzvot between a person and God. This message especially resonates with me when it comes to the Shalhevet student body. When I first met with the Shalhevet search committee about joining Shalhevet as the Executive Director, they began by asking me “Why Shalhevet?” To answer this question, I explained that as a busy working mother of three, I often had to search for babysitters, and consistently found Shalhevet students to be the best babysitters around. But the reason for that was not merely because of how skilled they were at the normal responsibilities expected from babysitters, such as giving baths and helping with homework, dinner and bedtime. The middot and menchlechkeit of the students impressed me beyond compare, and I knew that was who I wanted to have in my house as role models for my children. Concluding my answer to the committee, I said that a school that produces such wonderful students was also the place where I wished to work as Executive Director. As we begin the holiday of Shavuot, my hope is that we continue to develop and increase our practice of derech eretz and achdut as a community just as the Jewish people did at Har Sinai. If we can succeed, we will hopefully merit accepting the Torah in a manner that allows us to live up to the moniker of mamlechet Kohanim v’goy kadosh, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

2 Torah B’tzion, on Sefirat HaOmer and Shavuot 3 Tosefot HaRosh, commentary on the Mishna, Peah 1:1

ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS: THE VALUE OF PREPARATION The Talmud advises us that, “only a person who cooks on Erev Shabbat, Friday afternoon, will eat on Shabbat” (Avoda Zara 3a). Shabbat is the epitome of focus on the Jewish calendar. Creation began on Sunday and all of the happenings thereafter led toward the climax of Shabbat. Shabbat is central to the Jewish Experience and acts as a cornerstone and foundation of Jewish community. It is therefore logical that such a climactic event would necessitate prior preparation, such as preparing food before Shabbat, in order to maximize its potential, since on Shabbat itself food preparation is forbidden. This issue of practical logistics to which the simple meaning of this line refers is employed by the Talmud itself to teach us a much bigger multifaceted lesson in Jewish values, namely, that one needs to prepare meaningfully in order to achieve the desired and best possible outcome. As we shall see, this notion is very relevant to the period leading up to Shavuos. Shlomo Hamelech, King Solomon, says that there is a proper time for everything in this world. Every moment on the calendar has a certain power that best stimulates specific experiences and spiritual potential. These powers can be likened to spiritual radio waves constantly surrounding us that are available to tap into, in order to best serve our personal and community efforts at growth. Our tradition begs the ongoing practical question of “what is the best practical use of each day of my year?” We can all agree that there are most definitely specific times that are more suitable for some activities than others. But this concept goes much deeper than simply informing the public of practical realities such as “swimming is best suited to the summer” and “snowboarding season is in the winter.” As thinking and growing individuals, we must actively engage in learning about the power of time so that we can maximize every day of our lives to the fullest extent. In order to understand the character of these days between Pesach and Shavuos, the days of Sefira, let’s focus primarily on studying about the spiritual reality of the Hebrew month of Iyar. The entirety of the month of Iyar falls during these days of Sefira that precede the giving of the Torah in the Hebrew month of Sivan. In his epic work, the B’nei Yissaschar, the Chassidic luminary Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech of Dinov (1783-1841) explores the power and spiritual realities of the Hebrew months. The B’nei Yissaschar notes that the name of the month itself hints to the power contained therein. He explains that the Hebrew letters of Iyar - ‫ אייר‬- serve as an acronym for Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov and Rachel, our archetypical forefathers. This teaches us that to maximize the spiritual potential of the month, we must engage in learning about and connecting to the ways of our ancestors. But what is the purpose of this goal of connecting to our ancestors at this time specifically? What are we trying to accomplish, and how do we do this? We can discover the answer simply by looking at the next month, Sivan. If Sivan is clearly a month of receiving (namely the Torah), as the primary highlight of the month is Shavuos, then apparently Iyar is the time to prepare to receive. The same way we prepare ourselves for any major step in life, such as a bar mitzvah, a big test, job interview, or presentation to the board, so too we should prepare ourselves for the receiving of the Torah in Sivan. Before explaining exactly how we do so, it is important to highlight that the power of preparation is also essential to Jewish life in general. The Gemara (Berachos 32b) says that 10

RABBI DEREK GORMIN RAB B I D ER EK G O R M IN WAS B OR N AN D R AIS ED I N SU NN Y O R AN G E CO U N TY , CAL IF O R N IA WH ER E H E S TU D IED PO L ITICAL S C I EN CE, M U S IC A ND S O CIO L O G Y A T T H E U N IV ER S ITY OF CAL IF O R N IA, IR V IN E. A DD ITIO N AL L Y , DE R E K R ECEIV ED A C E R TIF ICATE O F I NT ER N ATIO N AL P OL I TICS F R O M A P R OG RAM AB R O AD S TU D Y IN G AT Y O N S EI U NIV ER S ITY IN SE OU L , K O R EA. U PO N G R AD U ATIO N , D ER EK WAS B L ES S ED TO S PEN D TIM E DI V I N G IN TO TH E DE PTH S O F H IS J E W I S H H ER ITAG E IN V AR IO U S Y ES H IV O T IN J E R U S AL EM . TH IS I S R A B B I G O R M IN 'S 5 TH Y EAR O N F ACU L TY AT S H AL H EV ET, W H ER E H E H AS T A U GH T TAL M U D , JEWIS H PH IL O S O PH Y , C H AS S ID U T AN D P R AY ER . WH EN NOT IN S ID E TH E H OLY WAL L S O F SH A L H EV ET, R AB B I G O R M IN IS TH E R EG IO N AL D IR ECTO R O F W E ST CO AS T N CS Y .

the early pious ones of the Talmudic period would often even spend the same amount time preparing for prayer as they would for the prayer itself. Our world of social media, though, filled with immediacy and instant gratification, is constantly pushing toward the next thing without allowing time for preparation or deep concentration on what one is doing now. Rebbe Nachman of Breslov says (Sichot Haran 62) that without the proper calculations and meaningful intention preceding an action, one may not achieve one’s intended goals at all. On the other hand, he notes that proper preparation, mindfulness, and deep directed thought can be the cause of one’s greatest success. Now that we understand the importance of preparation, we can better appreciate the idea of the B’nei Yissaschar: the reason we use Iyar to connect to our ancestors is because imitating their sterling conduct is what is necessary to do to receive the Torah. This is the reason for the minhag yisrael, the universal Jewish custom, to learn Pirkei Avos during the weeks between Pesach and Shavuos. Pirkei Avos explores Jewish ethics and values, and studying it can help us work to emulate the ways of our righteous forefathers and foremothers, to be capable of receiving the Torah anew in the following month in the best possible manner. The reason this is so important prior to receiving the Torah can be understood based on the teaching of our Sages (Bereshit Rabbba, Parshat Bereshit) that Derech eretz kadma l’torah: Mentchlechkeit, being an outstanding moral citizen of the world, precedes the Torah itself. Accordingly, one must work on becoming a greater moral and ethical person in order to receive the Torah, since this reception is predicated only upon that which has been prepared. If one has not prepared properly, it could invalidate the entire process of receiving the Torah. With that understanding, we can appreciate the relevance of our original quote from the Talmud to the context of Shavuos and the days of Sefira. Here too, one “who cooks on Erev Shabbat,” or who prepares meaningfully for receiving the Torah by improving their derech eretz and character traits, will “eat on Shabbat,” by enjoying the ultimate delight of the Torah’s spiritual benefits. The Bostoner Rebbe z”l, connecting to the mystical tradition, describes Shavuos as a wedding. He writes that “Hashem is the groom, the Jewish People are the bride, Moshe and Aharon are the groomsmen, Mount Sinai is the chuppah (wedding canopy), and the Torah is the kesubah (wedding contract). The engagement was on Pesach, the marriage on Shavuos…..” Everyone knows that a wedding takes serious preparation; months of planning, money, tears, and lots of love. This major preparation strives to create a few simple moments of perfection for the bride and groom on their wedding day. My blessing to us all is that during the pre-Shavuos period, we should regularly find the strength to prepare purposefully for the great occasion, and that merit should lead us to experience the most beautiful wedding on Shavuos, with the entirety of the Jewish People standing together at Mount Sinai as one. Chag Sameach! Gut Yontif!

SHAVUOT: IT’S ALL ABOUT THE PROCESS When analyzing fundamental foundations of Shavuos, we encounter some puzzling questions, two of which are discussed at length by the Kedushas Levi, Rav Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev. He notes that the Torah associates other Biblical festivals, namely Pesach and Sukkos, with a historical event deeply rooted in the holiday. By contrast, we find no such association for Shavuos in the Torah. He notes another peculiarity: it is commonly understood that the Torah was given on Shavuos, which is therefore called ‫זמן מתן תורתינו‬, but we find no such mention of this in the Torah. Rather, it is often referred to as ‫( יום הבכורים‬Day of the First Fruits) or ‫חג הקציר‬ (The Harvest Festival). It is also referred to in the Torah as ‫חג השבועות‬, the name we generally use, due to the fact that in Parshat Emor it is directly linked to Pesach, the time when the Torah directs us to begin counting seven complete weeks. Why is there is no mention of this monumental event as taking place on this day? The Kedushas Levi explains that, unlike the other festivals, which derive their names from an event, Shavuos gets its name from Sefirat HaOmer, counting the seven weeks that build up to the chag. But why would its name come from a mitzvah that has already passed? The Kedushas Levi answers this by comparing it to someone who completes the study of a masechet, a tractate of Talmud, and makes a siyum with a large feast (he offers other answers as well). In that case, the feast and celebration are of no value without the learning that took place beforehand, as the learning is the sole cause for celebration. We find a similar concept concerning Shemini Atzeres, which Rashi in Parshas Pinchas explains is comparable to a king who hosts all of his officers for a multi-day festival. As they are leaving, the king tells the officer that is his best friend that it is hard to see him leave, asking him to stay for one more day. Similarly, after seven days of Sukkos, Hashem desires one more day with us. This too is a case where the day itself, known as Shemini, the eighth day, only receives its value from the (seven) days which preceded it. Because of the mere fact that we have traversed the seven weeks of sefirah and undergone the process of improving ourselves during this time, Shavuos attains its status as one of the shalosh regalim. Hashem is telling us that there is cause for celebration simply for the reason of having a period of time during which we introspect and work on ourselves daily to refine our character. Rav Moshe Weinberger offers an analogy: Reuven and Shimon are both overweight and decide to go on a diet. Reuven’s motivation is that he wants to fit into an old suit in his closet – to succeed, he must lose weight and he will fail if he does not. If Reuven loses weight and fits into the suit, it is a success, but if not, it was a failure. In contrast, Shimon is motivated by the fact that he realizes that he has become a slave to his food and instinct. For Shimon, success does not come only upon losing weight; at every moment Shimon overcomes his instinct to indulge in food, he is a winner. So too, sefiras haomer allows us a “win” for every spiritual hurdle we pass, giving us cause to celebrate on Shavuos. We often get caught up in our everyday life where stopping to celebrate something requires an extraordinary event. Shavuos teaches us to take a moment to appreciate the process for its own sake. This year, let us take a moment to remember the name of Shavuos representing the value in appreciating the process itself. If we do not, it is far too easy to succumb to everyday life, where we wait for those big moments when we fit back into our old suit. 12

ADAM KAUFLER

AD AM K AU F L ER I S A GRADUATE O F SHA L HEV ET ' S C L AS S O F 2 0 1 5 , S TUD I ED AT B AR I L AN FO R A YEAR AND I S CU RRENT L Y S TUD YI NG B US I NES S MAN AGEM ENT AT YES HI V A UNI V ERS I TY.

FROM BLINTZES TO BOREKAS: WHY DO WE EAT DAIRY ON SHAVUOT? RABBI ABRAHAM LIEBERMAN RABBI ABRAHAM LIEBERMAN IS A MEMBER OF THE LIMUDEI KODESH FACULTY AT SHALHEVET HIGH SCHOOL. HE PREVIOUSLY SERVED AS THE HEAD OF SCHOOL AT YULA GIRLS HIGH SCHOOL. RABBI LIEBERMAN LEARNED AT YESHIVA UNIVERSITY AND RECEIVED SEMIKHA FROM EMEK HALAKHA IN BROOKLYN. HE RECEIVED HIS M.A. IN JEWISH HISTORY FROM THE BERNARD REVEL GRADUATE SCHOOL (YU), WHERE HE IS CURRENTLY WORKING TOWARDS HIS DOCTORATE.

Many of our Chagim have somehow developed an association with a particular food. From dipping the apple in the honey on Rosh HaShana to sufganiyot on Chanuka to Hamantashen on Purim, it seems that Jewish tradition often links a special food to a special time of year. On Shavuot, this tradition manifests itself in the custom to eat dairy products. But what exactly is the connection between dairy and Shavuot, and what is the custom based on? The most oft-quoted source for this custom is Rabbi Moshe Isserles (1530-1572), the Rema, who in his comments to the Shulchan Aruch (O.C. 494:2), states: “It is customary in some places to eat dairy dishes on the first day of Shavuot.” He then proceeds to give his own reason for the custom: “It seems to me that the reason is that it is parallel to having [placed on our Seder Plate on Pesach] the two dishes, one to represent the Korban Pesach and one to represent the Korban Chagigah, so too on Shavuot we first eat a dairy dish followed by a meat dish. And one must bring two loaves of bread with them [the dairy and meat dishes] to the table, which is in place of the altar, and this serves as a remembrance to the Shtei HaLechem (Two Loaves) that they offered [in the Beit HaMikdash] on Shavuot.”1 Apparently, this custom was not widespread in Poland at the time, and the Rema therefore suggested his own reason (which he does not do frequently), since he was unaware of a previous source. In truth, though, the custom is already mentioned in earlier sources, such as the Rokeach (1165-1240) and Rabbi Yaakov Antoli (1194-1256). As the custom developed and became much more widespread, many additional multifaceted and at time quite innovative reasons were also suggested for this custom both by Ashkenazic as well as Sefardic poskim.2 In fact, Rabbi Moshe Dinin wrote an entire book on this topic, entitled Kuntres Maatamei Moshe, where he compiles almost 150 reasons for the custom of eating dairy on Shavuot. For example, the Mishna Berura (494:12) cites a scholar who suggested that since we had just received the Torah, the laws of slaughtering animals and of kashering utensils for cooking would have taken too long to learn and do at that time, and dairy was an easy substitute. Others focus on the Gematria (numerical value) of the word ‫[ חלב‬chalav], milk, which is forty, the number of days that Moshe spent on Har Sinai receiving the Torah. A third suggestion is based on the phrase har gavnunim in Tehillim (68:16), which is interpreted as a reference to Har Sinai. Since the word signifying Har Sinai sounds like gevina (Hebrew for cheese), we therefore eat cheese products on Shavuot. Some have pointed out that King David died on Shavuot (see Talmud Yerushalmi, Beitza 2:4), and when a Jewish king dies, the entire nation practices the status of aninut (period of grief before burial), during which time one is not permitted to eat meat. Therefore, to commemorate King David’s passing, we eat dairy. With regard to the history of minhagim, it is well known that the more reasons one finds for a particular custom, the less we know about the original reason for that minhag. While the mystery remains and we may never know the original reason for this beautiful and well preserved minhag, the reality is that our Jewish palate and our menus for this Yom Tov have been enriched beyond imagination. Chag Sameach and enjoy your cheesecake! 1 The Rema also mentions the custom of having dairy bread in Yoreh Deah (97:1), where we are taught that one may not knead dough with milk while baking bread, lest one forget and eat the bread together with meat. But on Shavuot (when the custom was to eat dairy), the Rema rules that it is allowed, because it was only done in small quantities, or its shape was different. 2 It is also reported that the students at Volozhin describe how after staying up all night learning, they made a dairy Kiddush in the house of the Netziv. Interestingly, the one place where this custom did not take root was Yemen (Sefer Hachilukim, p.89).

LEARN THE NIGHT AWAY Have you ever wondered about the reason why many people pull an all-nighter on Shavuot? After all, if Bnei Yisrael received the Torah only in the morning, what is the point of specifically staying up the entire night before? One reason given for learning all night is to rectify Bnei Yisrael’s laziness that morning before receiving the Torah. According to the Midrash (Shir HaShirim Rabba 1:56), the morning that Bnei Yisrael received the Torah, they overslept, and Moshe Rabbeinu was forced to wake them from their deep slumber. By failing to rise early with anticipation, Bnei Yisrael showed that they were not eager and excited to receive this most incredible gift of Torah from Hashem. In order to rectify this sin, we stay up all night to show our enthusiasm for Hashem’s Torah (Magen Avraham, Siman 494). Another approach given1 suggests that Bnei Yisrael were sleeping at that time not because of laziness, but rather for purposes of holiness. On that night, Bnei Yisrael were on the forty-ninth level of purity and wisdom, and wanted to reach the fiftieth (the highest level). Bnei Yisrael understood that this level of purity and wisdom could not be achieved in this world, and the only way to exit this world while still alive is through sleep, when our neshama, soul, returns temporarily to shamayim, heaven. Bnei Yisrael therefore conceived of what they believed would be the perfect idea: They would go to sleep, as sleep is considered one sixtieth of death, and perhaps that would enable them to reach the fiftieth level of purity and wisdom! In effect then, Bnei Yisrael went to sleep with the hope of reaching that lofty level, which would properly prepare and inspire them for Matan Torah. When Moshe subsequently awakened Bnei Yisrael, he explained to them that they were mistaken, as one cannot reach the fiftieth level of purity in this world in any form, even while sleeping. For this reason, we stay up learning on Shavuot night to show that we do not acquire the Torah through sleeping and sending our neshamot to the heavenly world. Instead, we plan to learn and acquire the Torah in our aroused wakened state. According to the second explanation, the mistake of the Jewish people was they assumed that they had to achieve out-of-this-world perfection in order to serve Hashem. But Hashem informed Bnei Yisrael that “lo bashamayim hee,” the Torah is not in the heavens. Rather, it is our job to focus on developing ourselves spiritually in this world alone, and not worry about attaining that elusive fiftieth level of purity. Our responsibility is to learn Torah and fulfill the mitzvot as best we can in the natural, physical world, and strive for the highest levels that a human being can naturally reach.2 The lesson of Shavuot is that Torah is for everyone. It’s not out of reach, and as the first explanation teaches us, even when we don’t put in sufficient effort the first time, we will always have future opportunities to rectify the situation. As the second explanation demonstrates, as long as we invest our efforts in improving ourselves in this physical world as best we can, Hashem will respond by assisting us in achieving our goals and attaining the highest level of closeness to Hashem as possible. 1 See the book “Seasons of the Soul,” where this idea is suggested. Another reason given is based on the Zohar, which compares this special Torah learning to the preparations of a bride before the wedding with her groom. So too, our Torah learning constitutes our preparation for the “wedding” of Matan Torah with our Groom, Hashem. 2 It is perhaps for this reason that the Gemara (Pesachim 68b) reports that although there is a dispute between the amoraim as to the proper balance between physical pleasures, such as eating and drinking, and spiritual pursuits on Yom Tov, all agree that on Shavuot one must devote part of one’s time to both, since it is the day the Torah was given. According to some interpretations, the reason for this combination specifically on Shavuot is to stress that the Torah is designed to elevate our actions in the physical world.

YAEL MARCUS

YAEL M ARC US IS A GRADUAT E O F SHA L HEV ET' S C L AS S O F 2 0 17 AND I S CURRENTL Y STU D YI NG AT TI F ERET I N RAM AT B EI T S HEM ES H.

WHEN 49 IS 50 JOSH MEISEL JOSH M EI S EL, SH AL HEV ET C LAS S O F 20 1 2 , I S CU R R E NT LY W OR K I NG AS A SH AL HEV ET FEL LOW, A M EM B ER O F THE LI M UD EI KODE SH F AC ULT Y AN D ED UC AT I ON SU PPO RT DEPART M ENT , AS W EL L AS SU PPO RT I NG ISR AEL AD V OC AC Y PR O GRAM S AT SH AL HEV ET SUC H AS AD V I SI NG FIR EH AWK S F OR ISR AEL. PR E VIOUSLY , J OSH SPE NT F I V E Y EARS IN TH E HESD ER PR O GRAM AT YE SH I V AT HAK OT EL IN ISR AEL AND SER VE D I N T HE I D F . H E IS C URRENT LY COM P LET I NG HI S BACH ELOR' S I N TAL M UD I C LAW AT YE SH I V AT HAK OT EL .

Beginning with the bringing of the korban omer, the barley offering, on the second day of Pesach, we are commanded by Hashem to count fifty complete days, known as sefirat haomer, which lead into the holiday of Shavuot: “And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the sabbath, from the day of your bringing of the sheaf of the waving, seven weeks; they shall be complete. Until the day after the seventh week, you shall count fifty days; then you shall present a new meal-offering to the Lord.” (Vayikra 23:15-16). In practice, we know that we count forty-nine days, starting from the second night of Pesach. But it is still difficult to understand the pasuk, which first says to count seven complete weeks, i.e., forty-nine days, and then commands us to count fifty days. Why is the pasuk contradictory, and why do we specifically count the smaller number of the two options, forty-nine, as opposed to counting fifty? Looking deeper into the nature of Shavuot may help clarify this seeming contradiction. When discussing the laws, times, and dates of the holidays in the Torah, surprisingly, Shavuot is the one holiday that is not assigned a date. Pesach, Sukkot, Yom Kippur and other holidays mentioned in the Torah are all given a specific day on which to be celebrated. However, when it comes to Shavuot, it seems that we can only identify the date by counting the fifty days from the korban omer. Why might this be? On the day of Shavuot itself, we refer to the holiday as zman matan torateinu, the time of the giving of our Torah, the time that we received the greatest gift of all. Understanding the nature of a gift will help clarify our counting tradition. The Ramchal explains in Mesilas Yesharim that kedusha, holiness, starts with hishtadlus, effort, and ends with a gift. A gift has two sides: The giver and the receiver. The receiver lacks something he could never obtain with his own efforts, while the giver, on the other hand, possesses that which the receiver lacks. The Ramchal continues by quoting Chazal: “If a man sanctifies himself a little, he becomes sanctified a lot. If he sanctifies himself below, he becomes sanctified from above” (Yoma 39a). Thus, if a person puts in his own hishtadlus to sanctify his life, then Hashem will respond by giving him the gift of an even larger measure of sanctification. Based on this idea, we can explain that our job during sefirat haomer is to put in as much spiritual effort as possible in counting, and preparing ourselves for receiving the Torah. But there comes a point – after forty-nine days – that we can no longer go further, no matter how hard we try; a point that falls short of full potential. But we are promised that if we have tried our best to elevate ourselves and serve Hashem properly during the forty-nine days, there will be a gift waiting at the end – the gift of the fiftieth day. The reason why we don’t count fifty is because we can’t. The fiftieth day is a culmination of forty-nine days of our own effort, plus Hashem’s contribution to complete the process. It is at this moment that Hashem meets us with the gift of the Torah, at which time, with it in our hands, we can achieve completion. This is why there is no date for matan torateinu – our successful receiving of the Torah depends on our actions, and takes effort and stages of building. The counting of the omer serves as a reminder that we must give it our all, and with Hashem’s help we can reach that which is above us. 15

REVELATION FOR THE MODERN ERA The theophany at Sinai, celebrated on Shavuot, is one of the foundational experiences of Jewish history. It is at Har Sinai that Bnei Yisrael become bound to God, accepting the yoke of His kingdom and commandments. The scene is majestic and glorious – the culminating embrace between God and His children, long in the making. It is thus surprising that in a rabbinic rendering of Matan Torah, the scene is hardly one of mutual love. According to the Gemara in Masekhet Shabbat (88a), the Jewish people were, in fact, given a deadly ultimatum to accept the Torah: “And they stood at the foot [tachtit, lit. underneath] of the mountain” (Exodus 19:17). Rav Dimi bar Chama said: This teaches that the Holy One, Blessed be He, overturned the mountain like a barrel over them and said to them, ‘if you accept the Torah, all is good, but if not… there will be your burial site.’” Based on a very close reading of the text, Rav Dimi rereads the conventional narrative of Matan Torah, and in doing so, puts forth a theology that characterizes our relationship with God as dogmatic and authoritarian. Troubled by this suggestion, the Gemara continues: Rav Acha bar Yaakov said: From this, there is a legal protest against the Torah! Rava said: They later accepted it again in the days of Achashverosh, as it is written (Esther 9:27): “The Jews fulfilled and accepted,” i.e., they fulfilled what they had already accepted. Rather than rejecting the possibility of a coercive experience at Har Sinai, the Gemara accepts it as descriptive of the Sinaitic covenant, and adds that years later Bnei Yisrael reaffirmed the covenant, this time of their own accord, during the days of Mordechai and Esther. As a whole, this passage concludes with an astonishing claim that there were two revelatory “moments” in Jewish history. At one, the Torah was thrust upon us, while at the other, we willingly embraced what we had already accepted. There is much to say about this midrashic passage, but I’d like to think about the following questions: A) Why did the sages paint Har Sinai with the threatening imagery of coercion? B) How does Megillat Esther serve as a consenting yin to Sinai’s tyrannical yang? To answer these questions requires understanding the backdrop of the rabbinic period in the wake of the Second Temple’s destruction. The loss of Jewish sovereignty and the absence of its divine center – the Beit Hamikdash – placed Judaism in a precarious situation. You can imagine the anxiety of this era, where the overwhelming concerns felt by the nation were most likely: what will become of our people in the diaspora? If it is not manifest in the Temple, how will we know and feel God’s providence? We now know how things turned out, but in its time the vitality of a diaspora Judaism was not a given. It is through this background that I’d like to consider the above midrash. In the post-Temple years, I can imagine that the supernatural experience of Har Sinai may have appeared like a far-off dream in a reality that felt far from miraculous. It is in this context, where God’s 16

RABBI ARI SCHWARZBERG R A BBI A R I S CH W A R Z BE R G IS T H E F O U ND E R A ND DI RE C T O R O F TH E S H A L H E V E T I N S T IT U T E A ND A S E NIO R M E MBE R O F SHALHEVET HIGH SCHOOL'S F AC U L T Y A ND L E A D E R S H IP T E A M. H E R E C E IV E D H IS S E M IK H A FR O M Y E S H IV A UNIV E R S IT Y AN D H O L D S A MA S T E R S O F TH E O L O G IC A L S TU D IE S FR O M HARVARD D IV INIT Y SCHOOL.

I learned much from my teachers, from my fellows even more, and from my students—the most. TRACTATE MAKOT 10A ‫ מכות י א‬.‫ ומתלמידי—יותר מכולן‬,‫ ומחבירי יותר מהם‬,‫הרבה תורה למדתי מרבותי‬

Barnard, BU, Brandeis, Brown, University of Chicago, Johns Hopkins, NYU, Northeastern, Princeton, Tufts, Tulane, UC Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, USC, Washington University in St. Louis, Yale and Yeshiva University Honors Program

Mazal Tov to Shalhevet’s Graduates!

2018

% 36

OF OUR STUDENTS WERE ADMITTED TO AT LEAST ONE OF THE FOLLOWING HIGHLY SELECTIVE INSTITUTIONS:

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presence is far more concealed, that the sages introduce us to an alternative, or additional, model of revelation. For the sages, the experience at Sinai was considered as majestic and awesome as we imagine it to be, but because of its majesty, they viewed Har Sinai as if the Jews were coerced into accepting the Torah. Could there be any deliberation to accept God’s Torah in a world where God’s presence is so manifest? In a reality of splitting seas, prophets, and sovereignty, keeping God’s Torah is not much of a decision – the Jewish people were living their promised fate! But what happens when more fragile conditions are present, where God feels much more distant, and where the supernatural and miraculous are things of the past? Rather than maintaining a quietist theology where we passively wait for a return to the old way, the rabbis make a bold theological move and shift responsibility from God to the Jewish people. Whereas revelation at Sinai was a one-dimensional experience where God’s glory was so pronounced that it was almost coercive, a “diasporic revelation” requires the first move to come from the people: God is revealed only when we uncover Him. Indeed, this is the model of Megillat Esther. The Midrash frames the exilic period between our first and second Batei Mikdash as a dark time where God’s presence was not apparent (famously, Hashem’s name is not mentioned once in the Megillah), similar to the post-second Temple period. And yet, even in such a predicament the Jews of Shushan remained committed and steadfast in their belief. In this way, they epitomized a revelation where we are able (and empowered) to reveal God, rather than waiting for God to reveal Himself. Surely, both models of revelation are relevant to our religious makeup. Our relationship with the Torah is both obligatory and covenantal. But too often we live our lives in a manner where we await or expect moments of godliness and transcendence to suddenly be thrust upon us, a la our experience at Har Sinai. Such a worldview tends to emphasize the big moments of our lives and the “miracles” of our history, but often obscures the reality of God in less obvious moments. This, I think, is what the rabbis are advocating for in the above Midrash. To think that the religious experience is exclusive to Har Sinai experiences is a mistake and a symptom of religious lethargy. For the rabbis, the primary model of revelation became one where the Jewish people revealed God, despite his concealment. In this scenario, we are the actors of God’s revelation, not just its recipients. Living in an era of Jewish sovereignty, with a flourishing Jewish state in Israel, we are fortunate enough to feel a little bit more of God’s presence than our rabbinic ancestors. For many, this is echoed in our religious affirmation of Israel’s redemptive status as the “flowering of our redemption.” But we would be remiss to think that Chazal’s more active view of revelation is less relevant in such times. In fact, I would argue that the more we feel the imminence of God in our lives, the more it behooves us to act more godly, ultimately seeking a climactic revelation where God meets man and man meets God. Reading the Aseret Hadibrot should have the intended effect of transporting us back into a moment of divine revelation, a time of religious clarity and certainty. And while that’s a large part of the Shavuot experience, it should also compel us to reassess and recommit our own efforts to further facilitate a greater presence of God in this world.

THEY’LL BE COMING UNDER THE MOUNTAIN WHEN THEY COME: COERCION AND FREE CHOICE IN ACCEPTING THE TORAH “And they stood at the foot (betachtit, literally: underneath) of the mountain” RABBI ARI SEGAL (Shemot 19:17). R. Avdimi bar Chama bar Chasa said: This teaches that the Holy One, blessed be He, overturned the mountain upon them like an RABBI ARI SEGAL (inverted) barrel, and said to them: “If you accept the Torah, it is well; if not, IS THE HEAD OF there shall be your burial.” R. Acha bar Yaakov observed: This is a strong SCHOOL OF protest against the Torah. Rava said: Nevertheless, they then re-accepted it in SHALHEVET HIGH the days of Achashveirosh, for it is written (Esther 9:27), “[The Jews] confirmed SCHOOL IN LOS [kiyemu] and took upon them [kibelu], etc.”: [This means that] they confirmed ANGELES. HE HAS what they had accepted long before. (Shabbat 88a) PREVIOUSLY The interpretation of Rav Avdimi, taken at face value, presents a potential challenge to our WORKED AT sense of fairness, an issue sensed by the Gemara itself, as well as many commentaries. Being ROBERT M. forced into an endeavor of this magnitude can create some mixed feelings, which is reflected BEREN ACADEMY in the apparent tension in the Gemara between autonomous choosing of God (after Purim) IN HOUSTON AND and a form of Divine coercion - between the need for free choice and the need for blind RAMAZ IN NEW commitment. It may be that in modern times, when we are so focused (perhaps too much) YORK CITY. R' on individualism and rationality, this Aggadah challenges us even more, as it represents SEGAL EARNED values of authority, coercion, and anti-rationalism with which we may not be comfortable. MASTERS Yet, while the overturned mountain held above our head may rub our modern sensibilities the wrong way, it is still a core part of our tradition. In fact, its message even seems to be appealing to many; much use has been made of this Aggadah by rabbinic homilists and philosophers, to the extent that it and its message have almost reached the status of normative belief, a kind of test of loyalty to Torah. This may be because the notion of Hashem forcing us to accept the Torah is consistent with the religious-social coercion that has helped maintain and strengthen the Jewish community over history. In addition, coercion of religious commitment is, at times, celebrated in our tradition. For example, the Gemara (Arachin 21a) famously declares that if one obligates himself to bring an offering to the Beit HaMikdash but then retracts, “kofin oto ad sheyomar rotzeh ani,” “we force him [to bring it] until he says: I want to [of my own free will].” The Rambam (Hilchot Gerushin 2:20) explains this phrase to mean that in truth, every person has the desire to do the right thing, but sometimes one needs external coercion for that desire to emerge. Therefore, despite the coercion, when the person ultimately agrees to do it, we assume that he has agreed wholeheartedly, and that was his true desire all along. Still, some commentaries interpret this passage in a manner that does not focus on an actual coercion of our people. For example, the Maharal of Prague1 shifts the focus from the issue of consent/authority to the question of the necessity of the Torah for the Jew and the world. Professor Gerald Blidstein2 explains this approach as follows: “The giving of the Torah and its acceptance by the people of Israel had to be; without it the world would have returned to utter chaos, and all the more so the Jewish people could not have existed.” If so, the words “there shall be your burial” are not a threat but rather the description of an alternative; they express the cultural and historical implications of the refusal to accept the Torah. An additional explanation of this idea is found in the works of the first Lubavitcher Rebbe, 1 Tiferet Yisrael, 32 2 In the Shadow: Consent and Coercian at Sinai (Jewish Political Science Review 4:1, Spring 1992)

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Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi3, which resonates deeply with me. But to understand it, let’s first consider Professor Jerome Gelman’s4 understanding of the very first moments of our universe as described in Bereshit: I take this teaching of God’s elusiveness to be included in the opening chapter of Genesis. For six days, God creates, pouring God’s creative energy into the world, the world directly impacted by God’s overbearing presence. On the seventh day, God rests. For God to “rest” is for God to withdraw God’s overwhelming presence from the world so as to create the conditions for humanity to come to God in freedom. That God rests is the precondition for Eve to choose to eat from the forbidden tree and share the fruit with Adam. What it means, in Genesis 1, for the seventh day to be holy, is for it to hold the conditions for coming to God freely. This notion is echoed by philosopher Soren Kierkegaard. In his Philosophical Fragments, Kierkegaard presents a beautiful parable about a king who falls in love with a humble commoner, but doesn’t want to overwhelm her with “all the pomp of his power” because it would deprive her of her autonomy and sense of self-worth that is needed for a mutually loving relationship. So the king becomes a humble servant so that she can love him freely. So too, says Kierkegaard, “God picks His steps…lest he trample human beings in the dust.” C. Stephen Evans calls this the “Easy Resistibility Principle” - God needs to make it easy to resist Him so that choosing Him has meaning. This notion of God giving us space to choose Him freely is not just implicit from the creation of the universe, it also plays a critical role in our development as a nation. Just as a parent is more present in a young child’s life than an adult child’s life, so too the infancy of our nation is accompanied by overt miracles: The makot (plagues), keriyat Yam Suf (splitting of the sea), the mass revelation at Har Sinai, and the man (miraculous food provisions in the desert), to name but a few. But as our young nation matures and enters the land of Israel, we move further away from overt miracles, a standard that has remained constant throughout history. Our mature nation needs God to be somewhat distant to allow us the opportunity to choose Him as our Master. To quote R. Jonathan Sacks5: In miracles, G-d changes nature, but never human nature. Were He to do so, the entire project of the Torah—the free worship of free human beings—would have been rendered null and void. There is no greatness in programming a million computers to obey instructions. G-d’s greatness lay in taking the risk of creating a being, homo sapiens, capable of choice and responsibility—of obeying G-d freely. I believe that the interpretation of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi of the overturned mountain can help us find the secret to the balance between the value of coercion and the value of choosing God, as evident from the writings of R. Sacks, Kierkegaard, and Prof. Gelman. This is what he says: God’s love for us is greater than our love [for God]. The Rabbis said, “God turned the mountain over and above them like a barrel.” This means that because of the intensity of God’s love for us [the Jewish people] he acts to arouse in us love of Him, so that we should not want to separate ourselves from Him. It is like a person who hugs a person [from behind] and turns him around face to face and won’t let him go, because the love of the hugger is greater than that of the hugged, and so that the hugged will not forget the love of the hugger.” These complementary aspects of Judaism entail a “dialectic of autonomy and heteronomy” (as described by Professor Jon Levenson), a dialectic which draws upon both the sense of compulsion experienced within the religious experience and in the communal relationship, as well as upon the requirement of freedom so basic to the ethical constitution of man’s relationships with God and with his fellows. To paraphrase Levenson: “Chosen for service, we must choose to serve.” This is exactly how my mother and father raised our family. They gave us space to pursue our dreams and passions, but were always close behind us (sometimes so close because they were chasing me around the dining room table when I was in trouble, or taking me to the emergency room when I broke my wrist, or trying to gently push me out of bed on Sunday morning to go to minyan). They loved me and the practice of Judaism so much that I could feel their hug from behind, encouraging me to continue our tradition. Oftentimes I didn’t want the hug, but because of my parents intense love for me and for Judaism, they aroused in me the same feelings. May we all merit to enjoy the benefits both of God’s love for us as well as His giving us the free choice to demonstrate that love. 3 Maamarei Admur Hazaken (New York, 2006), pp. 195-196 4 God’s Kindness Has Overwhelmed Us: A Contemporary Doctrine of the Jews as the Chosen People, p. 66 5 Convenant and Conversation, Behar-Bechukotai 5770

OVERCOMING EXCLUSION: THE LESSON OF RUT AND THE BIKKURIM What is the connection between Rut, the heroine of Megillat Rut, read on Shavuot, and Bikkurim, the mitzva to bring the first fruits to the Beit HaMikdash? Aside from both being related to Shavuot (Bikkurim are brought on Shavuot), there doesn’t appear to be much in common between the two. Moreover, it seems a little strange to compare a person to a mitzva. Nevertheless, as we will see, there does appear to be an element of similarity between them, one that can teach us a very powerful lesson. Let’s begin with the theme of Bikkurim. According to the Torah (Shemot 23:16), Bikkurim are supposed to be brought specifically on Shavuot: “‫שדֶה‬ ָּׂ ַּ‫ אֲשֶׁר תִּזְרַע ב‬,ָ‫עשֶׂיך‬ ֲ ַ‫”וְחַג הַקָּצִיר בִּכּ ּורֵי מ‬ “And the Festival of the harvest [i.e., Shavuot], the first-fruits of your actions that you sow in the field” (see also Bamidbar 28:26 and Mishna Bikkurim 1:3). The farmer bringing the fruits also recited the following famous passages along with the offering of the Bikkurim (Devarim 26:5): ...ּ‫אבֹתֵינ ּו לָתֶת לָנו‬ ֲ ַ‫הוָה ל‬ ֹ ְ‫ש ּבַע י‬ ְׁ ִ‫הוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ כִּי בָאתִי אֶל הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר נ‬ ֹ ‫תִי הַ ּיוֹם לַי‬ ּ ‫”הִ ַּג ְד‬ ;‫ וַ ָּיגָר שָׁם בִּמְתֵי מְעָט‬,‫ וַ ֵּירֶד מִ ְצרַ ְימָה‬,‫ אֲרַמִּי אֹבֵד אָבִי‬:ָ‫פנֵי ה’ אֱלֹהֶיך‬ ְ ִ‫ת ל‬ ָּ ‫ת וְאָמַ ְר‬ ָ ‫ענִי‬ ָ ְ‫ו‬ “‫ לְגוֹי גָּדו ֹל עָצוּם וָרָב‬,‫שָׁם‬-‫וַ ְיהִי‬ “I have stated today to Hashem my God that I have come to the land that Hashem has promised to our forefathers to give to us… You shall proclaim and you shall say before the Lord your God: A wandering Aramean was my father, and he descended to Egypt, and sojourned there, few in number, and he became there a nation, great, mighty, and numerous.” However, a number of individuals may be excluded from this passage. For instance, a convert (referred to by Chazal as a ‫ )גר‬does not descend from Yaakov (who is likely the Aramean described in the verse above1), his forefathers were not slaves in Egypt, and his ancestors were not given the land of Israel. The Mishna (Bikurim 1:4) therefore rules that the ‫ גר‬may not read the passage, since in truth his ancestors were not part of this history. A number of other individuals also appear to be excluded from this mitzva due to the following pasuk (Devarim 26:10): ”...’‫ ה‬,‫תָה לִּי‬ ּ ‫ת‬ ַ ָ‫נ‬-‫ אֲשֶׁר‬,‫רֵאשִׁית פְּרִי הָאֲדָמָה‬-‫ הִנֵּה הֵבֵאתִי אֶת‬,‫תָה‬ ּ ‫ע‬ ַ ְ‫“ו‬ “And now, I have brought the first fruits of the earth, which you have given me, Hashem…” The Mishna (Bikkurim 1:5) derives from here that individuals who do not own the land are obligated biblically to bring Bikkurim, but may not recite the declaration: ‫ מביאין ולא קורין‬,‫“האפוטרופוס והשליח והעבד והאשה וטומטום ואנדרוגינוס‬ ”’‫משום שאינם יכולים לומר אשר נתת לי ה‬ “A guardian (of young orphaned children), messenger, slave, woman, tumtum (one without any sexual organs), and androginus (one with both male and female sexual organs) bring [Bikkurim] but do not recite [the declaration], because they cannot say: “Which you have given me, Hashem.” 1 See Ibn Ezra, Chizkuni, and Seforno

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Apparently, due to the formulation of the pesukim in the Torah, the Mishna limits the participation of the aforementioned individuals, who may bring the Bikkurim, but do not recite the declaration. Now let’s turn to Rut. Rut, as we know, insisted on following her mother-in-law Naomi to Eretz Yisrael, and converted in the process. Nevertheless, Rut was left alone, abandoned, and rejected a number of times in the megilla: She was left alone following the death of her husband Kilyon, she was rejected by the Israelites upon arriving in Beit Lechem with Naomi, as evidenced by the fact that she was consistently referred to as “the Moabite woman” (see, e.g., Rut 2:2, 6, 21, 4:5); and was rejected again by the unnamed ‫גואל‬, redeemer, who refused to marry her due to his own personal considerations. The fact that Rut was so thankful to Boaz for encouraging her to glean only from his field (Rut 2:8) is likely evidence of the fact that she felt so uncomfortable elsewhere. It seems from here that there is indeed a similarity between our two themes: Both Rut, as well as the mitzva of Bikkurim, involve an element of exclusion and disenfranchisement. Rut was initially somewhat excluded from the Israelite society of Beit Lechem due to her status, while the mitzva of Bikkurim also limits who is allowed to bring the first fruits and recite the declaration. Furthermore, Rut was somewhat excluded specifically because she was a convert, precisely one of the individuals whom the Mishna excludes from Bikkurim. Despite these tendencies towards exclusion, however, in both cases, these limiting attitudes do not ultimately prevail. In the case of Rut, Boaz serves as a catalyst to facilitate the inclusion of Rut into Israelite society. He invites her not only into his field, but also eventually into his family. Rut, in turn, serves as the anchor for his legacy, becoming the matriarch of the Davidic dynasty. Similarly, one might have thought that converts, women, slaves, tumtum, and androginus might not have been allowed to bring Bikkurim at all. After all, they are excluded by the phrase in the Torah of asher natata li Hashem, since they do not own any land. Nevertheless, the halacha does include the individuals above within the mitzva. Their role is somewhat proscribed, as they cannot recite “‫( ”ארמי אובד אבי‬with the possible exception of the convert) due to those passages, which do not apply to them, but they may bring the Bikkurim, the primary element of the mitzva.2 Moreover, with regard to the convert, the Rambam actually rules (Hilchot Bikkurim 4:3) that he may even recite the declaration of ‫ ארמי אובד אבי‬as well. He bases this on an opinion of Rabbi Yehuda cited in the Talmud Yerushalmi (to Bikkurim 1:4) that argues that since Avraham our forefather was the “Av Hamon Goyim,” the father to all nations, the ‫ גר‬is included as a “child of Avraham.” These two themes illustrate that one of the important lessons of Shavuot is the importance of chessed and the inclusion of others. As the Midrash (Pesikta Zutreta, Lekach Tov, Rut 4:22) states, the reason for reading this megilla on Shavuot is that it is kula chessed, “entirely about chessed” (i.e., the kindness of Boaz to Rut) and the Torah, which was given on Shavuot, also consists “entirely of chessed.”3 The Midrash (Rut Rabba 20:15) also comments that the purpose of this sefer of Tanach is to illustrate the reward given to those that perform chessed to others (i.e., Boaz, who merited to be the ancestor of King David because of his kindness to Rut). This attitude will enable us to achieve the unity necessary in order to receive, and fulfill the Torah properly. This Shavuot, let us celebrate Matan Torah by working to make all Jews feel welcome in participating in Torah learning and practicing Judaism.

2 This is in contrast to others individuals, such as sharecroppers, those that work a piece of land for the owner but don’t actually own it, who may not bring Bikkurim at all (see Mishna Bikkurim 1:2), due to the words “bikkurei admatecha,” “the first fruits of your land.” 3 See also Sota 14a, which makes a similar comment about the Torah that it begins with gemilut chasadim (Hashem clothing Adam and Chava) and concludes with gemilut chasadim (Hashem burying Moshe).

WHY IS RUTH IN THE CANNON? A WINDOW INTO HESED AND LEADERSHIP IN THE JEWISH NATION The Book of Ruth is a story of a family’s journey from Beit Lechem to Moab during a deadly famine that kills the male members of the clan. Naomi, the matriarch, returns to Beit Lechem with her daughter-in-law, Ruth, while her other daughter-in-law, Orpah, continues on to Moab. The canonical validity of the simple story is often questioned by Rabbis and scholars. Why is the Book of Ruth included in the biblical canon (Megila 7a)? What messages can be extracted from such a story about a non-Jewish heroine? First, upon examination of the text, one possible theme emerges to answer the lingering questions. Often, when searching for meaning in text, it is appropriate to look for a Mila Mancha, a leitwort or a word that repeats itself throughout. In the Book of Ruth, the word “hesed” appears three times in the four chapters and is always followed by an explanation of the positive ramifications that accompany compassionate, generous and kind behavior (1:8, 3:10, 2:20). For example, In Boaz’s blessing to Ruth, he says, “God should repay you for your deeds and your reward shall be complete from the Lord, the God of Israel” (2:12). The Targum Ruth interprets Boaz’s blessing as a promising reward of kingship: “There will come from you kings… because of the kindness you have done for your mother in law.” Ruth’s actions are so admirable and praiseworthy that future kings will emerge among her descendants. She displays unwavering dedication to Naomi, many times at the expense of her own wellbeing. In Perek Alef, Ruth remains with Naomi amid Naomi’s warning that it might cause Ruth to not remarry. In Perek Bet, Ruth gathers food in the fields, sacrificing her own femininity and dignity to feed Naomi. In Perek Gimel, Ruth approaches Boaz at night in the field, following Naomi’s request to continue her legacy, remarry and have children. In Perek Daled, Ruth bears a child, almost exclusively to continue Naomi’s legacy. Ruth repeatedly places her own reputation and desires secondary to her mother-in-law’s and is rewarded with the ultimate king emerging among her descendants, the Davidic Dynasty. Second, a different approach to reconciling the Book of Ruth’s inclusion in the cannon is found in the Zohar Chadash: “This Megilla is here simply to trace the genealogy of David, who is born from Ruth the Moabite.” Instead of arguing that the Book of Ruth teaches moral character and personality cultivation, the purpose is to paint the background of King David, the descendant of Ruth. King David’s questionable ancestry emerges because his great grandmother, Naomi, is a Moabite woman, potentially excluding him from membership in the Jewish nation. In Devarim 23:4-5, God commands that no Ammonite or Moabite, even after ten generations, is allowed to join the Jewish people because they failed to provide the wandering Jews with food and water upon leaving Egypt. The Oral Law refines the biblical law stating that only Ammonite and Moabite men are precluded from the Jewish nation, because they are the ones responsible for traveler hospitality. Nevertheless, Ruth extends herself above and beyond her duties to validate the Davidic dynasty with selflessness and hesed. Ruth, depicted as a caring Moabite woman, proves she is eligible to join Am Yisroel and become the mother of the eternal kingship.

SIGAL SPITZER SIGAL SPITZER GRADUATED FROM SHALHEVET IN 2015. SHE THEN WENT ON TO STUDY AT MIGDAL OZ IN ISRAEL AND IS CURRENTLY A RISING JUNIOR AT UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA STUDYING BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS. SHE IS WORKING AT THE WONDERFUL COMPANY THIS SUMMER IN ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT.

Third, extending the Zoharâ€™s idea further allows investigation within the Davidic dynasty of kings that emerge from Ruth. God delineates specific qualifications necessary for a Jewish leader. In biblical times, many prophets even prophesied the appointment of an eternal monarch, fulfilling the biblical commandment to appoint a Jewish king (Devarim 17:15). But a more modern machlocket in Mesechet Sanhedrin (20b) illuminates a controversy regarding appointing a monarch altogether. As Yael Ziegler teaches in her book Ruth, from a practical perspective, a strong, stable, and centralized monarch can facilitate national Jewish goals such as developing a relationship with Hashem and disseminating knowledge of God to the world at large. But on the other hand, monarchical systems concentrate power in the hands of one person. Though biblical checks and balances exist between a monarch and a prophet, monarchies still often produce tyrannical actions and corrupt behavior. Because national kingship and Jewish leadership is prone to corruption because of extraordinary power, the Torah provides a solution in the Book of Ruth - the exemplification of a selfless individual. Ruth establishes a paradigm of leadership that is suitable for a Jewish king, one that disregards self-interests to serve the needs of the other. Ruth serves as a role model to all future Davidic kings, illustrating that while selflessness is a general Jewish value, it is particularly demanded of Jewish leaders. If a king perceives himself as beyond the law, the Jewish nation will fail to create an ideal society imbued with justice and righteousness. By reconciling the various explanations of Ruthâ€™s inclusion in the biblical canon, we emerge with a profound lesson about hesed, leadership and the Jewish nation.

BUILDING (AND REBUILDING) A NATION: THE SECRET BEHIND SEFIRAT HAOMER At first glance, the transition between Pesach and Shavuot seems rather unremarkable: A mere forty-nine days separate the two festivals, just enough time to get our Pesach dishes packed away, transition back into our daily grind, and push the week of eating matzah firmly to the back of our minds. Yet in truth, a historic and national abyss separates these holidays: When we left Egypt, we were nothing more than a rag-tag group of newly freed slaves, tasting their first moments of physical and spiritual freedom. By the time they arrive at Sinai and receive the Torah, however, the Jewish people had coalesced into a bona-fide nation, ready to take their place in the covenantal relationship with God. What happened during this short period of time to enable the transition from slavery to peoplehood? What learning experience did the Jewish people encounter to lay the foundations of our nation? As we’ll see, the period of sefirat ha’omer between Pesach and Shavuot does not only mark the historical transformation of the Jewish people - it also provides the secret to our continuity. Yet as we begin our analysis of the period of sefirat ha’omer, another pressing issue must be addressed as well: While this period should be a happy time - a celebration of our birth and development as a nation - as we know, it is instead marked by customs of mourning, including a ban on weddings, haircuts, and music. What is the source and history of these mourning practices, and do they subsume and supplant - or somehow echo and reinforce the otherwise joyous nature of sefirat ha’omer? To answer this question, we turn to the Talmud (Yevamot 62b), which tells of a horrific tragedy that befell our people during this time: They said that Rabbi Akiva had twelve thousand ‫ שנים עשר אלף זוגים תלמידים‬:‫אמרו‬ pairs of students [in an area of land that stretched] ‫היו לו לרבי עקיבא מגבת עד‬ from Gevat to Antipatris [in Judah], and they all died ...‫ וכולן מתו בפרק אחד‬,‫אנטיפרס‬ in one period of time...it was taught: they all died .‫ כולם מתו מפסח ועד עצרת‬:‫תנא‬ between Pesach and Shavuot. Imagine: the Temple had been destroyed, Jerusalem lay in ruins, and Roman rule been extended over the land of Israel. Yet there remained one hope, a flickering possibility of revival: Rabbi Akiva was training twenty-four thousand students. Future leaders. Scholars. Visionaries who could rebuild the Jewish people. If all had seemed lost with the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash, Rabbi Akiva seemed to realize that our power lies not in a physical space but rather in our human potential. And yet, between Pesach and Shavuot, that hope came crashing down. Our last chance for spiritual survival - a group of students who could rebuild our people - was lost. It seems, then, that the story of Rabbi Akiva’s students and the mourning practices that we observe to commemorate the tragedy of their deaths are the antithesis of what sefirat ha’omer should be about - instead of celebrating the birth and growth of our people, we are instead commemorating its destruction. The Gemara, however, does not end there:

RABBI DAVID STEIN RA B B I DAVID STE IN I S THE DIRE CTOR OF G E MARA EDUCATION AT S HA LHE VE T HIG H S CH OOL AND IS THE CO-FOUNDE R OF THE L AHAV CURRICUL UM P ROJ E CT. DAVID A TTENDE D Y E SHIVA COL L E G E AND RIE TS FOR HIS UN DE RG RADUATE AND SE MIKHA STUDIE S. HE RE CE IVE D HIS MA S TE R’ S DE G RE E I N ME CHANICAL ENG INE E RING F ROM COL UMBIA UN IVE RSITY AND HIS MASTE R’ S DE G RE E IN TEACHING FROM A MER ICAN J E WISH UNIVE RSITY ’ S GRA D UATE CE NTE R FOR J E WISH ED U CATION AS A WE XNE R F ELLOW/ DAVIDSON SCHOL AR. HE HELP E D WRITE THE FIRST E VE R S TANDARDS AND B EN CHMARKS FOR G E MARA ED U CATION AS A MEMBE R OF THE LEGACY HE RITAG E L E ADE RSHIP I N S TI TUTE WRITE RS G ROUP.

And the world was desolate until Rabbi Akiva came to our Rabbis in the South and taught [Torah] to them - Rabbi Meir, Rabbi Yehuda, Rabbi Yosei, Rabbi Shimon, and Rabbi Elazar ben Shamua. And they were the very ones who upheld Torah at that time.

‫והיה העולם שמם עד שבא ר”ע אצל‬ ‫ ושנאה להם ר”מ‬,‫רבותינו שבדרום‬ ‫ור‘ יהודה ור’ יוסי ורבי שמעון ורבי אלעזר בן‬ .‫ והם הם העמידו תורה אותה שעה‬,‫שמוע‬

Rabbi Akiva, always the optimist, did not give up in the face of this destruction. Faced with catastrophe, he sought out new students, established new institutions of learning, and restored the world that had previously been left “desolate” - along with the Torah learning that had been lost. The story of mourning during sefirat ha’omer, then, is not simply a story of sadness and catastrophe. Instead, it is a far more complex narrative of darkness and hope, of destruction and rebuilding, and of transmission and continuity in times of tragedy. Ultimately, it is a story about rebuilding the Jewish people in times of crisis by teaching and inspiring new generations of scholars and leaders. We commemorate the story by mourning what was lost during sefirat ha’omer, but at the same time, we are reminded of the role of education and transmission of Jewish values in sustaining the Jewish people through times of unfathomable loss. In truth, the very same themes of education, catastrophe, and continuity emerge from the original Torah narrative of the Jewish people between Pesach and Shavuot as well. We are told (Shemot chapter 15) that immediately after experiencing the miracle of the splitting of the sea, the Jewish people encounter a major crisis as they set out into the desert: Then Moses caused Israel to set out from the Sea of Reeds. They went ‫שֶה אֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל מִ ּיַם‬ ׁ ֹ‫)כב( וַ ַּיסַּע מ‬ on into the wilderness of Shur; they traveled three days in the ‫סוּף וַ ֵּיצְאוּ אֶל מִ ְדבַּר שׁוּר וַ ֵּילְכ ּו‬ wilderness and found no water. :‫שְׁלֹשֶׁת יָמִים בַּמִּ ְדבָּר וְלֹא מָצְאוּ מָיִם‬ They came to Marah, but they could not drink the water of Marah because they were bitter; that is why it was named Marah

‫תֹת מַיִם‬ ּ ְׁ‫)כג( וַ ָּיבֹאוּ מָ ָרתָה וְלֹא יָכְלוּ לִש‬ :‫ה מָרָה‬ ּ ָ‫מִמָּרָה כִּי מָרִים הֵם עַל כֵּן קָרָא שְׁמ‬

And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”

:‫תֶה‬ ּ ‫ש‬ ְׁ ִּ‫שֶה לֵּאמֹר מַה נ‬ ׁ ֹ‫)כד( וַ ִּילֹּנ ּו הָעָם עַל מ‬

So he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood; he threw it into the water and the water became sweet. There He made for them a rule and judgment, and there He put them to the test.

‫קוָק‬ ֹ ְ‫קוָק וַ ּיוֹרֵה ּו י‬ ֹ ְ‫)כה( וַ ִּיצְעַק אֶל י‬ ‫תְקוּ הַמָּיִם‬ ּ ְ‫עֵץ וַ ַּישְׁלֵךְ אֶל הַמַּיִם וַ ִּימ‬ :ּ‫סָהו‬ ּ ִ‫שָם נ‬ ׁ ְ‫פָט ו‬ ּ ‫ש‬ ְׁ ‫מ‬ ִ ּ‫שָׁם שָׂם לוֹ חֹק ו‬

Fresh off the euphoria of the Exodus and the victory at yam suf, the Jewish people make their way into the desert and are immediately confronted with unexpected hardship: There’s no water. They travel for three days in scorching heat, and suddenly the hope and excitement of redemption fades to bitterness and complaint. Yet in the miraculous sweetening of the waters, the Midrash and commentaries note a deeper theme as well: Rashi, picking up on the verb ‫ ויורהו‬- whose root means “to teach,” as well as the mention of “rules” and “judgments” - claims that this episode marked the first time that Hashem taught Torah to the Jewish people. The “sweetening” of the waters and our survival of this crisis is made possible by our Torah learning. The lessons that emerge from these two narratives, then, paint a picture of sefirat ha’omer that perhaps provides a recipe for Jewish nationhood and survival. In bringing the young nation to the desert to face the hardship of thirst and despair, it seems that God is communicating a powerful message: the Jewish people will undoubtedly face catastrophe in their future. Our experiences as a nation will include periods of intense hardship, when it seems like all hope is lost. Yet Hashem also provides the secret to surviving these crises: education, and the power of Torah learning to sustain and support the Jewish people in times of trouble. And, as we have seen, Rabbi Akiva undoubtedly picked up on this theme as well as he set out to rebuild in the face of destruction. Our practices of mourning commemorating Rabbi Akiva’s students during sefirat ha’omer, then, echo the deeper meaning and significance of this period for our survival as a people. As we transition from Pesach to Shavuot, the counting of sefirat ha’omer marks the growth and development of our young nation - while also cementing the foundation for our survival and hope throughout generations. Ultimately, the secret behind sefirat ha’omer is that by inspiring students, building educational institutions, and raising new generations of Jewish leaders, we can build and, when necessary, rebuild - our people, no matter what hardships we face. 27

THE FAILURE OF THE GREATEST When discussing a person who is described as one of “the greatest,” we automatically associate him or her with their greatest accomplishments. When one thinks of the greatest athletes, actors, or singers, one looks back to their greatest games, movies, or albums, not the ones in which they did not excel. However, In Sefer Bamidbar (chapter 13), it seems like just the opposite occurs. Moshe appoints twelve leaders, one for each tribe, to send to Eretz Yisrael to assess the land. These leaders were not just great at leading, but our mefarshim say they were “the greatest” tzaddikim of their tribes. Nevertheless, it seems as though their legacy throughout history is as the notorious meraglim, the spies whose negative report about Eretz Yisrael and the ability of the people to enter and conquer it caused the Jewish people to remain in the desert for forty years. Thus, the question jumps out at us: How could “the greatest” tzaddikim of that generation (aside from Moshe and Aharon) succumb to, and be known for, the potentially second biggest sin in the Torah, the chet hameraglim, sin of the spies? In order to better understand the mindset and actions of these tzaddikim, who were “the greatest” of the time, we must take a deeper look at the state of Bnei Yisrael at the time. The Torah states the following at the beginning of Parshat Shelach (Bamidbar 13:1-3): ‫ שלח־לך אנשים ויתרו את־ארץ כנען אשר־אני נתן לבני ישראל איש אחד‬:‫”וידבר ה’ אל־משה לאמר‬ ‫ וישלח אתם משה ממדבר פארן על־פי ה’ כלם אנשים‬:‫אחד למטה אבתיו תשלחו כל נשיא בהם‬ ”.‫ראשי בני־ישראל המה‬ “The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Send men to scout the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelite people; send one man from each of their ancestral tribes, each one a chieftain among them. So Moses, by the Lord’s command, sent them out from the wilderness of Paran, all the men being leaders of the Israelites” (Translated by Sefaria). At first glance, it seems from here that Hashem permitted the meraglim to enter Israel. But it is not clear why the meraglim wished to go in the first place. Was it for selfish reasons, or were they perhaps looking out for the best interests of Klal Yisrael? Many mefarshim seem to believe that the meraglim originally wished to go in order to help the rest of the nation. If that’s the case, though, it is difficult to understand how the mission went awry and ultimately failed miserably. How did the greatest men of a generation begin with a mission to protect and look after their brothers and sisters and eventually commit one of the worst sins of the generation? Many mefarshim struggle with this kashya (difficulty), including the Sefat Emet, Harav Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter of Gur, one of the Chassidic greats of the mid 1800s. The Sefat Emet offers an amazing explanation, but prefaces it with an additional question: During all the years in the desert (following Matan Torah), what were the Jews doing when they were not traveling? According to Chazal, their laundry was taken care of by the Ananei Hakavod, the clouds of glory, and the man, manna, fell down from the sky for them, and they therefore had few physical needs. So what did they do during all of their spare time? The Sefat Emet explains that this generation was on an extremely high spiritual level. They connected to G-d through complete spirituality, and G-d returned the favor with the aforementioned spiritual or supernatural gifts. As a result, Bnei Yisrael had the unique opportunity of 28

RABBI YAGIL TSAIDI RABBI TSAIDI IS A MASHGIACH RUCHANI, TEACHES GEMARA AND THE SHOAH TO PREPARE SHALHEVET SENIORS FOR THEIR POLAND ISRAEL EXPERIENCE AND IS ISRAEL GUIDANCE ADVISOR AT SHALHEVET HIGH SCHOOL. HE IS ALSO THE CO-DIRECTOR OF CAMP ARIEL, A LOS ANGELES BASED DAY CAMP. AFTER GRADUATING YESHIVA UNIVERSITY, HE AND HIS WIFE LIVED IN ISRAEL WHERE HE WAS A MAGGID SHIUR AT YESHIVAT MEVASERET ZION.

full-time Limud Torah, learning Torah, without one single worry. How wonderful does this sound to immerse oneself in Torah all day, with no tuition costs or house payments, no worries of how to afford food, and no burden of laundry! The Sefat Emet explains that the meraglim felt that this lifestyle was the ideal manner of existence for the people. Therefore, he says: ‫ חיבור של שמים וארץ‬.‫ ניתן לשבת כל היום וללמוד תורה ללא דאגות פרנסה‬.‫”חיי הגלות במדבר כה נוחים וכה ורוחניים‬ “‫המרגלים לא הבינו‬ “A live of exile in the desert was so comfortable and so spiritual. One could sit and study Torah all day without concerns for a livelihood. But the connection between heaven and earth was not understood by the meraglim…” The meraglim were on an extreme spiritual level. They were under the impression, and understandably so, that in order to protect the sacred Torah of ours, we must learn it and learn it to a tee. Anything that puts that at risk poses a danger to the Jews. What they didn’t understand though was how Eretz Yisroel was part of that same picture. Our job is to take what we learn and apply it in this physical world. When the meraglim entered Israel, they saw a beautiful land, but to them, the beauty was just physical. They realized that the land would need maintenance that entailed much physical labor. Therefore, the only way to cultivate the land was by plowing, planting, growing, and harvesting. But the meraglim didn’t see this physical work as an application of the Torah, they saw it as a distraction to the Torah. For this reason, explains the Sefat Emet, the meraglim strongly objected to the people entering Eretz Yisrael: They didn’t want to lose the spiritual existence to which they had become accustomed in the desert. For this reason, they attempted to convince the people that entering the land was not the correct choice. But as is clear from the Torah, the meraglim significantly erred in their understanding of the ideal existence, and were punished, along with most of the rest of the people, accordingly. We see from here that there are two elements present in following the Torah, which are both of equal importance. First, we must learn it. The meraglim had a genuine interest and desire to learn what was in this wonderful gift that Hashem gave us. Second, we must know how to apply what we learn to whatever we do in life. The meraglim did not know how to apply this gift, and the Torah teaches that Torah learning is worthless if not properly applied to daily life. The Torah was not given simply to read like a good novel. Rather, the moment we accepted it- we accepted a way of daily life. This way of life follows us into our offices, homes, and most importantly, follows us into our land, elevating all of our activities to a higher spiritual level of closeness to G-d and meaning. As we prepare to celebrate and re-accept the Torah on Shavuot, hopefully we can internalize the Sefat Emet’s lesson, and dedicate ourselves both to the study of our sacred Torah, as well as to bringing it with us into every other part of our life as well. Chag Sameach!

THREE FOR THE PRICE OF ONE: UNDERSTANDING THE GREATNESS OF BIRKOT HATORAH In an effort to explain the reason for the destruction of the Second Temple, Rav Yehuda, citing Rav, offers a surprising suggestion: “‫שלא ברכו בתורה תחילה‬,” “That they did not first recite a blessing over the Torah” (Nedarim 81a and Bava Metzia 85b). At first glance, this offense seems completely undeserving of its severe consequence, especially in comparison to reasons such as idolatry and murder cited in other Talmudic sources concerning the destruction of the first Temple. Rav’s comment is even more puzzling when considering Rashi’s added context that the period before the destruction was actually filled with rich Torah study! It was in their haste and desire to learn that they neglected to say Birkot Hatorah. How, then, could a seemingly minor offense such as neglecting to recite the proper blessing before Torah study have warranted the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash? What is so special about Birkot Hatorah that even intensive Torah study is rendered insignificant in its absence? One answer to this question can be inferred from an analysis of the content of Birkot Hatorah. Although the three blessings of Birkot Hatorah recited each morning as part of Tefilla are designed to precede Torah learning, interestingly, they do not directly refer to the mitzvah of learning Torah. Unlike the berachot recited on other mitzvot such as Shabbat candle lighting (“‫ )”להדליק נר של שבת‬or eating matzah (“‫)”על אכילת מצה‬, where the text of the beracha directly correlates to the subsequent act, here there is no beracha of “‫”ללמוד תורה‬. Rather, each blessing of Birkot Hatorah seems to reveal a unique aspect of the Torah experience as a whole, defining the purpose of Torah study, rather than stating the mitzvah of studying itself. The first beracha concludes with the expression “‫לעסוק בדברי תורה‬.” Literally - “to engage in the words of Torah” and figuratively - to delve into the texts with our intellect and our soul. It is not sufficient to view Limmud Torah as an opportunity for intellectual stimulation. Rather, we must be “‫ ”עוסק‬and approach Torah study with the purpose of making the text relevant in our daily lives and infusing holiness into the mundane. Torah learning is not an end in itself, but a means to something much greater. The second beracha1 begins with a request to sweeten the words of Torah in our mouths “‫”והערב נא‬- so that we may be successful in passing it on to the next generation. We praise Hashem as “‫המלמד תורה לעמו ישראל‬,” “the teacher of Torah to His nation,” because we want to approach God’s Torah as the receivers of His teachings, from a feeling of humility and curiosity rather than cynicism and judgment. Doubt and skepticism are natural aspects of the learning process, but in this blessing, we express our desire to be content living with our questions. Talmud Torah, we pray, should be a comforting experience, in which we seek solace within the warmth and strength of our tradition. In the third and final beracha, we address God as “‫נותן התורה‬,” “the Giver of Torah,” and acknowledging our unique position in the world as the sole recipients of God’s Torah: “‫אשר בחר בנו מכל העמים‬,” “He has selected us from all of the nations” in order to give us the Torah. Hence, Torah study is a national call to action, a constant reminder that we must raise 1 Although for the purposes of this article we have followed the approach that birkot HaTorah consists of three berachot, it should be noted that this issue is subject to dispute: Some commentaries hold that it in fact consists only of two berachot, and the “second” one under discussion here, ‫והערב נא‬, is a continuation of the first beracha; see Shulchan Aruch (47:6) and Mishna Berura there.

MA'AYAN WALDMAN

MA ’ A Y A N WAL D MA N IS A GRADUATE OF SHALHEVET'S CLAS S O F 2 0 1 7 A ND IS C U R R E NT L Y S TUD Y ING A T M I G D A L O Z IN G U S H E T Z IO N.

the bar in every area of our lives to constantly remain worthy of our universal mission. Torah learning is not just about improving our personal traits, but also about living up to the universal mission of “‫ממלכת כהנים וגוי קדוש‬,” “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:6). In addition to the messages gleaned from nuances in the text itself, the halachic status of Birkot Hatorah may also shed insight on the deep significance of this blessing. Rav Yaakov Medan, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Har Etzion, cites a fascinating discussion surrounding Birkot Hatorah. All blessings, he writes, can be placed into three categories Birkot Hamitzvot, blessings said before performing a mitzvah, Birkot Hashevach, blessings of praise, such as those we say in morning prayers, and Birkot Hanehenin, blessings made before physical enjoyment. Whereas most blessings are clearly defined, Birkot Hatorah evades rigid categorization. At first glance, it seems that Birkot Hatorah is a birkat mitzvah, as it precedes the mitzvah of learning Torah. In the Mishneh Torah, however, the Rambam chooses to place this mitzvah in Hilchot Tefillah rather than Hilchot Talmud Torah, indicating that it falls under Birkot Hashevach, like the rest of Tefilla, which is categorized as praise, rather than Birkot Hamitzvah. This approach aligns with Rav Yehudah’s interpretation of the verse “For I will proclaim the name of the Lord; ascribe your greatness to our God” as a source for Birkot Hatorah, its’ nature being that of praise rather than a command (Berachot 21a; Deuteronomy 32:3). Rav Chaim Soloveitchik suggests that Birkot Hatorah actually falls under the third category of Birkot Hanehenin, as those learning Torah will benefit from the study. The source for the obligation to recite Birkot Hanehenin is found in Berachot 35a: “‫”אסור לאדם שיהנה מן העולם הזה בלא ברכה‬ “It is forbidden for a person to benefit from this world without a beracha.” Thus, according to this definition, we cannot benefit from the Torah’s bounty without first acknowledging from where it came. A similar sentiment can be deduced from the Shulchan Aruch’s ruling (Orach Chaim, Siman 47:14) that both men and women are commanded in the recital of this blessing, which includes the phrase “‫וצונו‬,” even though women are not specifically commanded in Torah study.2 While the halachic categorization of Birkot Hatorah is not clearly defined, one thing is obvious - it is not just a simple blessing recognizing the Torah study that will occur shortly thereafter. Rather, Birkot Hatorah serves to prepare us for the proper mindset that we need to establish for that act. What imbues our Torah study with meaning is not learning alone, but the awareness of what we hope to accomplish in the process. Rigid and cold intellectual engagement does not suffice to fulfill the mitzvah. Rather, we must approach Torah study with the intention to internalize the Torah’s teachings, suffuse it with love and appreciation, and elevate ourselves with our learning to positively influence the world around us. Perhaps we can now understand why omitting Birkot Hatorah during the time of the second Temple was such a grave sin. The multifaceted nature of Birkot Hatorah suggests that it was not merely the recitation of this blessing that the Torah scholars neglected, but rather, the entire mindset that this blessing facilitates. Although the scholars of the time were engaged in high level academic discourse, the Birkot Hatorah remind us that there is more to the Torah than just pure learning. If Torah learning is the text, Birkot Hatorah is the context. The diverse, broad-ranging elements contained in Birkot Hatorah collectively define what it means to learn and live Torah in the real world. On Shavuot, we commemorate the monumental episode of the giving of the Torah at Har Sinai. But along with conjuring up the iconic, grand image of Moshe entering God’s cloud amidst the drama of the roaring thunder and blazing lightning, we must remember that before the Jews received the Torah they had to experience the “‫שלשת ימי‬ ‫ ”הגבלה‬of physical and spiritual preparation (Exodus 19:10). Bnei Yisrael needed to prepare their minds, bodies, and souls to receive the Torah so that they could appreciate the meaning and context of the laws they were to receive. The three berachot of Birkot Hatorah- reminiscent of these three days- give us the opportunity each morning to refocus on our connection to the Torah and the ultimate purpose behind our study. Chag Sameach!

2 See, though, other approaches to this issue given by the Beur Halacha there.

THE GREAT EQUALIZER: RECREATING MATAN TORAH Some comments of Rashi get more spotlight than others. Parshat Behar contains one of the more famous comments of Rashi, one so famous that it has even become an idiom in the Hebrew language. The beginning of the parsha states that “Hashem spoke to Moshe at Har Sinai saying,” and proceeds to delineate the laws of Shemitta, the sabbatical year during which we must rest from working our fields. Rashi famously asks why the Torah spelled out that this mitzva of Shemitta was taught at Har Sinai: “?‫“ ”מה ענין שמיטה אצל הר סיני‬What is the [reason] that the matter of Shemitta [is mentioned] together with Har Sinai?” After all, all of the other mitzvot were also taught at Har Sinai. Rashi answers that this teaches us that just as all the details of Shemitta were taught at Har Sinai, so too all the details of every mitzva were taught to us at Har Sinai. I think there is also a deeper connection between Har Sinai, the Matan Torah experience, and Shemitta. This connection is illustrated by the following pasuk, which appears immediately following the Torah’s description of the mitzvah of Yovel, the Jubilee year (Vayikra 25:17): “‫ כִּי אֲנ ִי ה' אֱלֹהֵיכֶם‬,ָ‫אלֹהֶיך‬ ֱ ֵ‫ וְ ָירֵאתָ מ‬,ֹ‫“ ”וְלֹא תוֹנ ּו אִישׁ אֶת עֲמִיתו‬and one man shall not wrong his fellow Jew, and you shall fear your God, for I am the Lord, your God.” The semichut parshiyot, the juxtaposition between Shemitta, Yovel and the prohibition of denigrating a fellow Jew teaches us that the goal of Shemitta is more than just having a year for the field to lay empty. Rather, the goal is for the year to serve as an equalizer between the different classes of the people, to bring the people in the margins of society back into the fold, and to ensure that the poor not feel denigrated more than other people in society.1 The punishment for violating Shemitta also fits with this idea, as the Torah states that the Jewish people are exiled because they did not keep the mitzva of Shemitta (Vayikra 26:35, 43). The point is that if you can’t take time to detach yourself from your field, producing your crops, and the rest of the material world to welcome those on the outside of society, and to allow for everyone to be equal, you can’t be part of the community. The mitzvah and the punishment stress an important value in Judaism that sometimes is overlooked by the details and how-to’s of our mitzvot: The importance of community and being there for each other as a united group. Looking back on our history, there was one time when Bnei Yisrael were united and everyone felt equal: Har Sinai. The Torah tells us (Shemot 19:2) that Bnei Yisrael camped next to the mountain, but the pasuk is written in singular: “‫“ ”וַ ִּיחַן שָׁם יִשְׂרָאֵל נֶגֶד הָהָר‬and Israel camped [singular] there opposite the mountain.” Rashi, in another famous comment, explains the reason that the pasuk is written in singular, since we were ‫כאיש אחד בלב אחד‬, united like one person with one heart. The relationship between Shemitta and Har Sinai is that the Shemitta year is supposed to resemble the Sinai experience. It is a time for us to put aside our material desires and differences and bring everyone into the community, a message first conveyed to us at Har Sinai prior to receiving the Torah. Perhaps it is for this same reason that we read Megillat Rut on Shavuot. Megillat Rut is a story of someone on the periphery of society, waiting to be

1 See Rambam (Moreh Nevuchim, or Guide to the Perplexed, 3:39) who explains the purpose of the mitzva in this manner.

MS. ILANA WILNER MS. ILANA WILNER IS THE DIRECTOR OF STUDENT ACTIVITIES AND LIMUDEI KODESH TEACHER AT SHALHEVET. I LANA HAS A MASTERS IN BIBLICAL AND TALMUDIC INTERPRETATION FROM YESHIVA UNIVERSITY’S GRADUATE PROGRAM FOR ADVANCED TALMUDIC STUDIES (GPATS), AS WELL AS A MASTERS DEGREE IN EDUCATION FROM AZRIELI SCHOOL OF EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION.

accepted and brought into the fold, and it instructs us to make sure to do the same in our own time. In my mind, the lesson of Matan Torah and Shavuot is not just about the initiative, the ‫ונשמע נעשה‬, not just about how late you stayed up on Shavuot night, and not solely focused on our relationship with Hashem, but also in our relationship with our fellow man. The message of Shavuot is to increase our ability to make space for other people and let them into our community. On this Shavuot, let’s not be preoccupied only with our own learning and our delicious cheesecake (which are, of course, important in their own right). Instead, let’s also add benches to our batei midrash and welcome in all those who are different, thus echoing the Sinai experience and become ‫כאיש אחד בלב אחד‬.

TORAHSPARKS

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