Dear TBZ community:
Each year as we celebrate the holiday of Shavuot, we recognize the ongoing gift of receiving Torah. This is the holiday of revelation. The Torah is given to us and we accept it as the guide to our lives, to our actions and our practices.
Our tradition teaches that even before receiving the Torah, we accepted it with the words Na'aseh V’Nishma - we will do and we will hear.
We receive the Torah with the understanding that our relationship with God and Torah is one of acceptance and action. In the story of Sinai, the Jewish people promise first to observe the laws of the Torah, and only afterward to study its laws. This statement has come to symbolize the Jewish commitment to Torah and mitzvot as a path of Jewish living.
But how so? What does it mean that we accept Torah? That Torah is revealed to us? What does it mean that we act through Torah? I understand it as Torah, God’s teachings, are the guiding principle of our lives, of all what we do, of all the ways we show up in the world.
We learn from a teaching attributed to the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Hasidism, the following:
There will be times when something will come your way
And you will be uncertain whether or not to pursue it
If you have studied Torah that day, however,
You will be able to determine your course of action from your learning
For this to occur,
You must sustain your connection to God.
Then, He will enable you to understand the connection
Between your studies and your life.
(Tzava’at HaRivash #31 Translation from “God in All Moments" by Rabbis Or Rose & Ebn Leader, page 97)
The Baal Shem Tov says two things here: First he says that the practice of engaging with Torah will guide your decisions in life, and that in moments of uncertainty you will find through the practice of learning Torah the answers, guidance, and help you are seeking. Then he adds one more important thing to this teaching – that the practice of engaging with Torah must be guided by sustaining a relationship with the Source of Life. The practice of being in relationship with God and in the study of Torah, combined is what can guide us through our daily life.
Torah is not a book, nor a scroll, that we celebrate once a year. Torah is a practice of deepening our relationship, daily, with the Divine presence in our lives so we can make decisions along the way, every day, the small and the big decisions. The commitment to learning and engaging with our Jewish texts is not just an intellectual one, it is one that calls us to a life of values and action. Torah manifests in our actions in the world.
Perhaps, I would say, it is through our showing up in the world, it is through the ways we act in the world, that Torah is revealed daily and that we can experience God.
Every Shabbat and every time we read Torah we conclude the service with the words:
עֵץ חַיִּים הִיא לַמַּחֲזִיקִים בָּהּ. וְתמְכֶיהָ מְאֻשָּׁר
דְּרָכֶיהָ דַרְכֵי נעַם וְכָל נְתִיבותֶיהָ שָׁלום
It is a tree of life for those who hold fast to it,
and those who uphold it are happy.
Its ways are pleasant, and all of its paths peaceful.
If we hold into Torah, we can live a life of meaning, a life that can bring joy, and happiness. And our walks through life can be ones of shalom.
The blessing that one says before studying Torah reads:
Baruch atah, Adonai Eloheinu, Melech haolam, asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu laasok b’divrei Torah.
Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Sovereign of all, who hallows us with mitzvot, commanding us to engage with words of Torah.
I love the verb used in this blessing: laasok, to engage with, to be busy with. The encounter with Torah is one of commitment and engagement. It is an encounter of relevance and meaning.
My invitation to each of us in this Holiday of Revelation is to continue engaging with our tradition and Torah. See yourself in it. Be inspired by its teaching to live your life with intention and make it a practice.
Join us this weekend as we study Torah all night! and prepare ourselves to receive Torah. TBZ is participating in two Tikkunei Leil Shavuot (one online and one in-person), see below for more information.
May this Shabbat and this holiday bring renewal and blessings to all of you and your loved ones.
May we find strength, courage, and patience, and open our hearts with generosity.
May all those who are ill find healing.
May we have a joyful, sweet, and peaceful Shabbat.
Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach!
