Bamidbar 5785: Shavuot – A Time for Unity!

GOOD MORNING! This upcoming Sunday night, June 1st, begins the holiday of Shavuot. In Israel, it’s observed for one day (ending Monday night), while in the diaspora, it’s celebrated for two days (through Tuesday night). Sadly, many Jews are either unfamiliar with Shavuot or only vaguely aware of its profound importance.

Of the three pilgrimage festivals (shalosh regalim), Shavuot is perhaps the most underappreciated. The Torah refers to it as a “harvest festival,” marking the end of the grain season– beginning with the barley harvest during Passover and concluding with the wheat harvest on Shavuot.

In Jewish tradition, Shavuot has several names, each highlighting a different dimension of the holiday. The most literal is “Shavuot,” meaning weeks, as in “You shall observe the Feast of Weeks, of the first fruits of wheat harvest…” (Exodus 34:22).

The name derives from the mitzvah to count seven weeks from the second day of Passover, culminating in Shavuot on the fiftieth day (see Leviticus 23:15). This also explains the English name for the holiday – “Pentecost,” which means fiftieth in Greek.

(As a side note, this is where Christianity derived both its holiday of Pentecost and the Pentecostal movement. Early Christianity, seeking resonance with Jews, borrowed heavily from Jewish tradition. Passover became Easter– Pascua in Spanish, a clear echo of Pesach– and Pentecost marks fifty days from Easter, just as Shavuot follows Passover.)

As a harvest celebration, Shavuot is also called Chag Hakatzir – the Festival of Reaping (see Exodus 22:16). In the times of the Holy Temple, the Jewish people would bring bikkurim – the first fruits of the Seven Species, with which the Land of Israel is specifically blessed: wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives (oil), and dates (honey). These were brought to the Temple as gifts to the priests. Hence, another name: Yom Habikkurim – the Day of First Fruits.

But the most significant aspect of Shavuot is spiritual: it commemorates the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. On this day, Moses ascended the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments, making it a spiritual anniversary for the Jewish nation.

Thus, the name we use most prominently in the holiday’s liturgy is Zman Matan Toraseinu – the Time of the Giving of Our Torah. It is therefore impossible to overstate the significance of this holiday as this title captures the essence of the holiday.

According to our tradition the Ten Commandments contain 620 letters (yes, I counted). The sages explain that the first 613 represent the 613 mitzvot of the Torah that the Jewish nation accepted upon themselves at Mount Sinai. Various reasons have been suggested as to the significance of the remaining seven letters that make up the Ten Commandments.

Rabbi Yaakov Ben Asher (1269–1343, aka the Ba’al Haturim) interprets the final seven letters– found in the words “asher l’reyecha – those of your friend” – to symbolize the Seven Noahide Laws, the universal moral code incumbent upon all humanity. These laws prohibit idolatry, murder, adultery, blasphemy, theft, and animal cruelty, and include the obligation to establish courts of justice (see Ba’al Haturim, Exodus 20:14).

Asher l’reyecha now takes on a deeper meaning. Included within the scope of Torah is a universal moral obligation for the entire world. Even though the Torah was only accepted as a sacred responsibility by the Jewish people, it includes within it a moral mandate for all humanity. How fitting that the laws of the nations of the world are referred to here as “those of your friend.”

Perhaps this is also why the numerical value of the Hebrew word keter – crown – is 620. Only when all people choose to live in a world governed by God’s laws is the Almighty’s crown perfectly complete.

This unifying aspect of Torah is actually the basis on which the Torah was given to the Jewish people. When the Jewish people arrived at Mount Sinai we find a remarkable attitude among the newly formed nation; “And there Israel camped before the mountain” (Shemos 19:2). Rashi (ad loc) explains that the people had adopted a rather unique mindset to one another – “It was like a single man with a single purpose.”

In general, there are two methods in which groups of people can unify. One is circumstantial: individuals unite for a shared goal, as Pharaoh’s army did when chasing the Jews (see Exodus 14:10 and Rashi ad loc). The second, more profound unity, is when individuals merge into a single identity and discover a common purpose together. That’s what happened at Sinai. Rashi notes there was no conflict, no imposition – just total harmony.

Often when we come into close physical proximity with strangers, we feel uncomfortable. For example, on a plane, it is very awkward to come into physical contact with the passenger beside you. Yet if the passenger beside you is a relative, it is acceptable to lean on one another. Whenever there is a close connection there is no feeling of imposition.

Similarly, at Mount Sinai the Jewish people merged their identities into a unified entity that allowed them to live together in absolute harmony. This was the backdrop for the events leading to Hashem gifting the Torah to the Jewish people – and their unity was a key element of the story.

One of the most painful experiences for a parent is watching their adult children fight. The same can be said of our Father in Heaven. The Talmud asks (and answers), “Why was the Second Temple destroyed, seeing that in its time the Jewish nation occupied themselves with Torah, mitzvot, and acts of kindness? Because baseless hatred prevailed.” (Yoma 9b)

According to the Talmud, the Second Temple was destroyed for baseless hatred between Jews. Two millennia later and we are still in the very same exile stretching back to that terrible tragedy. But what exactly is baseless hatred? After all, there must be some reason for the hatred!

Baseless hatred means loathing someone not for anything they’ve done, but simply because they are different. You start to rationalize that they are less than you and therefore deserving of your scorn. An egocentric person begins to believe the world revolves around him– that only he knows the just path. He then begins to disparage, discredit, and delegitimize anything different from himself.

Tragically, this mindset exists even among some religious Jews, some of whom have embraced a culture of elitism. This has led to painful divisions within our communities. We’ve lost sight of the bigger picture: whether Ashkenazi or Sephardi, “ultra-Orthodox” or “Modern Orthodox,” we are all here to serve the Almighty– and we must fulfill His mission together.

Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook, Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi of Jerusalem in the 1920s, wrote about this very issue. He himself was a frequent target of scorn— suffering greatly as one of the first religious Zionists, simply because he chose to see the good in all kinds of Jews. He famously wrote: “The Temple was destroyed because of baseless hatred, and it will only be rebuilt through baseless love.” Remarkably, the numerical value of the Hebrew word for love (ahava) is the same as that of the word for one (echad).

This is one of Shavuot’s core messages. We received the Torah as one unified people– and we must become unified once again to fulfill God’s plan for this world.

Bamidbar, Numbers 1:1 – 4:20

In the second year of travel in the desert, Moses and Aaron were commanded by the Almighty to count all male Israelites between 20 and 60. There were 603,550 available for military service. The tribe of Levi was exempt because of their special duties as religious leaders. (It is probably from here that countries give divinity deferments to clergy and divinity students.)

The twelve tribes were directed regarding the formation (three tribes were on each side of the Portable Sanctuary) in which they were to camp and travel.

The 22,300 Levites were commanded in the Sanctuary service. The family of Gershon was to transport the coverings of the Sanctuary. The family of Kehos carried the Ark, Table, Menorah, and Altars. The family of Merari transported the boards, pillars, bolts, and sockets.

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