by rabbi pinchas lipne
Shemini Atzeret
Deuteronomy 14:22-16:17
Numbers 29:25-30:1
I Kings 8:54-9:1
Simchat Torah
Deuteronomy 33:1-34:12
Genesis 1:1-2:3
Numbers 29:35-30:1
Joshua 1:1-18
As we approach the last day of this wonderful holiday season, one wonders: Why now? Why on this day of Simchat Torah? Why is this the day when we complete the cycle and immediately begin the cycle of reading the Torah? Why is this the time when we encircle the Torah, dance, sing and rejoice with it? Can it be that our timing is ill-chosen, our emphasis misplaced?
After longingly counting the 49 days leading up to the revelation, the Torah was received on the holiday of Shavuot. If Shavuot is z’man matan Torateinu, the time of the giving of our Torah, shouldn’t it be z’man simchateinu, the time of our rejoicing, as well?
To understand, we must view the three festivals of Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot as one unit, with Shavuot as only one, the second, in this series. We must also comprehend the significant parallelism of the historic moments of these festivals with their correspondence in the sphere of nature.
Pesach, of course, historically commemorates our redemption from slavery, but it is also Chag HaAviv, the festival of spring. So necessary is this aspect of the holiday that the Sanhedrin, the supreme judicial body of Jerusalem’s Jewish life, was compelled to establish a leap year with an extra month to ensure that Pesach would always be associated not only with the Exodus, but also with a particular time of year.
Shavuot is not only the time of the giving of the Torah, but also Chag HaBikurim, the festival celebrating the ripening of the first fruits. The agricultural aspect was as essential a component of the observance as the historic remembrance of the revelation at Mount Sinai.
Sukkot is the festival reminding us of our 40-year miraculous journey through the desert protected by Divine intervention with “booths of glory.” It is also known as Chag HaAsif, the festival of the harvest.
Why are the specific seasons so relevant to these historic celebrations? Beginning with Pesach, we can glean a potent insight into our past and our purpose. The very time of Pesach on the calendar suggests that “freedom from” without the qualification of “freedom to” may be compared with the beautiful trees of the field that blossom at this time. The bloom is the beauty of potential, but it lacks the fullness of fruit. We may rejoice that Pharaoh is no longer our taskmaster, but that physical freedom alone is as insignificant as the opening of the buds. They are beautiful to behold, but they cannot provide permanent sustenance.
It is only on Shavuot when we, as a nation, agreed to place ourselves under the Divine authority of the Almighty, that G-d Himself saw the “first fruit” of human progress. Although every other nation, when offered the Torah, rejected Divine truth, at least there was one that now grasped life’s ultimate purpose. Even nature recognizes that some fruits ripen before others. As the Jewish people are referred to as Beni Bichorei Yisrael, “my firstborn, Israel,” Shavuot is called Chag HaBikurim. We are not G-d’s only children, but His firstborn. On Shavuot, historically, we ripened into a nation of priests, whose mission would be to serve as priests to all of mankind.
So why, then, is Shavuot not yet the time of our great joy? G-d and His people could not fully rejoice when so many of His children still wander blindly in ignorance of His very existence, His will and His ways. First, we must experience the time of harvest agriculturally and historically. We believe that there will come a time of a full spiritual harvest. Only then can we truly rejoice.
Indeed, all of the Haftarot of Sukkot deal with the messianic age. On this festival, Jews offered sacrifices for all the nations of the world, praying that all will be harvested and gathered in to do Divine service. Then, and only then, at the conclusion of Sukkot and the cycle of the three festivals we can allow ourselves on Simchat Torah to truly celebrate with pure joy the amazing gift of the Torah.
Shabbat shalom and chag sameach.
Rabbi Pinchas Lipner is dean of Hebrew Academy in San Francisco.
CopyrightJ, the Jewish news weekly of Northern California