THE JEWISH NEWS
MAY 25, 1990
A Toast
To Jewish Living
Renewing Our Bond With Oral, Written Torahs
Ato
By RABBI ERIC KROHNER
Rabbi Eric Krohner is director
of development for the Yeshiva
Gedolah Ateres Mordechai of
Greater Detroit and the author of
this month's 'To Our Readers.' For
each issue of L'Chayim, a rabbi,
Jewish educator or other notable
will present an overview of the
month's theme.
For thousands of years in an
unbroken chain of generations, the
Jewish nation has made the bold
claim that the Torah is nothing less
than the voice of God
communicating His will through the
written and oral word. The support
for this claim is the historical
experience of the entire Jewish
people (6 million men, women and
children) who witnessed and
accepted the giving of the Torah
from God some 3,000 years ago.
`And God said to Moshe, 'This
shall you say to the children of
Israel, You have seen that I have
spoken with you from heaven.' "
(Shemot 20:19)
This experience is relived each
year through our own personal
study of Torah on the holiday of
Shavuot, the anniversary of that
giving of the Torah. (Shavuot begins
sundown, May 29.)
For those who study and live by
the Written and Oral Torah, it is a
complete life system, the source of
"universal and eternal truth," the
vehicle by which man connects with
the inner essence of life, its
meaning and purpose. The Torah
offers man the ultimate challenge of
developing human greatness by
learning to become harmonious with
himself, his fellow man and God.
There were two Torahs given to
the Jewish people on Shavuot, the
Written and Oral Torah. The Written
Torah was dictated by God to man
and reflects the ideas, thoughts and
messages of a higher order.
Contained within it is all possible
knowledge and description of
Continued on Page 52
Harvesting A Jewish Garden
By HARLENE WINNICK
APPELMAN
Each holiday offers its own
parenting opportunities and Shavuot
is no exception. Shavuot not only
celebrates the receiving of the Torah
from Sinai (a great example of
values transmission), but also
celebrates the harvesting of the first
fruits. Further harvest is one of the
predominant themes of the Book of
Ruth (read on Shavuot). In that
book, Boaz discovers Ruth gleaning
(gathering forgotten harvest) in his
fields and falls in love with her.
The theme of harvest and the
rules that govern the fields offer a
great chance to talk to your children
about Jewish gardening and even to
plan a Jewish garden. Below are
three classifications that deal with
Jewish gardening. They also deal
with tzedakah.
PE'AH — "And when you reap
the harvest of your fields, you shall
not totally harvest the field. You
must leave the corners of the field
... for the poor and the stranger
(Leviticus 23:22)."
Literally, Pe'ah means corner.
Farmers were ordered to leave the
corners of their fields for people in
need. In this way poor people come
and do the work to harvest their
own food, without having to ask for
tzedakah.
SHEKHIHAH — "When you
reap the harvest of your field and
you forget a sheaf in the field, do
not go back to get it. Leave it for
the stranger, the fatherless and the
widow. (Deuteronomy 24:19)."
Shekhihah means forgotten.
This is a totally unplanned mitzvah,
but a wonderful point for discussion.
LEKET — "And when you reap
the harvest of your fields ... You
shall not gather the gleanings of
your harvest (Leviticus 19:9)."
Leket means gleanings.
Gleanings are the things which the
harvesters dropped and didn't go
back to pick up.
All three of these categories:
Leket, Shekhihah, and Pe'ah are
concepts for the Jewish gardener to
Continued on Page 52
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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