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The holiday marks God's gift of the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai.
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64
FRIDAY, MAY 25, 1990
Shavuot's Main Goal:
Providing A 'Faith' Lift
5 8 1 - 8 1 2 2 j
he Exodus from Egypt
occupies a major role
in the Bible and
subsequent Jewish thought.
However, the Exodus was
only the prelude to the main
event, mattan Torah, the
giving of the Torah, which
occurs on Shavuot. Accor-
ding to tradition, this oc-
curred when Moses received
the Ten Commandments on
Mount Sinai and then gave
them to the Hebrew people.
At the upper reaches of the
mount, lightning flashes and
a loud roaring noise fills the
air. As God descends to its
top, the mountain seems
consumed in flame and the
terrifying voice of an unear-
thly shofar issues out of its
depths. Moses alone is pre-
sent when God speaks the
words of the Ten Com-
mandments.
The finest literary study of
Moses was done by Thomas
Mann in a little book that is
now out of print. With his
keen mind and gifted pen, he
penetrates the character of
this great man and this
great event.
In the climax of Moses'
life, Mann portrays him
Rabbi Bernard S. Raskas is
rabbi emeritus of Temple of
Aaron Congregation in St.
Paul, and is author of the
trilogy, "Heart of Wisdom."
standing on the volcanic ash
of Mount Sinai. With power-
ful arms, Moses rips two
huge, irregular pieces from
the mountainside. Then he
seizes a sharp stone and
begins the hard tedious job
of carving the 172 Hebrew
letters on the two stones. In
this primitive setting, this
task takes 39 days.
On the 40th day, as he is
about to descend with the
two tablets of the law, he
pauses to survey the com-
mandments. He examines
his work and notices that the
impressions on the rock are
hardly visible at a distance.
But where on this dry,
barren area, he asks himself,
will he find color to
highlight the Hebrew
characters?
Then suddenly, he takes a
jagged rock and slashes his
hand and with his own
blood; he traces over the
letters. Having accomplish-
ed this task, he descends
from the mountain to give
them through his people to
humanity.
This is the crux of the Ten
Commandments. They must
be written with a person's
lifeblood or they have little
value. A religious person
does not worship the Ten
Commandments, but lives
them. A religious person
does not pay them lip service
but he gives them service of
the mind and the heart.