HOLIDAYS

Shavuot Celebrates
Giving The Torah

OZZIE NOGG

Special to The Jewish News

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T

his year, Shavuot
begins at sundown
May 18 and ends at
sundown May 20. It is called
Z'Man Matan Torahteynu,
the time of the giving the
Torah.
Most of us have un-
doubtedly seen the
Hollywood-C.B. DeMille
version of Moses and the
masses march to the moun-
tain. But who needs movies?
We've got Midrash!
According to the sages,
God originally planned to
give the Torah to the Jews
the day after they left Egypt.
But He reconsidered, realiz-
ing it would seem that the
acceptance of Torah was
done only in gratitude for
freedom.
So God waited seven
weeks, and when the
Israelites got to Sinai, they
accepted the Torah out of
love for God and not because
of the miracles, signs and
wonders He performed to
secure their redemption
from pharaoh.
According to another
Midrash, God delayed giving
the Torah lest He appear
like a groom who jumps
hastily into marriage.
Yet another folktale has
God "stalling" for a different
reason.
The Torah is without
blemish and must therefore
go to a people without
defects. So, between the Ex-
odus and Sinai — between
Passover and Shavuot —God
healed the sick among the
Israelites.
However, there were skep-
tics in Moses' band of
wanderers. A few secretly
took an idol with them when
they left Egypt. Moses
discovered the idol and left it
in the sand.
The desert was vast and
teeming with snakes. But for
the Israelites, the snakes
rolled over meekly and
formed reptilian bridges to
help the people cross the
treacherous terrain.
But the Israelites were
soon unhappy. "There's no
water," they whined three
days into the trip. Moses
prayed to God, and God an-
swered by sweetening the
streams of Marah and pro-
ducing wells at Elim (which,
it is reported, tasted not only
like water but like wine and

Ozzie Nogg is a writer in
Omaha, Neb.

honey and milk.) The people
drank and stopped complain-
ing.
In a sense, God was wooing
Israel, His bride. He gave
His beloved the gifts of good
health, sweet water and
miraculous food. But the
greatest gift — the Torah —
God withheld longer.
"The ways of the Torah are
ways of loveliness and all its
paths are peace," God said.
The Jews got the message
and repented. Pettiness and
doubt disappeared. Har-
mony reigned.• By the time
they reached Mt. Sinai they
were ready to accept respon-
sibility and the obligation of
Torah.
Tradition says that before
God offered the Torah to
Israel, He offered it to other
nations. Each nation asked,
"What is written therein?"
And when God started
listing the Thou-Shalts and
the Thou-Shalt-Nots. he got
a resounding no. The
Israelites, on the other hand,
said, "We've been observing
your commandments for ge-
nerations already" and ac-
cepted.
Finally, the day of revela-
tion dawned. Nature stood
still. The sea did not roar. No
birds sang. No creature
stirred. But the universe,
wrote Philo, whirled violent-
ly. All morning the ground
shook until, at noontime, the
words "I am the Lord your
God!" boomed down from
Mt. Sinai. The words were
spoken in the 70 languages
of man.
At the foot of Mt. Sinai, the
people stood — stupefied
with fear. Slowly, they mov-
ed closer to the mountain. As
they drew nearer, God lifted
Mt. Sinai and held it over
the people's heads.
"If you accept my Torah,
fine. If not, your graves will
be under this mountain!"
God said.
And the people screamed,
"We accept!"
Then, down from the
mountain came Moses, car-
rying the Ten Command-
ments. A legend says they
were made of sapphire but
still could be rolled into a
scroll. Each tablet was six
hands wide and six hands
tall, made by God on the
dusk of the first Shabbat
after Creation.
They were divinely en-
graved, not only with the
Commandments but with all
the precepts of The Law. The
Ten Commandments con-
tained "the kernel" of the
entire Torah.

❑

58

FRIDAY, MAY 10, 1991

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