26 | MAY 28 • 2020
Spirit
torah portion
Joy In The World
W
hat is the relation-
ship between the
giving of the Torah
and the festival of first fruits in
the Temple — the two names
for Shavuot? And why was our
Torah given in the desert, out-
side the Holy Land?
The Ramban (Nahmanides)
maintains that diaspora Jews
observe general laws like the
Sabbath and tefillin only in
order not to forget them before
they return to Israel because, he
maintains, genuine fulfillment
of the biblical laws can only be
accomplished there.
Also, the first Shavuot fell on
Friday, the 50th day, whereas
the revelation was not until one
day later, Shabbat, the second
day of the festival celebrated in
the diaspora. After all, Mount
Sinai is not within the land. The
giving of the Torah is based on
its having been given in exile.
Why? I believe the
Torah — certainly the
Seven Noahide Laws of
morality and even the
Ten Commandments
— is meant for the
entire world. Doesn’
t
Maimonides exhort us
to teach every human to
keep the Noahide Laws
and insist that eventual-
ly “everyone will return
to the true religion”?
Hence our Torah was
given in exile because
we must bring its
life-giving waters even
to the desert and turn even
the farthest corner of the exile
into an outpost of Torah. Torah
must affect and transform the
entire planet.
Torah must welcome every
gentile into its protective
tent. Abraham must realize
his destiny as a father of a
multitude of nations, and
every convert must be seen
as another Abraham and
welcomed into the family.
As Boaz replies to Ruth
when she asks why he has
shown her, “a stranger,”
so many kindnesses: “You
left your father and your
mother and the land of
your birth, and have gone
with a nation which you
did not know yesterday or
the day before ...”
Finally, there is the connec-
tion between Shavuot and the
festival of first fruits in the
Temple. The major function
of the Temple is to have all
the nations flock to it to learn
Torah. “For from Zion shall go
forth Torah, and the world of
God from Jerusalem.”
As Isaiah teaches: “For My
house must be called a house of
prayer for all nations.”
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin is the founder and
chancellor of Ohr Torah Stone Colleges
and Graduate Programs and chief
rabbi of Efrat, Israel.
Parshat
Shavuot
2nd Day:
Deuteronomy
14:22-16:17;
Numbers
28:26-31;
Habakkuk
3:1-19.
Rabbi Shlomo
Riskin
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CONVERSATIONS
How do you feel of the accura-
cy of the Isaiah quote that ends
the article? Can you see such
magnanimity in today’
s world
or is it just a fervent wish?