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?