Sunday, May 16, 2010

Shavuot

Shavuot is the holiday on which we relive the experience of receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai. It is on this holiday that we recommit ourselves to the Torah and its mitzvot.

When describing our ancestors' preparation for this momentous event, the Torah explains that every single Jew was present at the Giving of the Torah. Every Jew was at Mount Sinai. Every Jew wanted to be there. Every Jew had to be there. Including the souls of all Jews destined to be born!
Why? Because the Torah is the inheritance of every Jew. Our Sages tell us, had one Jew been missing, the Torah could not have been given. Each one of us is precious. Each one of us is essential. The Jewish nation is incomplete when even one solitary Jew is not present.

At the Giving of the Torah, every Jew actually heard G-d's "voice" when He told us the Ten Commandments.

In the very first commandment, G-d said, "I am the L-rd, your G-d."

The Hebrew word for "your G-d" -- elokecha -- was used in the singular form. "Elokecha" teaches us that G-d commanded every Jew individually to observe the Ten Commandments and the other mitzvot of the Torah. G-d commanded us personally.

And, of course, if G-d thus commanded us, he also gave us the ability and strength to fulfill our obligations.

Just as the revelation of the Torah at Mount Sinai was experienced by every Jew without exception, the revelation in the Messianic Era will also be experienced by every Jew, without exception. Every Jew alive today and every Jew who ever lived, will experience the peace, prosperity, and Divine knowledge of the Messianic Era.

For the Messianic Era, like the Torah, is the inheritance of every single Jew.

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