Back in the day when the Jews were in the desert, they were getting ready to receive the Torah from G-d at Mount Sinai. They had no idea exactly what to expect. So, Moses prepared them by daily ascending the mountain, asking G-d for instructions and guiding the Jews in their preparations. However, on the day before the giving of the Torah, Moses did not climb up; instead he busied himself by setting up an altar made of twelve stones, representing the twelve tribes of Israel. So one must ask the question: Since Mount Sinai was not that tall, couldn’t he find some time in the day to climb the mountain and see if there were any new instructions for the Jewish people? Why stay at the bottom of the mountain?
Perhaps there is a hidden message here.
Moses was teaching the Jewish people a lesson; he was taking concrete steps for us to learn what it means to receive the Torah at Mount Sinai. What transpired at Sinai is that from that moment on, we, the people who are down here in this physical world, the ones who cannot just “climb the mountain,” can make a difference by our physical actions. Moses demonstrated this by building an altar out of stones, taking an animal (representing our physical pleasures) and bringing it as an offering (showing that we are willing to let it go) to illustrate that we can elevate this world to a higher, spiritual, plane. If he had gone up the mountain on that final day, then this message would have been lost. The people would have thought that the only way to get close to G-d is to leave this world behind. Moses wanted to be with the Jews, so that they could internalize this lesson.
We too must know that it is in our hands to change this world, specifically from where we stand!
It is in this spirit that we decided that for this year’s Tikun Leil Shavuot – late night learning – for Shavuot eve, on Saturday night, June 8, at 10:00 p.m., we will have community members talk about several “unsung heroes of the Torah,” people who have transformed their world, and made it a better place. See below for more information.
Shabbat Shalom and Happy Shavuot!