This week's Miller's Musings is sponsored:
לעילוי נשמת שושנה רוזה בת נפתלי משה
and as a רפואה שלמה for
יהודה זאב בן ברכה אלכסנדרה גילה
דבס''
MILLER’S MUSINGS
FOR תועובש
A Piece of Me
There is no question that the giving of the Torah was an event totally unique in the annals of history and unmatched in what took place. A mass revelation, never to have occurred before or to occur again. Nevertheless in terms of its miraculous nature, we may question what it was about it that made it stand out above all the other wondrous miracles that took place around that time. Yet this is exactly how it is referred to in Devorim, “since the day that G-d created man upon the earth whether there has been any such thing as this great thing is?”. What was it about this event that was like no other?
Our deliverance from the claws of death in Egypt, the nature-defying plagues and even the incredible display of Hashem’s might at the Yam Suf all had one thing in common. They displayed Hashem’s greatness and supreme dominance over creation. They were direct manifestations of His love for us and His desire to avenge our enemies, but they were not Hashem Himself. We saw what Hashem does and is, but we did not actually connect with the essence of Him. This, says the Alei Be’er, is what makes the giving of the Torah unique. For the Torah is not just an expression of Hashem’s kindness, it is a part of Himself. Har Sinai was the only point at which Hashem revealed not only His relationship with us and the world, but something of His fundamental being. This is what He bestowed upon us and why there is nothing like the event celebrated on Shavuos. This may in fact be why there is no Mitzvah of the day, like other Yomim Tovim. It is because the giving of the Torah can never be commemorated by any other act. It is so exceptional and incomparable that any form of remembrance, other than learning Torah itself, would be a dilution and unworthy of the day.
There is an easy mistake to make and consider learning Torah just one other Mitzvah. We daven, treat people properly, keep Shabbos and we also learn Torah occasionally. But what we have said should make us realise that absorbing the Torah’s teachings gives us more than any other Mitzvah and is far more than just an instruction book for life. It is a chance to connect the most directly with Hashem Himself. There is no other Mitzvah that contains this prospect. So on Shavuos, when we celebrate this wondrous gift we have been given, it may be the most opportune time to think how we can increase our Torah learning, even by a minimal amount. There is always some time that we can find, as long as our priorities are as they should be. We can consider how we can best support others in their learning and encourage those around us to participate in it further. The more we do the more connected we are and the more we make ourselves people who are people of Hashem.
*May this Shavuos help us feel ever closer to Hashem*
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