JustASC

Shavuot greetings from the NJJN:

You can’t get very far into describing Shavuot before noting that it has “very few rituals associated with its celebration.” No doubt, that fact has kept the festival, which marks the revelation at Sinai and the giving of the Torah, from capturing a very strong place in the imaginations of many if not most American Jews. Like all hagim, it is a time for synagogue, and family, and time apart from the workaday rhythms of the world. But beyond the mysterious consumption of dairy foods, Shavuot’s lack of a signature symbol or rite seems like an oversight.

Or does it? Since Shavuot marks the giving of the Torah – and the Jews’ renewal of their acceptance of Torah – perhaps it is fitting that there is no distinct ritual like a seder, or a shofar blast, or the lighting of a special candelabrum. Perhaps Shavuot is best expressed as the acceptance of totality: for religious Jews, the totality of the commandments and the obligation to learn; for Zionists, the totality of their commitment to Jewish renewal in Israel; for activists, the totality of their commitment to living and realizing the ideals expressed in Torah and Jewish history. In that case, no distinct ritual – except, perhaps, for the all-night study session known as tikun leil shavuot – is needed to express this idea of wholeness. Even the tikun is the “anti-ritual.” You want to celebrate Torah? Then go learn, and learn some more – that’s all there is to it.

Perhaps the lesson for Shavuot is that you don’t need a gimmick or a mnemonic device to celebrate the things or ones you love most. You just need to be in their presence, engage with them in a relationship, share your love with others.

The word “pluralism” is not a concept from Torah, but this is: “Turn the Torah, turn it again and again, for everything you want to know is found within it.” (Pirkei Avot 2:25) There is a hint in that famous mishna that the Torah is for all of us. It’s an invitation to engage with your Jewish self. What’s more, it is an invitation that says, “Come as you are.” And finally, with the lack of a specific ritual, it is an invitation to make Shavuot, and your embrace of Jewish tradition, your very own.

Shavuot begins May 28 at sundown. See you there.