Q:
What’s the main, the most important kavanah that we should have on Shavuos?
A:
What should be the most important kavanah on the Yom Tov of Shavuos?
And I’ll just say briefly, with my little mind. We’ll say first what’s in the Siddur: זמן מתן תורתנו. Anshei Knesses Hagedolah put that in, so that’s paramount. Think of the great good fortune, the great glory and kavod that Hashem gave us the Torah.
But the Torah to us means many things. Not only the Torah is a way of life to us, it’s חיי עולם הבא, not only דרכיה דרכי נועם וכל נתיבותיה שלום, but the Torah means we are chosen by Hashem: אשר בחר בנו מכל העמים! The privilege that Hashem chose us and He says בנים אתם לה’ אלוקיכם – “You are My children.” Hakodosh Boruch Hu said, אתם תהיו לי ממלכת כהנים –You will be a mamlacha all of kohanim, that your job is to serve Me. That’s your purpose in life.
And so we were transformed from a nation to a people that were dedicated to serve Hashem. That’s what Torah means: Matan Torah.
Now there are so many things to talk about on Shavuos that each one of them deserves a great deal of time, but right now we will concentrate just on one element, זמן מתן תורתנו! And we can never get through with thanking Hashem for that great gift.
You know, the Gemara says in Mesechta Nedarim (81a) that one of the reasons for the churban Beis Hamikdash was שלא ברכו בתורה תחילה – they did not make a bracha on the Torah. Now the Ran asked a kasha there. The Ran said “Look, it says there, if they kept everything else, so what’s their big punishment just for that one thing? And secondly, why shouldn’t they make a bracha on the Torah? Why were they lazy to do it?”
And the Ran quotes the Rabbeinu Yona as follows: They made a bracha on the Torah but שלא היתה התורה מתנה חשובה בעיניהם. They studied the Torah, like they told Yirmiyahu, what do you want of us? הלא תורת ה’ עמנו – Aren’t we keeping the Torah? We’re studying the Torah.”
And yet the criticism was something that we have to understand applies to us too. They didn’t realize how lucky they were that they had the Torah. A מתנה חשובה! There’s no gift in the world as great as the gift of the Torah.
When Hashem chose us, אשר בחר בנו ונתן לנו so we are supposed to be so excited always about the Torah that when you make the bracha, you are actually thanking Hashem for the biggest stroke of good luck that ever could have happened to you.
And therefore, when they said the bracha without that feeling, even though they kept the Torah, it was like they were doing Hashem a favor: “We’re keeping the Torah, Hashem, because You told us to do it.” But they didn’t appreciate it sufficiently.
And I’m sure they appreciated more than we do, but it’s not enough.
And so we have to realize the work on Shavuos is to work on the happiness; think all the time that you can, how fortunate we are, how wealthy we are, how great we are that Hashem chose us and gave us this great gift.
June 1994
