The Weekest Link

It is curious that the period of counting of the Omer which should enable us to keep account of time if not ideas, its climax, Shavuot is shrouded in mystery both in terms of its very purpose and when exactly it is supposed to occur. The confusion begins with the well known instruction in Vayikra 23:15

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And you shall count for yourselves, from the morrow of the Shabbat .

The commentators are quick to explain that the term Shabbat rather than meaning Shabbat refers to the Festival (Pesach) and so we begin counting after the first day of the Festival. The major disputes that arose from the enigmatic phrase could have been avoided through less precarious instructions.

Perhaps the use of the term Shabbat is not so much a reference to time but more a state of mind. As detailed in the Ten Commandments in the Book of Shemot and later Devarim, Shabbat becomes the ultimate expression of two foundational ideals. The acceptance of the Divine creation of the world and our freedom from slavery.

The text in the Shemot 20:11 reviews the creation story and the directive for resting on the Shabbat;  ????? ???????????????? ??????? ???????? ???????????????? ?????????????? ??????????? ??????????????????????? ????????? ????????? ????????????? ????????? ???????? ???????? ????????? ??????????? ?????????????????   For [in] six days the Lord made the heaven and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and He rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it.

The second principal in Devarim 5:15 refers to the Exodus from Egypt which affords the capacity to celebrate freedom and protect others (humans and animals) through giving them the ability to rest;  

????????????? ????? ?????? ????????? ????????? ?????????? ????????????? ???????? ??????????? ???????? ??????? ???????? ??????????? ????????? ????????? ???????? ???????? ?????????? ??????????? ????????? ???????????:

And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord your God took you out from there with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm; therefore, the Lord, your God, commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.

The capacity to count  and celebrate time is contingent on these core precepts. Shavuot becomes an outgrowth of the “ Morrow of Shabbat”, it is about the celebration of our ability to live in time as free people. In all the references to the Festival in the Torah there is absolutely no alusion or indication that Shavuot has anything at all to do with the Receiving of the Torah, rather it is described as an agricultural Festival as exemplified through its (Torah) names; Festival of Reaping, ?? ????? and the Festival of the First Fruits,  ??? ????????. Agricultural cycles are perhaps the ultimate examples of the wonders of time, as is the other Biblical name for the cryptic Festival- Shavuot- Weeks! If we consider this enigma in an even deeper manner, how could the instructions for the date of the Festival celebrating the receiving of the Torah be based on concepts that we formally have not yet received?

Pesach and or Shabbat as ideas as opposed to dates convey in the most profound manner the rationale, theology and responsibility of  freedom. A J Heschel develops these core ideas symbolized through Shabbat and Pesach in his book The Insecurity of Freedom where he writes;  “The meaning of freedom is not exhausted by deliberation, decision and responsibility, although it must include all this. The meaning of freedom presupposes an openness to transcendence and man has to be responsive before he can come responsible…”  Later he writes; “The major root of freedom lies in the the belief that man any man is too good to be the slave of another man.”

Emmanuel Levinas, also expands on these ideas in his understanding of responsibility, which could be argued parallel Heschel’s approach to freedom. He claims that; “transcendence is the spontaneity of responsibility for another person. It is experienced in concrete life and expressed in a host of situations, even before a de facto command is actually received from that other. This curious proposition reflects the much debated meaning of receiving the Torah before knowing what was written in it.”( ???? ?????  - we will do and we will listen.) Levinas calls this sort of responsiveness the “Good beyond Being.” Responsibility enacts that good, that trace of the infinite...

The title of his book Difficult Freedom alludes to a Midrash on the verse in Shemot 32:16

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And the writing was the writing of God Graven, Charut, on the Tablets.

The Midrash playfully suggests read not Harut graven but rather Cherut Freedom. The Mishna in Pirkei Avot 6:2 expands this idea to state that “you will find no free man save him who is engaged in the study of the Torah”.

At the climax of counting seven weeks, a time of spiritual development accentuated by the Kabbalistic stages and qualities assigned to each day of the Omer,  Shavuot becomes a Festival of Cherut, Freedom which alludes to and denotes the writings of God Charut , graven, on the Tablets of Torah.   

So it now becomes feasible to reintroduce Shavuot as also being ??? ??? ???? , the (fitting) time for receiving the Torah. Being worthy of this moment cannot necessarily be taken for granted, hence the date and the direct reference is evaded. There is a compelling tension each time we make this journey. By fully embracing  these profound principles,we re-merit the drama of Sinai again each year.