Parasha Thoughts
By Rabbi Yitzchak Ariel
As the days of the Omer come to an end and we approach Shavuot, we must all be asking ourselves the following questions. What is the purpose of Shavuot? Are we prepared to enter this holiday? What are we supposed to accomplish during Shavuot? What should our mindset be?
To answer these questions we have to take a look at the big picture. We already know that Jewish holidays are not merely a commemoration of what happened centuries ago. Passover is not just to remember when we left Egypt, Sukkot is not just to remember the miracle of Hashem surrounding us in the desert with the clouds of glory, and Shavuot is not just to remember when we received the Torah. Every Jewish holiday is about this year; it’s about right now. On Pesach we free ourselves from being enslaved to our Yetzer Hara (evil inclination). On Sukkot we strengthen our level of Bitachon, infusing in ourselves that Hashem is always with us no matter where we reside. On Shavuot, we receive the Torah this year on a deeper level.
Unfortunately, many of us go through the cycle of holidays unaffected and unchanged. However, it is incumbent upon us to recognize the great potential of these holidays and use them properly to transform ourselves into better human beings and better Jews year after year.
How, though, can we ensure that we will receive the Torah year in and year out on a deeper level? Our sages teach us that a prerequisite to receiving the wisdom of the Torah is having good midot. One can only be gifted with the depth of understanding the profound wisdom of the Torah after having molded himself into a more complete human being, working on traits such as anger, haughtiness, falling into temptation, laziness, and the like. In accordance to the proportion that one works on himself will he be gifted with a more profound understanding of the Torah. When asked if we wanted to receive the Torah many years ago, we responded by saying “We will do and we will hear.” The obvious question here is how can one do something before they hear the instructions? Rav Eliyahu Dessler explains that Bnei Yisrael’s response was to show that they understood what was necessary to accept the Torah. They said first “We will do”; we will take action and work on ourselves. Then and only then “we will hear”; we will be able to understand and appreciate the true depth of the wisdom of the Torah and continue to discover new insights and outlooks. Hashem should help us all mold ourselves into vessels capable of retaining the great substance of Torah.