Page 16 - Harlem Shavuot Companion 2020

still-youthful relationship between G-d and the soon-to-be Jewish people. Like in any
relationship, there is a shakla v’tarya - a give and take, a push and pull. We circumscribe our
wants, our desires, the full breadth and measure of our freedom, in the interest of achieving a
loftier form of freedom, one that resides within the mutual boundaries of a dynamic relationship.

If the Torah is the story of the romance between G-d and the Jewish people, then the holiday of
Shavuot is the mutual exchange of wedding vows under the chuppah, with the Torah itself
serving as the instrument of consecration and betrothal. Hashem proclaims: “I am the Lord your
G-d”, who took you out of Egypt, and “You will have no other gods beside Me”, for this is a
covenantal relationship between only two partners, with rights and obligations exclusive to one
another. “Na'aseh v’nishma” respond the Jewish people — we will first agree to do (as you ask
of us, circumscribing our otherwise boundless newfound freedom to Your “needs”, as it were,
before You even utter what those priorities are), and then afterward will we hear (the details and
particularities of those priorities).

Every Shavuot, we are challenged to see this particular season for ourselves as “zman matan
Toratenu” — the time of the giving of our Torah — anew again. Will we commit to deepening
our relationship with the Omnipresent and with each other? Or will we prioritize our own
limitless, boundaryless freedom at the expense of others? Will we selfishly hoard our freedom at
the expense of obligation, of duty, of avodah (Divine service), of osek b’Torah (plumbing the
depths of Torah), of yirat Hashem (awe and reverence of G-d) and kavod ha’briot (giving honor
to all of creation)?

Shavuot is an invitation to dream bigger, build grander, and commit to an Other beyond the
myopic boundaries of our individual whims. This year, may we merit to enter into this collective
work, recognizing it as the ultimate expression of our freedom and the means by which to create
a dwelling place in this world that befits the Divine Presence.

-14-