Page 7 - Harlem Shavuot Companion 2020

The revelation of Torah is experienced through the raw power of thunder, fire, and lightning. It
comes not through sudden clarity but through dense fog. Revelation is not feeling suddenly
equipped with new understanding but rather it is the naked, vulnerable experience of trembling at
the foot of a mountain.

And, of course, so too was the act of welcoming our daughter intimate, vulnerable, and intensely
raw. Once she arrived and was on my chest, no divine voice rang through in the midst of my
overwhelm and exhilaration from labor to say “Behold! Now you know all the answers and
everything is clear to you!” I simply experienced a quieter, though no less profound, revelation:

“Each step will be revealed.”

I have come to understand revelation as an unfolding, ever-renewable process. It comes not
through instantaneous status change but through the moment-by-moment commitment to find the
right way and to put the next foot forward. It is the willingness to take a step, to go in the right
direction, even when (or perhaps - precisely when) we feel most vulnerable.

So too with Torah, whose instruction provides us with a footpath that is illuminated as we walk it,
revealing new understanding through how we inch forward in each moment. Revelation happened
in sound and fury at Sinai, and it is also happening quietly, slowly in this very moment and in
every step forward.

In our home, Dimitry and I have welcomed many hundreds of you to encounter Torah, our
tradition, and each other. The moments of revelation we experience around our Shabbat table and
gatherings are perhaps less dramatic than the scene at the foot of Mount Sinai, but no less profound,
born out through rawness, intimacy, and vulnerability. So we remind you of this this Shavuot, as
we try to tap into the experience of Revelation:

While we don’t know when we will welcome you into our home again, and that is hard to swallow,
we are standing here in our kitchen, remembering the lesson that Torah, and life, and you have
taught us —

“Each step will be revealed.”

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