Page 19 - Hamizrachi #30 USA 2021 Yom Yerushalayim - Shavuot

GLOBAL RELIGIOUS LEADERS

Rabbi Dr. Warren Goldstein

Always Receiving

T he year was 1935, and the – based on the Talmud – that a person it does so without mentioning it is the

was
is obliged in every generation to see
government
Spanish
anniversary of the giving of the Torah
making elaborate plans to
at all. We infer that Shavuot is the
themselves as if they had personally gone
the
800th
commemorate
anniversary of the Rambam’s
from the date on which the festival takes
– by its messages of faith in G-d, of the
birth – seemingly a great honor and proud out of Egypt. We live by the Exodus daily anniversary of the giving of the Torah
place (the 6th of Sivan), but there’s no
importance of freedom and of resisting
moment for Jews everywhere. tyranny, and of dedicating that freedom explicit mention of it. Why would the
Yet, while many Jews around the world to something greater than ourselves. defining dimension of Shavuot not be
welcomed the initiative and prepared Jewish time is not linear, but cyclical; directly stated by the Torah?
celebrations of their own, some had every year, when, for example, Pesach He answers that the Torah did not want
reservations. These concerns were us to fixate on one day as the anniversary
addressed to the leading Torah sage of the of the giving of the Torah, to relate to this
time, Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzinsky: day as a memory of the distant past.
“We do not need to commemorate the Our relationship Our relationship with the Torah is
Rambam’s birth, for he lives on wherever immediate and visceral. We receive
teachers and students discuss his words; with the Torah it – we incorporate it into our lives –
his teachings upon which we meditate is immediate each and every day. When the Jewish
every day are his eternal remembrance. people are approaching Mount Sinai
This has been an everyday occurrence for and visceral to receive the Torah, the verse says, “In
many generations – the wellsprings have the third month of the children of Israel
not ceased to this day.” leaving the land of Egypt, on this day
Stamps and statues. Plaques and they arrived in the desert of Sinai.” Rashi
paintings. Buildings and bridges. These notes that it says “this day” and not “that
are the traditional ways we commemorate comes around, it’s not that we are day.” “That day” would imply an event
the great people of the past. The 1935 remembering an event that happened in in the past, “this day” implies that it’s
Spanish government sought to celebrate the distant past, but rather we experience happening today. Right now. Let us stop
the legacy of the great Maimonides, Rabbi the same spiritual energy that was for a moment now and realise that at this
Moshe ben Maimon, the Rambam, in unleashed in the world at the time of the moment in time we are actively receiving
much the same way. But we Jews aren’t original Pesach. the Torah from G-d.
in the habit of memorialising our leaders This same principle applies to every There’s a unique offering which was
and teachers. Rav Chaim Ozer’s objection one of the events that are recorded brought in the Temple on Shavuot – two
was based on the fact that we live with the in the Torah, and that we are called loaves of bread, made from the newly
Rambam – with his writings and teachings on to remember. We are not merely ripened first grains of the wheat harvest.
– every day. His philosophical ideas and remembering; we are reliving and The Torah calls this offering the Mincha
halachic rulings form part of our collective re-integrating the experiences, and Chadasha – the “new offering.” Why this
Jewish consciousness. The Rambam is not a making them part of our daily lives – focus on newness? Because Shavuot is a
historical relic; he is a figure of the present. tangible and relevant in every way. celebration of freshness and renewal. It’s
This vignette about the Rambam Arguably, no festival embodies this a celebration of renewed inspiration and
provides a window into understanding the idea quite like Shavuot, which is the renewed challenge. It’s a celebration of
Torah’s approach to history. We do more anniversary of the giving of the Torah Torah, today.
than remember the fact that the Exodus exactly 3,333 years ago. The Kli Yakar
from Egypt took place – we relive that points out that when the Torah calls on Rabbi Dr. Warren Goldstein is the Chief
liberation. The Rambam himself codifies us to celebrate the festival of Shavuot, Rabbi of South Africa.

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