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of thousands of Jews living comfort- It was there they encamped before that this alludes to the 6th of Sivan,
ably throughout the Western world Mount Sinai, “as one man with one the future date of Matan Torah, the
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began moving in droves to Israel. heart,” standing with a singular day that would give the essential
The spiritually oppressed Jews of the unity and anticipation to receive the Divine purpose to the physical cre-
Soviet Union, whose Jewish identity Torah. On that day, Moshe ascended ation. So too, in our time, the return
and pride had been squashed, would the mountain and initiated a six-day to Jerusalem and the close proximity
somehow find the courage to stand up spiritual preparation period before to Shavuot gave the Six-Day War its
for their Jewishness and rebel against receiving the Torah six days later. Just ultimate spiritual meaning.
the Communist regime and the KGB. like in those days, so too at this time The Jewish people and the Torah
This, in turn, sparked a deep sense had they ascended the Mountain of world today are not only surviving but
G-d, Mount Moriah in Jerusalem.
of shared fate and common destiny Now they were ready for a remarkable thriving, almost as never before. Israel
that gripped the nation. Under the and unforgettable re-receiving of the has over nine million civilians with
slogan “Let My People Go,” Jews Torah. 6.7 million Jews, the largest amount
around the world galvanized to fight of Jews ever to live in the Land of
for their brethren and eventually led A Night To Remember Israel. Jerusalem is Israel’s largest city
to over a million Russian Olim arriv- with a population of 900,000 and is
ing in Israel after the fall of the Iron Many people say that this night was home to the largest concentration
Curtain. the most memorable of their entire of shuls, yeshivot and Torah learn-
lives, etched into their consciousness ing centers in the world. There is
Not only was Israel’s spirit lifted forever. It was the first Shavuot to arguably more Torah learning in the
but so was the search for its soul. I take place at the Western Wall, the Jewish world today than at any other
believe one can trace the beginning Kotel HaMa’aravi, under a Jewish time in history.
of the return of tens if not hundreds government and with the protection
of thousands to their religious and of Jewish soldiers for the first time So much of this was precipitated
spiritual roots – and the flourishing in almost two millennia. A mind by the Divine grace and favor the
of educational and outreach organi- boggling 200,000 Jews from all over Almighty shone upon us during those
zations of the Baal Teshuva move- Israel, almost 10% of the country’s modern Six Days of Creation. May
ment in Israel and all over the Jewish Jewish population, made their way we deeply appreciate and continue
world – directly to the transformative through the ancient alleyways of to be worthy of such monumental
blessings.
power of these six days. The Jewish the Old City to gather together at
soul was stirred with an other-worldly the small but recently cleared plaza Yom Yerushalayim and Chag Shavuot
fire and fervor. at the foot of the Wall. This was the Sameach!
first time since the year 70 C.E. that
individual Jews no longer came as for-
Incredible Timing eigners to someone else’s Jerusalem, 1 Yechezkel 37.

The timing on the Jewish calendar of but returned as rightful custodians to 2 Michael Oren, Six Days of War, Ballantine
the war could barely have been more the heart of their national and spir- Books, p. 309.
spiritually precise and prescient. itual home. These 200,000 people, 3 Shemot Chapter 19:1: “In the third month
(Sivan) after the children of Israel went out
emissaries and shlichim of Klal Yis- of the Land of Mitzrayim, on that day (Rosh
The day that Jerusalem, the Kotel rael, experienced a rendezvous with Chodesh) they came to the wilderness of
and the Temple Mount returned to destiny at that Matan Torah with a Sinai.”
Jewish sovereign control, the 28th of sense of dignity and redemptive spirit 4 Rashi on Shemot 19:2 quoting the Mechilta.
that had not been experienced for 5 Perhaps with the exception of the time
Iyar, Yom Yerushalayim, was exactly of the Bar Kochba rebellion from 132 to
one week before Shavuot. The war generations. 135 C.E. when Roman control had been
temporarily removed, although Jerusalem
ended a few days later at the begin- After the original six days of creation, remained in ruins.
ning of the month of Sivan, the very the verse concludes with an unusual 6 Rashi to Bereishit 1:31, quoting Midrash
same time 3,000 years before that the phrase – “it was evening and it was Tanchuma and Shir Hashirim Rabbah 1:9.
Jewish people had arrived at Sinai to morning, the sixth day” with the defi-
begin their preparation for the receiv- nite article emphasizing something Rabbi Doron Perez is Chief Executive of
ing of the Torah. 3 unique about this day. Our Sages say 6 the Mizrachi World Movement

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