Shavuot Customs

Author: Esther Ehrman, Iyar 5767/May 2007

א ח ר י ת

א=אקדמות ח=חלב ר=רות י=ירק ת=תורה

The above is a mnemonic for our Shavuot customs. A Cha R I T, acharit, referring to minhagim, customs, that come after, later than the Torah itself. A = Akdamut; Cha = Chalav; R = Ruth; I = Ierek; T = Torah.

Akdamut. A poem in Aramaic by R. Itzhak b. Meir, chazan in Worms, whose son was murdered in the 1096 Crusade. Each of the ninety lines of the poem ends in את , the last and first letter of the alphabet, indicative of the fact that the Torah begins anew when it seems to have reached the end. The poem extols the Almighty and His love for Israel and exhorts Israel to hold firm to faith in its redemption. The poem is read in Ashkenazi Synagogues at the beginning of the reading of the Torah. In Sephardi Synagogues, the custom is to read Azharot, a poem that speaks of the 613 commandments, as well as a special ketuba, a marriage contract between the Almighty and Israel.

Chalav, milk. It is the custom to eat dairy foods for at least one meal of the festival. Some of the reasons given are:

Just as there were two offerings on Pesach, the paschal lamb and the festival sacrifice, chagiga, we have two kinds of food, meat and milk (Eliahu Ki Tov, The Book of Our Heritage). There is a tradition that Moses refused to drink the milk of a non-Israelite and so was nursed by his mother Yocheved at the suggestion of his sister Miriam (Sefer Matamim). The numerical value of the letters חלב is forty, corresponding to the forty days Moses spent on Mt Sinai (R.Shimshon of Ostropol). The letters are also seen as an allusion to Psalm 92,3 להגיד בבוקר חסדך 'to speak of Your loving kindness each morning', to indicate the importance of loving kindness in the Torah. 'Honey and milk are under your tongue' (Song of Songs, 4,11). These words are seen as alluding to learning Torah.

Ruth. The Book of Ruth is read in Synagogue on Shavuot. Here, too, there are several reasons given for the tradition:

Ruth the Moabitess accepted the Torah, ('your G-d will be my G-d') just as the Children of Israel accepted the Torah ('we shall do and we shall hear', na'ase ve nishma). The story is set during the barley harvest that echoes the period from the bringing of the first barley offering, the Omer, until the bringing of the first wheat offering on Shavuot (shtei ha lechem, two wheat loaves). The Book of Ruth tells us that King David was her great grandson. Eliahu Ki Tov cites Bechor Shor to add that David was born and died on Shavuot. He stresses that the reading strengthens the importance of the Oral Torah, since the Rabbis based their decision that a Moabitess is accepted as a convert, even though a Moabite man is not, on the text of the Book of Ruth.

Ierek. Greenery. On Shavuot, it is customary to decorate the Synagogue and the home with plants. Indeed, the festival is referred to as mode gol, the festival of flowers, in a Persian tradition (D.Sperber, Minhagei Israel). This custom, too, has a number of explanations:

The Mishna (Rosh HaShana, 1:2) tells us that there are four annual occasions when the world is judged, one of which is 'On atzeret - one of the names for Shavuot - the fruits of the tree'. There was a practice to bring trees into the Synagogue. The Gaon of Vilna stopped this custom because it resembled the practices of other nations. The Midrash tells that, on Shavuot, the occasion of the giving of the Torah, Mount Sinai in the desert came out in blossoms. The verse 'let flocks nor herds feed before the mount' (Exodus 34,3)is cited as alluding to the fact that there were plants. The greenery is associated with the Shavuot offering of bikkurim, the first fruits of the seven species of the land of Israel (D.Sperber.loc.cit)
The grandson of the Baal Shem Tov, R.Nachman, would run through the green fields near his home town, Uman, Ukraine, before the morning service on Shavuot

Torah. Tikkun leil Shavuot refers to the custom to stay up and learn Torah in the night of Shavuot. The reason most often given is based on a Midrash that the Israelites were sleeping and had to be roused to be ready to receive the Torah; the nights of learning on Shavuot are intended to make amends for this. However, there is a kabbalistic tradition maintaining that, on the contrary, the Israelites could not sleep on that night because they were so excited on this, the eve of their wedding. Israel was the bride, the Almighty was the bridegroom and the gift of the groom to the bride was the Torah (Eliahu Ki Tov, loc.cit)

The Jewish People cherish all these customs. The fact that each has a number of explanations is an indication that that the oral tradition that has handed these customs down to us is indeed very old. Our Sages were offering possible justifications for each custom, not giving us its historical origin. Any one of the explanations for a particular custom would be good enough for us to make sure that it is continued by future generations.

Personal, Individual and Communal Prayer

Author: Esther Ehrman, Tamuz 5767/June 2007

Shema koleinu

Shema koleinu, H’ elokeinu, chus ve rachem aleinu,, ve kabel be rachamim u ve ratzon et tefilateinu, ki el shome’a tefilot ve tachanunim ata. U mi lefaneicha reikam al teshiveinu, ki ata shome’a tefilat amecha Israel be rachamim. Baruch ata H’, shome’a tefila

Hear our voice, Lord our G-d, spare us and have compassion on us and accept our prayer in compassion and with favour, for You, Lord, hear prayers and supplications, and let us not return empty, our King, for You hear the prayer of Your people with compassion. Blessed are You, Lord, Who hears prayer.

This is the sixteenth beracha of the Amida, the last of the middle section of requests. Our sages suggest that this prayer, or some version of it, was said by the Israelites in Egypt, crying out to G-d. We know that their cry was ‘heard’. (Shibbolei HaLeket)

In the Middle section of the Amida, we have prayed for the needs of the people, for knowledge, the ability to repent, forgiveness, redemption, healing, the blessings of nature, ingathering of exiles, justice, the elimination of unbelievers, reward for the righteous, the return of the Divine Presence to Jerusalem and Divine salvation with the royal line of David.

We now, with shema koleinu, pray that all these supplications may be ‘heard’. Clearly, within a silent Amida, this hearing does not just mean that it be audible. We ask that our prayers be accepted – not yet that they be answered. We may insert into this prayer, our personal requests, either after the word, H’ elokeinu, (the address used by Moses in his personal request to enter the Land of Israel) or after the phrase ‘let us not return empty’. With our personal insertions, we stress the individual in a prayer where the plural form indicates a community. Indeed, the Amida requires the presence of the quorum of ten people. There is no tension here between the individual and the community. We do not, as individuals, ask for anything that is at the expense of the community.

What is it exactly that we ask G-d when we ask him to ‘hear and accept’ our prayers?

When we ask that our ‘prayer’, our tefilot be accepted, we ask that we may be accepted, individually, as a community and – here – also personally, with our concerns which are, we trust, also the concerns of G-d. Requests for the rule of justice, redemption, the ability to repent and the blessings of nature etc., are all things that the Torah has promised as possible.

Prayer, says Yehuda HaLevy in his ‘Kuzari’, is intended to bring us into the presence of G-d, so that we, like the prophets, may be privileged to ‘hear’. Prayer, says the ‘chaver’ in that work, is the meal of the soul. It is intended to fortify our control of our person and thus, presumably, to make us fit, acceptable to G-d in the same way that the sacrifices were intended to make us acceptable. We pray that our awareness of the need for justice etc makes us ‘fit’ to be heard

In the statutory part of the text, we pray that we may be heard by the Almighty with mercy and compassion, since we are aware that we have no claims, no rights; we pray that we may not be sent away empty.. In a sense, this is the same as asking to be ‘heard’. Rabbi Munk (The World of Prayer’, vol 1) suggests that this prayer can really apply only in the future, since ‘R. Eleazar said, the gates of prayer are closed’ (Ber.32b) until the rebuilding of the Temple. Most people would find that a difficult assumption, since R. Eleazar’s statement is followed by a statement by R. Hamma, son of R. Hanina ‘if a man saw that he prayed and was not answered, let him pray again’ .

The statutory part of the text, as distinct from our personal insertion, is nowadays fixed, although there are variations in different traditions. However, while the content of the berachot of the Amida was fixed, the wording was certainly not fixed originally. Prof. J. Heinemann (‘Prayer in Judaism’) suggests that it was a Jewish innovation to make prayer itself a cultic act; it had previously accompanied the cult of sacrifices. And prayer was meant to be spontaneous, R.Eliezer omer, ha osei tefilato keiva, R.Eliezer said, one who makes his prayer fixed – keiva -, errs. The Gemara discusses the word keiva and explains it as kol she eino yachol lechadesh ba davar (Ber.29b), someone who has nothing new to say on this. Professor Heinemann suggests that the texts of prayers came to be fixed because people were, on the whole, no longer capable of saying something new, largely because their knowledge of Hebrew became inadequate

We pray that we may be heard, we say, ‘because you, Lord, hear prayers and supplications’, then, again, ‘because You hear the prayer of Your people with compassion’ and we end with the blessing (it is called the chatima, the signature) ‘Blessed are You, Lord, Who hears prayer’. The repetition emphasises the fact that our request is made in the confident knowledge that the Almighty has shown us that He does hear prayer. Indeed, this is the most important statement of the beracha.

Our Sages teach us, in the Gemara, that a person who is in danger and thus unable to recite the whole Amida, should say one short prayer only, namely this, the sixteenth beracha. It quotes a few possibilities (Ber.29b):

"R. Eliezer said : Do Thy will in the heavens above and give a satisfied mind to those who fear You below. And do that which is good in Your eyes. Blessed are you, Lord, Who hearkens to prayer.

R.Joshua said: Hear the entreaty of Your people Israel and speedily answer their plea. Blessed are you, Lord, Who hearkens to prayer.

R.Eleazar, son of R.Zadok said: Hear the cry of Your people Israel and speedily answer their plea. Blessed are You, Lord, Who hearkens to prayer.

Others say: The needs of Your people are many and their mind is limited. May it be Your will, Lord our G-d, to give to each and every one enough for his sustenance and to each and every body sufficient for its want. Blessed are You, Lord, Who hearkens to prayer.

The above variant formulations reflect different attitudes to prayer. The last (‘others’) would seem to be a clearly individual prayer, while the first, R. Eliezer, indicates that prayer must indeed be determined by the concerns of the Almighty.

Ki Tetze – Motivating the mitzvoth – a change of emphasis?

Author: Esther Ehrman, Elul 5767/Sept 2007

The children of Israel are preparing to enter the Land. In his long speech, Moses does not tire of repeating the need to ensure the continued observance of the commandments: It is for their well being, it will bring success to their new life, they will merit divine blessing and more. In the weekly reading of ki tetze (Deut.21,10 -25,19), we learn about an unusually large amount of commandments and many of them have a reason or a justification attached. Some of these commandments have been mentioned earlier and the reason was not necessarily there or it was a different one. In ki tetze, the focus has become the implementation of the commandments. Let us look at a few examples:

A number of laws entail the death penalty,

  1. The rebellious son. 'His father and his mother shall...bring him to the elders of his city...and they shall say: this our son is disobedient and recalcitrant; he does not listen to our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard and all the people of his city shall stone him that he will die, u biarta ha ra mi kirebeicha, (and (so) you will clear the evil from your midst') (ch. 21,19-21)
     
  2. The bride who is accused of not being a virgin and the accusation is justified. 'then they shall bring out the girl to the gate of her father's house, and the people of her city shall stone her with stones so that she dies, because she has committed a shameful act in Israel, to commit lewdness in her father's house u biarta ha ra mi kirebeicha, (ch.22, v.21)
     
  3. A girl who is betrothed and is found with another man; both die. 'Then you shall bring them both out to the gate of the city and stone them with stones so that they die; the girl because of evidence that she did not cry out in the city and the man because he violated his neighbour's wife, u biarta ha ra mi kirebeicha (ch.22, v.24)
     
  4. A man who kidnaps an Israelite.' and he has availed himself of his services and has sold him, then this thief shall die u biarta ha ra mi kirebeicha (ch. 24, v.7)

The key phrase, you shall clear the evil from your midst, is striking because it was not used in connections with these laws before. We had, in mishpatim, the first and the third case 'one who strikes his father or his mother shall be put to death and one who steals a man and sells him shall be put to death' (Exodus ch.21, v.15,16). Crimes such as these are not perhaps among those that obviously incur the death penalty. But if they are not eradicated, then respect for authority (case 1), sexual legitimacy (2,3) and respect of persons (4) cannot be ensured. And that has now, in ki tetzei, become of immediate importance.

Another group of commandments is here referred to as to'evat H elokeicha, (an abomination to the Lord your G-d), a very forceful rejection.

  1. A man wearing the garments of a woman and a woman wearing the garments of a man (Deut.ch.22, v.5).
  2. Giving the price of a harlot or a dog as a pledge to the House of the Lord (ch.23, v.29).
  3. A person having dishonest weights and measures (ch.25, v.13-16).

We are familiar with 'the abominations of Egypt' and with the use of the term in connection with forbidden sexual relations, such as homosexuality (Lev. ch 18, v.22), ...'for the people of the land who went before you did all these abominations and thus the land became defiled...therefore keep that which has been given by Me to you, so that none of the abominable statutes that were practised before you will be done...I am the Lord your G-d. (ch.18, v.27,30).

Surprising, perhaps, is inclusion here of the person with dishonest weights and measures. In Leviticus, ch.19, v.35,36, the stress was on the sanctity of the Israelites. 'Do no wrong in judgment - in measures of length, of weight and of volume. You shall have just scales, just weights, a just ephah and a just hin, I am the Lord your G-d...'. The context is the overall statement 'You shall be holy because I, the Lord your G-d am holy' (ch 19.v,2). That might sound like an ideal. In ki tetze, the association of this wrong with the practices of idol worship and sexual perversions is likely to induce a strong abhorrence.

By no means are all the commandments in ki tetze linked to the notion of deterrents. Indeed, the same injunction is sometimes given an additional positive reward for the person who observes it. The same commandment of fair measures ensures long life on the land, if it is observed (Deut ch.28, v.15). A person should not take interest from his brother, 'so that the Lord your G-d may bless you in everything to which you may put your hand in the land to which you are coming to possess it' (ch.23, v.21). Likewise, we are enjoined to leave something of the harvest for the stranger, the fatherless and the widow 'so that the Lord your G-d may bless you in all the work of you hands' (ch.24, v.19). Acts of goodness are rewarded with blessings. The children of Israel need to be aware of the consequences of their deeds here, where earlier they were being instructed in the commandments as part of the covenant between them and the Almighty. This is confirmed at the end of the next weekly section, ki tavo, 'the Lord has not given you a heart to know and eyes to see and ears to hear until this day (ch.29, v.5) ...observe, therefore, the words of the commandments and do them, so that you may practice intelligently everything you do' (v.8 transl. S.R.Hirsch).