Readings for Saturday, May 31, 2025
Bamidbar or
Numbers is the fourth book in the Torah.
It takes its name from the fifth Hebrew word in the opening sentence of
the book. “And the Lord spoke to Moshe
in the Wilderness (‘Bamidbar’) of Sinai.”
At one time, the book was called Sefer Va-yedaber, taking its name from
the very first word in the book, “Va-yedaber” which literally means “And He
spoke….” The name change was probably
adopted because so many verses in the Torah began with the word
“Va-yedaber.” Using this word to name a
sedrah might have led to confusion. In
English this book is known as Numbers because it begins with a census and ends
with a census. As a matter of fact, the
Talmud refers to Bamidbar as the Sefer Ha-pedkudim variously translated
as the Book of the Counting or Book of the Census. Bamidbar is divided into ten weekly
readings. However, in some years there
are two occasions where two of the weekly readings are paired so that the ten
readings are covered on eight Sabbaths.
From the point of view of the narrative, The Book of Bamidbar picks up
where the Book of Shemot left off. It
covers the last 38 years that the Israelites spent in the Wilderness moving
from Mount Sinai to the east bank of the Jordan River. The term Wilderness refers to an area that
comprises the Sinai Peninsula and part of the Negev. Commentators divide the material covered in
the text in various ways. The editors of
Etz Hayim see a pattern of eleven groups of laws, followed by narrative,
followed by law, etc. The Plaut Chumash
divides the material into four sections:
Regulations Promulgated at Sinai (1:1-10:10); Events during the Travels
(10:11-20:1); The Story of Balaam (22:2-24:25); and Preparation for Entering
the Promised Land (25:1-36:13).
If Bamidbar were a
Patriarch, it would be Isaac, the Patriarch of Continuity. Just as Isaac was the link between his
dynamic father and his dynamic son, so the material in Bamidbar is the link
between the amazing events of Shemot and the excitement of crossing the Jordan
into Canaan. In Bamidbar the Israelites
must leave Sinai in all its glory and begin the daily task of living. Instead of such splendid events as the
Exodus, the Splitting of the Sea or the Revelation at Sinai, we read about
rebellions, lack of faith, talking animals, death-dealing zealotry and the
death of a generation. In Shemot, we
read of the excitement of building the Tabernacle. In Bamidbar, we are faced with the drudgery
of packing and unpacking the sacred dwelling.
But in reading Bamidbar we see how our ancestors dealt with the
challenges of life. We see how they
persevered despite doubt. We see how
they bounced back after each apparent setback.
We see the promulgation of some very practical law in a book that is not
“thick with the law.” And yes, there are
some sublimely spiritual moments, which have become part of our daily morning
service.
Bamidbar (In
the wilderness)
1:1-4:20 Bamidbar (Numbers)
Bamidbar is the name of the first sedrah in the book of Bamidbar (Numbers). This follows the naming pattern for the first
sedrah in each of the Five Books of Moses.
Thematically, the material divides into three basic parts - The Census,
The Encampment, and Matters Pertaining to the Levites.
The Census
(1:1-1:54)
In the second year after the Exodus, on the first day of the month
we now call Iyar, God tells Moshe to take a headcount of all the males of
military age i.e., from twenty until sixty.
The count is by family, clan and tribe.
The count was taken by having each of those eligible contribute a
half-shekel to the Tabernacle. This is
not the first census in the Torah, nor is it the last. But this census has a very practical
purpose. The Israelites are going into
hostile country and Moshe needs to know how many fighters he has. Moshe tallies each of the tribes separately
and comes up with an aggregate figure of 603,550. As always, Moshe counts twelve tribes, but as
we know, the twelve are not always the same.
Here he gets to twelve by counting each of the half-tribes, Manasseh and
Ephraim, as separate tribes. Per God’s
instruction, Moshe does not count the Levites.
In effect, they get one of the first exemptions from military duty in
history. The Levites are to be
responsible for the Tabernacle and all that it contains. They will not join the regular encampment
since they will be camped around the Tabernacle serving as its protectors.
The
Encampment (2:1-2:34)
God tells Moses and Aaron how the tribes are to be positioned while
in camp and when traveling in the Wilderness.
The camp was rectangular, with the Tabernacle in the center. The tribes were grouped into four divisions
of three tribes each which were called “d’galim” (banners). In other words each group probably had some
sort of standard or banner marking its place.
Judah's Division camped on the east and included Issachar and
Zebulun. Reuben’s division camped on the
south and included Gad and Simeon. Ephraim’s Division camped to the West and
included Benjamin and Manasseh. Dan’s
Division camped to the north and included Asher and Naphtali. This layout would also provide the line of
march when the Israelites traveled. Once
again, the headcount is given and the text announces that the Levites were not
counted.
Matters
Pertaining to the Levites (3:1-4:20)
Following the pattern of taking care of the Israelites first and
their leaders second, God now turns to the Levites and the Kohanim. Having acknowledged the lineage of the House
of Aaron, God tells Moshe that the Levites are to serve in the Tabernacle under
the direction of the Kohanim. The
Levites will serve an extra purpose. God
will take them in place of all the first-born Israelites who are His special
possession because He spared them at the time of the Tenth Plague. Moses is to take a count by house and clan of
all the male Levites over the age of one month.
The total came to 22,000 which made them the smallest of all of the
tribes. In the process of counting each
ancestral house, Moshe was instructed to tell each group what their duties
would be in and around the Tabernacle.
The last part of the sedrah begins with a process that will carry into
the next sedrah. God tells Moshe to take
another census of the Levites. Once
again it is to be by ancestral house, but this time only men ranging in age
from thirty to fifty are counted. As
Moshe counts each ancestral house, he assigns them their duties when it comes
time to move the Tabernacle from place to place. Bamidbar ends with a description of the
packing chores to be performed by the Kohathies. We will have to wait for the next sedrah to
find out the chores of the rest of the Levites.
Themes
Commandments
There are none in this sedrah!
Bamidbar
The prefix “Ba” is translated as
“in the” and “Midbar” means “wilderness.”
Why is it so important that the narrative is taking place “in the
wilderness?” According to some, the term
“Midbar” or wilderness connotes a place devoid of resources and shelter. This meant that the Israelites were dependent
upon God for their sustenance and physical well-being. We dwell in a spiritual “Midbar” where God’s
Torah is the source of our sustenance.
Customs and Ceremonies
Pidyon
ha-ben - Redemption of the First Born
The custom of redeeming the first born male has its origins in
Bamidbar 3:13, “Every first-born is Mine.”
To be eligible, the male child must be at least thirty days old, he must
be the first issue of his mother’s womb and neither parent can come from the
tribe of Levi or the House of Aaron. The
ceremony consists of giving a recitation of two blessings by the father in the
presence of a Kohein to whom the father gives five coins. A party usually follows the ceremony. At least one sage, the Vilna Gaon, went
through this ceremony with every Kohein he met since he did not trust the
purity of anybody’s lineage living in the Diaspora.
Spirituality
“God spoke to Moses and Aaron
saying…” (2:1 and 4:1). According to one
Midrash, the Torah contains 18 passages where God speaks to the two brothers
equally. This is one of the explanations
for the Amidah containing eighteen blessings.
Also, as Rabbi Schneerson points out, when the text invokes the two
brothers at the same time, it is reminding us of two ways in which the world
becomes spiritual. One is the bringing
down from above as represented by Moshe.
He brought down the law from the top of the mountain into the world of
men. The second is raising up from below
as represented by Aaron. For as the
Kohein Gadol, he would raise high the offerings to reach to the heavens.
The Calendar
The sedrah of Bamidbar is always
read prior to Shavuot. Why? After all the events described took place
after the Revelation at Mount Sinai, which is part of the reason for celebrating
Shavuot. According to some, the
juxtaposition exists to remind us that we received the law in the
Wilderness. The challenge of the
Israelites was to carry that Law through the Wilderness and take it to the
Promised Land. The challenge of the Jew
is take our commandments in the wilderness of the “every day” world and use them
to make our lives a “Promised Land.”
The Numbers in Numbers
The figures seem awfully
large. Based on the count given, some
estimate that there would have been two million Israelites moving through the
Wilderness. In an attempt to harmonize
the text with what seems to be reality, there are those who suggest that in
ancient times the Hebrew word “elef” did not mean the number 1,000. Instead it referred to a unit of military
command that may have been more like a squad or platoon in modern military
parlance. This would have meant a
fighting force number of more than 3500 men but less than 7000. There is an on-going debate as to whether or
not a migration such as the one described in Bamidbar could have taken
place. While there is no conclusive
evidence one way or the other, we do know that there were several major
population movements going on at this time throughout the Mediterranean World
including the one that would bring the Philistines to Canaan. For those who read the Torah seeking an
explanation of history and not as literal history, the question of actual head-count
may be of secondary importance.
The Leaders
In Bamidbar Moshe names twelve
leaders, one for each tribe. How did
they come to be chosen for this honor?
Do you remember the story of the Splitting of the Sea? When Moshe calls out for God’s help, He says,
“Why do you cry out to Me? Speak to the
Children of Israel and let them journey forth” (Shemot 14:15). According to Midrash, Nahshon plunged into
the waters followed by eleven others. It
was their act of faith and leadership, which provided the human dimension to
our escape from the Egyptians. Their
courage at the Sea of Reeds earned these twelve men the leadership positions
mentioned in the opening lines of Bamidbar.
There is a Divine Plan but man must act for the Divine Plan to come to
pass.
The Missing Sons
Everybody seems to be counted or
mentioned in Bamidbar. Even the names of
Aaron’s two sons who died “by strange fire” are cited. But Moshe’s two sons, Gershom and Eliezer are
conspicuous by their absence. If they
are not worthy of an honor, are they not at least worth a mention? Their disappearance from the narrative
continues to puzzle me even if does not bother anybody else.
“To The Wilderness” by Micha Odenheirner as edited and revised
Revelation came in the
wilderness, the first sentence of the Book of Numbers stresses: "And God spoke to Moses in the
wilderness of Sinai, from the Tent of Meeting ….” And, says the midrash in Bamidbar Rabbah,
wilderness is a necessary condition for every revelation, for every true
internalization of the Torah's teaching:
"Whoever would wish to acquire Torah, must make himself ownerless
like the wilderness." What does it
mean to be ownerless? Why wilderness?
For Maimonides, writing in the twelfth century, wilderness
represents the means of escaping the seductive influence of an evil society, an
influence powerful enough to "own" you. "If all the countries he knows or hears
of follow evil ways, as is the case in our time," he says in his Mishneh
Torah, then one must "go out into the caves, the clefts of mountains, and
the wilderness" to save himself from a degenerate society's mores. But how does one escape, even momentarily
from a world like ours; a world where materialism, wealth, social status and
power dominant our existence? One
escapes through prayer. Prayer, real
prayer, prayer that is the private conversation with the Divine Being is the
only way to shift from a world centered on things to a world centered on
God. Prayer is the antidote to society's
obsessions because it alone has the power to lift consciousness out of the web
of socially conditioned desires into a new matrix whose center is God. “Prayer, the effort to reach out and in -
toward the transcendent, to stand before the One, creates a wilderness within,
where a person can be alone with God.
Even during public prayer, the crescendo of intensity is reached during
the whispered Amidah (called by some The Silent Devotion) whose sound should
not be heard by another human being.”
“To become a master of prayer involves breaking, at least for a few
precious moments, the norms for ‘proper’ behavior, whose first principle is the
constant, vigilant awareness of oneself as a social animal.”
For most of us real Wilderness has been replaced by theme-park
visits to nature complete with RV hook-ups and all the comforts of home. For most of us prayer has become some
stylized group activity called “going to services.” Yet we need prayer. We need to ground our identity in the hope of
the absolute. Only through prayer can we
“acquire the Torah,” find meaning in language, and receive transmitted
truth. This concept does not mean
shouting Allahu akbar while detonating a car bomb or reciting Sim Shalom and
then assassinating a Prime Minister. It
means praying for peace and then working for peace. Real prayer takes to Bamidbar, the
Wilderness, a place where our definition “things” weigh down the traveler and
life is stripped to its essentials where only that which of true value has any
value.
Counting Who Counts
According to some, counting men
and not women for the minyan stems, in part, from the census in Bamidbar which
only counted males. The headcount in
Bamidbar was taken to determine how many people would be available to serve as
soldiers. Men were counted because at
that time only men served as soldiers.
In the modern state of Israel, women serve as soldiers which would
indicate that if availability for fighting is the criteria for being counted,
then women should be counted for the purposes of the minyan. Furthermore, since there are groups of men in
Israel who refuse to serve in the army, does this mean they should not be
counted in the minyan?
Haftarah
2:1-22 Hosea
The Man: We have only limited knowledge about the
historic figure of Hosea. He probably
lived during the middle of the eighth century, B.C.E. He preached between 750 and 720 B.C.E. in the
Northern Kingdom, also called the Kingdom of Israel. The leading Israelite monarch at the time was
Jeroboam II. This was a turbulent period
of moral decay when the leadership of the Northern Kingdom was divided between
those who wanted to make an alliance with Egypt against Assyria and those who
wanted to come to terms with Assyria.
Hosea warned against doing either.
Instead, he called for moral and religious revival with the people
putting their faith in God as a solution to their temporal problems. In the end, the people failed to heed his
words and the Israelites were exiled in 721 B.C.E. In the collection of the Minor Prophets,
Hosea is the first of the Twelve. From a
chronological point of view, this is misleading since Amos lived and preached
before Hosea did. Hosea is listed first
because his fourteen chapters of writings are larger than Amos’. It is the size of the text that gives him
precedence. Understanding the message of
Hosea can be quite difficult. As one
commentator puts it, “The style of Hosea is highly poetic and difficult to
follow. Many passages…are not clearly
understood because we are no longer fully acquainted with certain events to
which they allude.” The first three
chapters of Hosea describe how he came to prophesy. The last eleven chapters alternate between
admonishments and words of hope. There
will be punishment but ultimately God will redeem us.
Hosea married a woman named Gomer.
How this marriage came to be is open to some question. But the fact is that she betrayed him. He took her back and forgave her.
In delivering his message, Hosea portrays the Israelites as the
wayward wife. God is portrayed as the long-suffering husband who always loves
her and who forgives her and redeems her.
Hosea refers to the Northern Kingdom as Ephraim. This is because the tribe of Ephraim led the
original revolt against the House of David.
Hosea did not approve of the revolt and saw Jerusalem as the holy place,
thus placing a permanent cloud over the Northern Kingdom. I mention this only so that you will
understand that when Hosea talks about Ephraim he is talking about the Kingdom
of Israel and not just one tribe.
The Message: In Chapter 1 of Hosea, the chapter that
precedes this week’s haftarah, Hosea obeys God’s command to marry a
harlot. He marries Gomer who bears him
three children. In chapter 2, this
week’s haftarah, the imagery shifts between the harlot-wife, Gomer, and the
harlot-nation, Israel. Just as Gomer
looks to other men for her sustenance (2:11) so do the Israelites turn away
from God and seek other gods. And just
as the harlot suffers for being unfaithful to her spouse, so will the
Israelites suffer the same shame, humiliation and exile visited upon
Gomer. But just as Gomer repents, so do
the Israelites repent. Just as Hosea
takes her back because he always has loved her, so will God remain true to His
marriage with His people.
Keeping in mind the husband-wife, God-Israel metaphor, there is an
interesting play on words in verse 18 that carries a message both for domestic
relations and our relationship with God.
Bear with me since it takes a little bit of explaining. According to verse 18, in the future, the
wife-Israel, will refer to her husband-God as my “Ish” and not my “Baal.” Both of these words may be translated as
meaning husband. “Ish” literally is
translated to mean man or mortal. It
would carry the connotation of a partner.
On the other hand, Baal is the name of a Canaanite god whom apostate
Israelites worshipped. (You may remember
him from the story of Elijah on Mt. Carmel.)
Baal also is translated as master, so a husband who is a Baal is the
master to a wife who plays a servile role.
In the future, the Israelites will no longer follow Baal. In the future, while God will still be God,
the Israelites will accept the pro-active role that they have for bringing the
message of the divine into the world of the mundane.
Theme-Link: The sedrah begins with a counting of the
Children of Israel in the Wilderness. It
is filled with the references to the number of our ancestors. The haftarah opens with a reference to “the
number of the children of Israel” which “shall be as the sand of the sea, which
cannot be measured nor numbered” (2:1).
Also the sedrah lists the head or “Rosh” of each tribe while the
haftarah describes a future time when the Israelites will select a head or
“Rosh.”
Customs and Ceremonies:
“And I will betroth you to Me
forever; and I will betroth you to Me with righteousness, with justice, with
kindness and with mercy; and I will betroth you to me with fidelity and you
shall know the Lord” (Hosea 2:21-22).
These are the last two sentences in the haftarah. They are also the lines uttered when wrapping
the tefillin around the left hand. This
wrapping spells “Shadai” which is one of the names of God. This is also reminiscent of the groom placing
the betrothal ring on the bride’s finger.
So when we put on tefillin we are symbolically recommitting our
betrothal to God.
Pirke Avot is a collection of sayings, teachings, and
ethical maxims. A popular and eminently
quotable work, it is one of the sixty-three tractates of the Mishnah. The Mishnah, consisting of centuries of oral
teachings passed down from one generation to the next, was finally codified by
Rabbi Yehudah Ha-Nasi in 200 C.E. Pirke
Avot is unique among the tractates of the Mishnah in that it doesn't
contain any Halachah (law), only aggadah (stories or legends). Its popularity is reflected in the fact that
it is included in most prayer books (including, in part, in Gates of Prayer). Rabbi W. Gunther Plaut one of the great
teachers of the Reform Movement suggests that Pirke Avot "teaches
us the essentials of what life might be at its best." It deals with some of life's most basic and
important questions: What is our purpose
and destiny? What is sin, and how do we
conquer it? What is wisdom? What is my relationship to God? Pirke Avot is divided into chapters,
and each chapter is further divided into individual statements, each called a
Mishnah. It is customary to study a
chapter of Pirke Avot starting with the first Shabbat after the end of
Pesach (Passover). Since Pirke Avot
consists of six chapters, the work may be completed by the start of
Shavuot. However, other groups of Jews
follow a cycle where they study and re-study each of the chapters until the
last Shabbat before Rosh Hashanah.
Regardless of the format you choose, each week the Torah page will
include one or more verses from the chapter of the week with a few comments
from a variety of sources.
Rabbi
Chananyah ben Akashyah says: “God
desired to grant merit to Israel; that is why He gave them the Torah and the
commandments in such abundance. As it is
said: ‘The Lord desired for the sake of
His righteousness to make the Torah great and glorify it.’”
This statement is actually not a part of Chapter Six. Rather it is the verse recited when
concluding each of the six chapters of Pirke Avot. The term “His righteousness” is interpreted
to mean “the righteousness of Israel.”
For when the Israelites behave in a righteous manner, they are behaving
in a manner that brings honor to the name and the teachings of God. Rabbi Chananyah lived in the middle of the
second century C.E. The simple message
of the verse is that the study of Torah and the performance of good deeds are
each a “Divinely conferred privilege.”
On a more sophisticated level, he may have been asserting that there was
no greater proof of God’s love for the Israelites than the multiplicity of
mitzvoth that He had bestowed upon them.
This statement is found in the Mishnah.
Specifically, it comes from the last paragraph in Makkot (Lashes), the
Fifth Tractate of Nezikin (Damages), which is the fourth of the sixth Orders in
the Mishnah. Avot, which we are studying
as Pirke Avot, is the Ninth Tractate in Nezikin.
Chapter six is a little different from the first five chapters of
Pirke Avot. It is not from Avot, a
tractate of the Mishnah. Rather it
collection of “baraisos.” This is a
plural form of the word “baraisa,” which means outside. It refers to teachings that were not included
in the Mishnah “but were preserved ‘outside’ of it. They were written in the style of the Mishnah
and supplement it.” This collection of
baraisos into a sixth chapter made it possible to have six readings for the six
Shabbatot between Pesach and Shavuot.
“This chapter is studied on the Shabbat preceding Shavuot, the Festival
commemorating the giving of the Torah because it deals with acquiring Torah
knowledge.” When not otherwise
acknowledged, the verses in this chapter are credited to Rabbi Meir, the Rabbi
mentioned in the opening words of the first verse. Little is known about Reb Meir’s early life. According to some, he was from Caesarea and
was the son of a family of converts.
There is some credence to this since Caesarea was a seaside city in
Israel built by the Romans who preferred the cooling breezes of the
Mediterranean to the heat of Jerusalem.
What we do know is that Meir was the most prominent of Rabbi Akiva’s
students and his successor. Meir was
known for his unconventional and mystical interpretations. When asked “whether the Shema must be recited
aloud or whether it may be recited inaudibly, Meir replied: ‘In accordance with the concentration of the
mind, so the value of the words.’ In
other words, it doesn’t matter whether it is said silently or aloud; what
matters is the sincerity with which it is recited.” The household of Meir must have been a lively
place since he was married to Beruryah, the daughter of a famous sage and a
Torah scholar in her own right.
(6:4) “Seek
not greatness for thyself, and court not honor; let thy deeds exceed thy
learning; and crave not after the table of kings; for thy table is greater than
theirs and thy crown is greater than theirs, and thy Employer is faithful to
pay thee the reward of thy work.”
This is another pithy statement on the value of study and the need
to avoid what the sages called “worldly ambition.” It is consistent with other admonitions we
have read about keeping your distance from those with temporal power.
(6:5) “Do not
seek greatness for yourself and do not covet honor; let your performance be
more than your learning. Do not lust for
the table of kings for your table is greater than their table, and your crown
is greater than their crown; and your Employer is trustworthy to pay you’re the
wage of your labor.” ”Do not seek
greatness for yourself and do not covet honor” is another
reminder that one should study Torah for the sake of studying Torah, not to
gain fame or fortune. It is a
continuation of the concept that the reward for performing a Mitzvah is the
performance of the Mitzvah itself. “Do not lust for the table of kings” is
a repetition of the previously seen admonition of not compromising one’s values
for temporal gain. As we have seen
before, the “Employer” is God who is
more reliable than any temporal figure of power be it a King or CEO.
(6:9) Rabbi
Yosei ben Kisma said, “I was once walking by the way, when a man met me and
saluted me, and I returned the salutation.
He said to me, 'Rabbi, from what place art thou?' I said to him, 'I come from a great city of
sages and scribes.' He said to me, 'If
thou art willing to dwell with us in our place, I will give thee a thousand
thousand golden dinars and precious stones and pearls.' I said to him, 'Wert thou to give me all the
silver and gold and precious stones and pearls in the world, I would not dwell
anywhere but in a home of the Torah';
and thus it is written in the book of Psalms by the hands of David, King of
Israel, 'The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and
silver'; and not only so, but in the hour of man's departure neither silver nor
gold nor precious stones nor pearls accompany him, but only Torah and good
works, as it is said, 'When thou walkest it shall lead thee; when thou liest
down it shall watch over thee; and when thou awakest it shall talk with thee'; 'when
thou walkest it shall lead thee' - in this world; and 'when thou awakest it
shall talk with thee' - in the world to come.
And it says, 'The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord
of hosts.'”
According to some traditional commentary on this verse, the sage is
reminding of us how much more valuable the study of Torah is than earthly
wealth. Furthermore, he is cautioning us
not live in a community that does not value the study of Torah since the
inclination to study might be overwhelmed by the prevailing communal
value. One might deduce a different
lesson from this if one considers the history of the author. Rabbi Yosei ben Kisma (Joseph the son of
Kisma) lived at the time of the Bar Kochba Rebellion. Reportedly he cautioned his fellow Rabbis not
to take part in the war against Rome. He
was not involved in the fight and, unlike the Martyred Rabbis, was left alone
by the Roman authorities. In other
words, he played it safe. The question
that his statement raises is what part of the world should not be a place for
the study and practice of the Torah? If
we are only to live where Torah is already studied and practiced, how do we
explain outreach programs such as that performed by the “Lubavitcher
Lamplighters?” Questions like this are
appropriate when the accompanying Torah portion is from Bamidbar (Numbers). According to some, the generation that left
Egypt and listened to the advice of the Ten Spies did not want to go into the
Promised Land because they felt close to God in the Wilderness. They were afraid that they would lose that
affinity by going into Canaan, a dwelling where there was no Torah. Consider what the world would be like if the
Rebbe had not sent out a Shaliach or if a Chalutz had not made Aliyah, or if a
Rabbi would only serve in a city with a large Jewish community instead of being
willing to serve in a place with lone, small synagogue or temple like Cedar
Rapids, IA. At the same time one must ask if a place with a large Jewish
population is automatically synonymous with Torah study. Based on anecdotal evidence and observation
the two do not appear to be one and the same.
Readings for Shavuot
Shavuot is
traditionally a holiday tied to study.
Some say this is because it commemorates the giving of the Ten
Commandments, and by extension, the entire Torah. As if to emphasize the point, in addition to
readings from the Torah and the Prophets, the Book of Ruth is also read on the
holiday. Finally, the old custom of
staying up all-night and studying on the eve of Shavuot has become quite trendy
among congregations in many major metropolitan areas.
Torah and
Haftarot Readings: Shavuot is celebrated for
two reasons. It commemorates the
Revelation at Sinai. It is also one the
Three Major Harvest Festivals. Each
Torah reading traditionally connected with holiday reflects one of these two
causes for our celebration. According to
the Babylonian Talmud there was a dispute over which Torah portion should be
read. One group favored a reading from
Shemot connecting the holiday with the giving of the Ten Commandments. The other group favored a reading from
Devarim that connected the holiday with its agricultural origins. In a display of the Jewish genius for
compromise, when the observance of Shavuot was extended to two days, each of
the readings could be used thus satisfying the competing parties.
Readings for Monday, June 2, 2025
First Day of Shavuot
First Scroll
19:1-20:23 Shemot (Exodus)
The first special reading describes the arrival of the Israelites at
Mount Sinai and the giving of The Ten Commandments. This material is part of the sedrah of Yitro,
which we read in its entirety earlier in the year. All ten of the commandments are read while
the congregation stands. In creating
this special reading, the Rabbis did not end with the Ten Commandments. They included an additional eight
verses. This includes “All the people
witnessed the thunder and lightning, the blare of the horn and the mountain
smoking...” (20:15). “Be not afraid; for
God has come only in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may
be ever with you, so that you do not go astray” (20:16). “Thus the Lord said to Moses: Thus shall you say to the Israelites: You yourselves saw that I spoke to you from
the very heavens…” (20:19). Why not just
stop with the Ten Commandments? Why
include these eight verses? These verses
are a statement of personal experience.
They serve as a reminder that God gave each of us the Torah and that
each of us is responsible for obeying its teachings. In other words, Shavuot does not commemorate
some distant event in the Wilderness.
Instead it is a reminder of the on-going gift of Torah which is the
birthright of every Jew.
Second Scroll
28:26-31 Bamidbar (Numbers)
The second reading for the holiday covers material we read in the
sedrah of Pinchas during the year. It
describes the special offering that was to be brought to the Temple in honor of
Shavuot and includes the command to “not work at your occupations”
(28:26). Since the Temple has been
destroyed we cannot bring the sacrifices as commanded and must content
ourselves with merely reading about them.
But each of us can at least make an effort to refrain from our
occupations and observe the holiday.
Haftarah (Traditional)
1:1-28; 3:12 Ezekiel
The Man: Having encountered him so many times already,
regular recipients of the guide probably feel like they are becoming Ezekiel
Experts. Briefly, Ezekiel was one of the
three Major Prophets. He was a younger
contemporary of Jeremiah. He lived at
the time of the destruction of the First Temple. He probably was exiled to Babylonia before
the destruction of the Temple. So his
writings break into two basic parts - predictions of calamity before the Exile
and messages of consolation and future redemption once the Exile has become a
reality.
The Message: According to the commentaries of Gunther
Plaut, “Despite the fact that (the first chapter of Ezekiel) was the most
exhaustively studied text in the TaNaCh, its message is not at all clear.” Well, if this one stymies the experts, you
can imagine how confusing I find it. In
fact, the haftarot for both days of Shavuot leave me confused and mystified. For real depth, you need to look beyond the
meager explication. The haftarah is a
vision. The first three verses are
pretty straight forward, providing us with time, place and person. And then it gets wild because the prophet
proceeds to describe the Merkavah, the Chariot.
There are wheels. There are
faces. There are wings. There are all manner of things. Ezekiel apparently had an ecstatic experience
and he has tried to describe the indescribable in the language of man. We have already read of Isaiah’s Vision in a
previous haftarah. Tradition has tried
to fuse the two Visions. In the
Kedushah, the third benediction of the Amidah, we recite “Kadosh, Kadosh,
Kadosh… (Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts, the whole earth is filled with
His glory)” which is from Isaiah’s Vision (6:3). The congregational response, “Baruch k’vode
Adnoai mim’komo… (Blessed is the glory of the Lord from His Place)” is from the
last line of today’s haftarah (3:12) which is Ezekiel’s vision. Part of Ezekiel’s Vision has made it into
American culture. If you have heard the
Spiritual that proclaims, “Ezekiel saw the wheel, way up in the middle of the
sky. And the big wheel run by faith and
the little wheel run by the grace of God.
A wheel in a wheel, way up in the middle of the sky” you will know
exactly what I am talking about.
Theme-Link: According to tradition, the Torah concerns
itself with the Theophany at Sinai. The
haftarah concerns itself with the theophany experienced by Ezekiel. The Torah reading for Shavuot comes from the
same part of Shemot as the sedrah of Yitro.
When we read Yitro during the year, the haftarah is the Vision of
Isaiah. It is not just wheels within
wheels, but Visions within Visions.
Readings for Tuesday, June 3,2025
Second Day of Shavuot (Traditional)
First Scroll
14:22-16:1 Devarim
(Deuteronomy)
The material for the Second Day of Shavuot is covered in the sedrah
of Re’eh during the annual reading.
Chapter 16 contains a description of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals,
including Shavuot. According to the
Torah, you are to count seven weeks from Pesach and then celebrate the
holiday. Shavuot is the Hebrew word for
Weeks and the holiday takes its name from the fact that it is celebrated at the
end of this seven-week cycle. Shavuot is
the only festival for which a set date on the calendar is not given in the
Torah. Of course, it is always observed
on the same date each year. However,
this holiday calendar is preceded by laws relating to Tithing, the Sabbatical
Year and treatment of the less fortunate.
“If, however, there is a needy person among you…do not harden your heart
and shut your hand against your needy kinsman…” (15:7). “…Open your hand and lend him sufficient for
whatever he needs…” (15:8). “Give to him
readily and have no regrets when you do so…For there will never cease to be
needy ones in your land, which is why I command you: open your hand to the poor and needy kinsman
in your land” (15:10-11). Why did the
Rabbis include these laws with the readings about ritual observance for
Shavuot? Possibly it is a reminder of
the lesson that Social Justice and Ritual are mutually inclusive. Possibly it is a reminder that one way to
show our gratitude for God’s bounty is to share it with the less fortunate.
Second Scroll
28:26-31 Bamidbar (Numbers)
The reading is the same as on the First Day of Shavuot.
Haftarah
2:20-3:19 Habakkuk
The Man: Habakkuk is one of the Twelve Minor
Prophets. There is little that we can
say about him with any certitude. We are
not even sure of his name. The word
Habakkuk comes from the ancient Akkadian word for flower or might come from the
Hebrew word meaning to embrace.
According to various sources he may have lived as early as the 8th
century B.C.E. or as late as the destruction of the First Temple in 586
B.C.E. The Talmud assigns him to the
time of the evil King Manasseh in the 7th century B.C.E. making him
a contemporary of the prophet Joel.
Habakkuk’s writings consist of fifty-six verses divided into three
chapters. And he may not have even
written the third chapter, which is the source of the haftarah on the Second
Day of Shavuot. In the late 1940’s, a
scroll attributed to Habakkuk was found in a cave near the Dead Sea. The scroll appeared to be intact and
contained commentaries on the writings.
But it only contained the material in the first two chapters. However, the third chapter, which has been
credited to Habakkuk over the centuries, is in his literary style. Lacking evidence to the contrary, we shall
continue to accept the traditional belief.
Habakkuk was troubled by the apparent triumph of evil over the
righteous. The message from God was that
this was merely illusory. “Though it
tarry, wait for it.” (2:3) Ultimately, good will triumph over evil. Various prophets and sages are supposed to
have reduced all commandments to one. In
the case of Habakkuk we find this in the statement “But the righteous shall
live by his faith” (2:4). The Hebrew
word translated as faith is “emuhah” which is understood as steadfastness or
faithfulness. As Rabbi Lehrman points out
in his commentary, “the righteous Israelite, who remains unswervingly loyal to
the moral precepts, will endure, although he has to suffer for his principles;
whereas the wicked who enjoy a temporary ascendancy through their violation of
right, are in the end overthrown and humbled.
‘Moses gave Israel 613 commandments.
David reduced them to 10, Isaiah to 2 but Habakkuk to one: the righteous
shall live by his faith.’”
The Message: The haftarah starts with the last sentence in
the second chapter. The prophet is
appealing to God in His Temple. The next
verse, the first verse of chapter 3, establishes that this is a prayer offered
in the manner of the Psalms sung by the Levites in the Temple. The rest of the haftarah is a “lyric ode” in
which the prophet “again begs God to intervene on His people’s behalf and
visualizes his petition as granted in a graphic picture of the march of God and
His retinue to overthrow the enemy.” The
last verses are a declaration of the prophet’s unswerving faith in God and His
judgments, no matter what hardships may be suffered.
Theme-Link: There are at least three. First is the statement about the “Lord in His
temple” at the beginning of the reading.
Observance of the Pilgrimage Festivals, including Shavuot, required the
people to bring sacrifices to the Lord in the Temple. Second, according to Rashi, the third verse
in Chapter 3 is a reference to the Sinaitic Revelation, which is one of the
reasons for celebrating Shavuot. Third,
the haftarah is a description of a future theophany while Shavuot is a
celebration of the Theophany at Sinai.
Book of Ruth (Special Reading for Shavuot)
Brief Q & A
Is the Book
of Ruth part of the Bible? The Book of Ruth is found in the third
section of the Bible, which is called Kethubim in Hebrew and Writings in
English. Some other books of the Bible
in Kethubim of which you may have already heard are Psalms and Proverbs. Included in Kethubim are five books which are
known collectively as the Five Megilloth or the Five Scrolls. Each of the five is read on a specific
holiday. The most famous example of this
is the Scroll of Esther, which is read on Purim. The Book of Ruth is read on Shavuot.
Why is the
Book of Ruth read on Shavuot? There are many answers to this question. Here are a few. The story takes place during the barley and
wheat harvests, which is the time of the year during which Shavuot is
celebrated. Shavuot commemorates the
Giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, which was a reaffirmation of the covenant
between the Israelites and God. The Book
of Ruth is a story of one person’s entrance into that same covenanted
relationship. According to some, the
birth and the yahrzeit of King David both occurred on Shavuot. Since the Book of Ruth is the tale of David’s
great -grandparents, it is only proper that it is read on Shavuot.
When does the
story take place? No one is sure. Based on statements in the book itself, the
story probably takes place during the time of the Judges. This is the period after the conquest of
Canaan described in the Book of Joshua and prior to the time of Saul, the first
King of Israel. Some authorities say it
took place about one hundred years before the birth of King David, who lived
sometime around the year 1,000 BCE. The
Book of Ruth was not written at the time that it is supposed to have occurred.
Who wrote the Book of Ruth and when was it written? Like many Jewish texts, there is no clear
answer. Traditionally the Prophet Samuel
was thought to be the author of the Book of Ruth. Some scholars have assigned the authorship to
an unknown writer living in the Kingdom of Judea prior to destruction of the
Temple in 586 B.C.E. Others contend the
book was written after the Israelites had returned from the Babylonian Exile
during the period of Ezra and Nehemiah.
The lack of a clear-cut answer as to authorship has not kept people from
enjoying and learning from this brief tome.
Where does
the Book of Ruth take place? There are two major settings for the
story. One is the land of Moab, which is
on the eastern side of the Dead Sea opposite the land of Israel. The second is Bethlehem and its
environs. Bethlehem was a town in the
land assigned to the tribe of Judah.
Who are the
major characters in the Book of Ruth? The major characters in the
book and their relationship to Ruth are:
Ruth - the heroine whose name has
the same root as the Hebrew word for friendship;
Elimelech - the father of Ruth’s
husband and the husband of Naomi;
Naomi - Ruth’s mother-in-law;
Machlon - Ruth’s first husband;
Chilion - Ruth’s brother-in-law;
Orpah - Chilion’s wife;
Boaz - Ruth’s second husband; and
Obad - Ruth’s son.
What are the
basic elements of the story in the Book of Ruth?
Since the Book of Ruth is actually a short story lasting only seven
pages, it is difficult to summarize the plot without re-telling the tale. However, the major elements are:
Ruth becomes a wife and then a
widow.
Ruth returns to Bethlehem with
Naomi.
Ruth works in the fields,
supporting Naomi and meeting Boaz.
Ruth’s relationship with Boaz
ripens, leading to an engagement.
Ruth marries Boaz and gives birth
to Obad, the grandfather of King David.
What is the
most famous statement in the Book of Ruth? It is Ruth’s statement to
Naomi, “…whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge;
thy people shall be my people, and thy God, my God…” (1:16) It is a statement of ultimate love and
loyalty. And, read in context, it is
certainly a statement of conversion.
Shavuot: Comments, Customs and Ceremonies: There are numerous excellent resources on
customs and practices of the holiday.
These are but a few random comments to get you going. Shavuot has largely gotten lost in the
shuffle. It lacks the definitive
ceremonial symbols of Sukkoth or the foods of Pesach. It even lacks a definite date on the
calendar. It would appear that more than
one attempt has been made to add luster to this Festival. One was the decision to tie the giving of the
Torah to Shavuot since otherwise it would have lost its meaning once the Temple
was destroyed. Rabbi Alfred Kolatch
describes a custom known to the contemporaries of Rashi. During the Middle Ages it was customary in
some communities for youngsters to begin their studies on Shavuot. The young boy would be dressed in his finest
clothes, wrapped in a talit and taken to the Synagogue to hear the Torah read
on the first day of the holiday. After
services, he would be given a tablet with the Hebrew alphabet and verses of
Torah (usually Vayikra). This was
covered with honey, which the child was allowed to lick off as a reminder that
the study of Torah was sweet. A more
recent attempt was the decision by Reform (and later Conservative) Judaism to
tie Confirmation to Shavuot. Both events
happen in the late spring. Both events
are tied to study. And in some services,
the youngsters are actually referred to as “bikurim”, first fruits of the
offering.
Names: This festival has a
variety of names. It is called Shavuot
or the Feast of Weeks because we count the Omer for forty-nine days or seven
weeks and then celebrate the holiday on the fiftieth day. The holiday is also called Matan Torah or
Giving of the Torah. According to
tradition, this was the festival on which God gave the Israelites the Torah at
Sinai. Note that the holiday celebrates
the giving of the Torah, not the receiving of the Torah. The holiday is also called Chag Hakatzir or
the Holiday of the Harvest because it celebrated the Barley Harvest. Additionally, the holiday was called Chag
Habikurim or the Holiday of the First Fruits because the Israelites were
commanded to bring the first fruits to the Temple. The Kohanim would keep a tenth and the rest
would be given to the poor. More than
anything else, the different names may reflect different aspects of the holiday
and different periods of time in our history.
Dairy Foods: Nobody really knows
why we eat dairy products on Shavuot.
According to some, the ancient Israelites did not eat meat during the
three days preceding the giving of the Torah.
According to others, Israel is referred to as the Land “flowing with
milk and honey” and we eat dairy products because of this. Then there are those who say that just as
milk nurtures the infant, so does Torah nurture the Jew. And if milk is nature’s most perfect food,
should we not consume it on a holiday when we celebrating the giving of God’s
most perfect teaching, the Torah? At any
rate, we have a holiday where we can eat blintzes, ice cream or pizza and feel
holy about filling ourselves with butter fat and cholesterol.
Got Milk? Liel Leibovitz offers a
“mystical connection between Shavuot and dairy. “Moses
was on Mount Sinai for 40 days. Add up
the numeric value of the Hebrew letters for milk - Het, Lamed, and Bet - and
you get, you guessed it, 40. Even
better: The Torah, we’re told, has 70
facets, and if you add up the numeric values of the letters making up the
Hebrew word for Cheese - g’vina - you get, drumroll, 70. Another name for Mount Sinai is Har Gavnunim,
meaning the mountain of peaks but sharing an etymological connection with the
word for cheese.”
Services and Ceremonies: In the Diaspora
traditional Jews observe the holiday for two days and Reform Jews observe the
holiday for one day. Candles are lit in
the evening of the holiday on each night it is observed. On the first night, Shehecheyanu is recited
when blessing the candles and making Kiddush.
A special Yom Tov or holiday Kiddush is recited. In the United States, Orthodox and
Conservative Jews have special Shavuot Services for two days. (Reform Jews have services on one day.) Hallel is recited on both days. There is a Mussaf Service on both days. Traditional Jews recited Yizkor on the Second
Day of Shavuot while Reform Jews recite it on the one-day of the holiday they
observe. In some synagogues a special
Piyyut or liturgical poem called Akdamut is recited responsively after the
Kohein has been called to the Torah but before the Blessing is recited. Akdamut means “In introduction” and takes its
name from the first word in the first line of the poem. It is ninety verses long and written in
Aramaic. Rabbi Meir Ben Yitzchak who
lived during the eleventh century in Worms, Germany composed Akdamut. It is written as a double alphabetic poem the
initial letters of which make up sentence in Hebrew that means “Meir, the son
of Rabbi Yitzchak, may he grow in Torah and in good deeds. Amen.
Be strong and of good courage.”
The poem itself is filled with mystical illusions that hearken to some
of the themes in the visions mentioned in the Haftarot above. I mention this little known poem (to us) to
help broaden our knowledge of our faith and to make you aware of the mystical
nature of some of our writings and customs.
Lest you get too curious, this is an area well beyond my depth so do not
expect much more than this. One final
note; in the Kitzur Shulchon Oruch, the Code of Jewish Law, there
is no section on Shavuot. There are
separate sections on each of the holidays - major, minor, solemn, joyful and
fast days. But there is no separate
section on Shavuot. Could it be that
writers of Rabbinic law were so overwhelmed by the Holiday of the Giving of the
Torah, that they could come up with no laws of their own? Or is up to each of us to observe the Torah
as the ultimate way of observing Shavuot?
Karaite Counting and Shavuot: The Karaites are sect of Jews that did not recognize the
divinity of the Oral Law and looked to the TaNaCh as the only binding legal
source for their practices. Among these
practices, was the manner in which the Omer was counted. Rabbinic Judaism starts counting the Omer on
the second night of Pesach. The Karaites
read the Torah literally and start counting the Omer from the first Shabbat
during Pesach which means their observance of Shavuot does not coincide with
that followed by most Jews. For example,
in 2017, Shavuot is observed on the 6th of Sivan or May 31. But the Karites it is observed on the 10th of
Sivan or June 4. That is because the
Karaites began counting on Sunday April 16, 2017 or the 20th of
Nisan. In their day the Karaites were a
major force in the Jewish world as can be seen from the fact that the famous
Alleppo Codex was kept in a Karaite Synagogue in Jerusalem before it began its
fateful journey that took it to Syria and ultimately back to Eretz Israel. For more about the Karaites and their
observances see http://www.karaites.org/upforthecount.html.
Questions: What good is a
holiday without questions, especially a holiday that emphasizes the need to
study? Aren’t questions the basis for
real learning? So why not take a crack
at these as you eat your blintzes, cheesecake or ice cream?
Jewish Identity: The holiday of
Shavuot provides an excellent opportunity to discuss the ancient view of
this. Do the story of Ruth and the
Sinaitic Experience provide conflicting or re-enforcing views on this
matter? If the Book of Ruth was written
during the early days of the Second Commonwealth with what concept of Jewish
identity was it competing? What does the Israeli government’s support for the
concept that a person is only Jewish if he or she went through conversion of
certain Orthodox rabbis mean for the future of the Jewish people and the state
of Israel? What is the purpose of
funding a project that will enable the Israeli rabbinate to check “the
bloodlines” of each Jew?
Historicity of the Sinaitic Experience: There is no archeological or easily
identifiable non-Biblical evidence that the Sinaitic Experience ever took
place. Is there any way to establish the
historicity of the event? Why is the
historicity of the event important to understanding Jewish history?
Shavuot and the Crusades: 1096 (6th
of Sivan): In one of the few instances
of individual courage, the local Bishop of Cologne and some of the local
Burghers offered the Jews protection in their own houses. The Bishop later
escorted them to towns under his protection.
Crusaders reached Cologne and found the gate to the city closed by order
of the bishop. Of all the Jewish
communities in the path of the Crusaders, Cologne's Jews were the only ones to
escape total destruction.
1096 (6th of Sivan):
Isaac of Mayence committed suicide on Shavuot two days after he had he
submitted to forced baptism to save the lives of his mother and children. According to legend, he set the synagogue on
fire to keep it from being turned into a church.
Copyright, May, 2025; Mitchell A Levin
5/8/18
