Daily Archives: June 3, 2008

Shavuot for Today

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ruth-boaz.jpgAs Jews we don’t believe the Torah is a historical document, one to study like any other ancient text, but that God gave it to us to live with, in our time. Rabbi Levi Meier sums it up beautifully in Second Chances:

“The Torah is not meant to be understood only on an esoteric, philosophical level. It also constitutes a practical guide for how to live our daily lives.”

« Neither with you only (do I make this covenant), but with him that standeth here with us, and also with him that is not here with us this day » (Devarim 29:13-14)

Concerning the giving of the Torah, the Talmud is quite specific and understands the verses above as a clear reference to the generations of Jews to come and to the future converts who would later accept Judaism.

Consequently next week, when we hear the reading of the ten commandments and the following day that of the Book of Ruth, we are expected to hear these words not mainly as a historical record but as a message that is still relevant today.

Yet is it as easy today as it was 2,000 years ago? We live in a world that is shaped by painful historical events, rapid advance in science, psychoanalysis, new technologies… We have become more learned in lots of areas but also more sceptical.

Rabbi Levi Meier draws an interesting comparison between Naomi and the Klausenberger Rebbe that may be worth looking into and try to develop.

In Moab, Naomi lost a husband and two sons and her response to suffering was ethical. She was kind and made sure her daughter-in-law had a secure future. As for Ruth, after losing a husband and being left childless, she joined the Jewish people. The spiritual path she chose helped her make the right choices for herself and her mother-in-law who thus became the great grand mother of King David, the greatest king in Jewish history.

Rabbi Levi Meier recalls that despite losing his wife and eleven children during the Holocaust, the Klausenberger Rebbe still believed in life. He remarried, had seven more children and after settling in Israel in 1957 raised money for the establishment of key institutions to serve his neighborhood. These institutions include girls’ and boys’ schools and yeshivas, an orphanage, and an old-age home. He also set up a community hospital, “a very special institution where no patient is ever turned away and every employee is treated with dignity and respect.” He created a program called Mifal HaShas, in which students would master thirty folios of the Talmud in one month. Mifal HaShas continues to operate today worldwide.

His own response to his own suffering as well as that of the Jewish people was both ethical and spiritual. Could that be the message God still conveys to the Naomis, Ruths and Boazs of today?

For more posts on Shavuot, see:

– Leora: Ruth: Famine, Infertility and Ploni Almoni
– Leora: Truth and Beauty
– Leora: Ruth: Bitterness to Hope
– Getting Ready for Shavuot?
– Megillat Ruth