The Second Day of Conclusion

The giving of Torah is an event which transcends the usual actions of time and space. The receiving of the Torah is a process of awakening to the One we are. Shavuot celebrates the giving of the Torah – the Torah which continually awaits our doing and our hearing (Exodus 24:3-7). We are not only called upon to translate those energies into words, we are called upon to translate the unfolding Torah into concrete action in the world. Through us, Torah lives. Through Torah, we live our truest Life.

Torah is not simply a document containing the first five books of the Hebrew Bible – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy – which speaks to each generation with interpretations fresh and new. Torah is the Way called Judaism. It is the Heart of our faith, the foundation of our tradition. It is the book with no end, supporting the expansion of our relationship with God, and our understandings of what it means to be a person—a vehicle for the Spirit of the Creator.

At holy moments when we awaken to greater depths of our own being, we are receiving Torah. When we discover meaning and purpose to our existence, we are hearing that ancient Word in all its Life. There is no end to Torah. There is no end to the process of becoming witness to the Truth of our Being.

Shavuot is the symbol of that which cannot be contained in any particular calendar. The word “Shavuot” literally means “weeks”, and refers to the day after the seven-week journey between enslavement and Sinai is completed. The reality of Shavuot is with us always, and we celebrate it with special focus on these days. Our journey from slavery to the awareness of freedom is honoured each time we open our “I’s” to the fuller nature of existence, to affirm our connection to All That Is, to celebrate our relationship with that which we call G-d.

This journey enables us to retrace the steps of that path. Our Way challenges us to realise aspects of Universal Harmony that we might sing new songs of Creation. This is a time to dream dreams, to recapture the Vision which has supported our trek through history and into what we know as the future.

That Vision is perceived in the depths of our own souls. It is not hidden from us except by an accumulation of old patterns and old beliefs in our limitations. It is we who erect the barriers to our own seeing; it is we who fill our consciousness with so much noise that we lose the gentle whisper of Oneness that is given to each of us in equal measure. It is I who has the responsibility to step beyond those old habits and dares to receive that which we have not yet heard.

That there is always more of Torah for us to receive speaks the evolution of our faith and of ourselves. It is the basis of our seeking and the wonder of our finding. At its finest, our community supports the courage each of us needs to move beyond what we know now, to discover that which is about to be. In that discovery, and in the action it supports, new worlds are born.

There is great promise in these moments called Shavuot. Our meditations are open-ended. They lead us to into a space of trusting that we know what we most need to know at any given moment. The truest of teachers awaits inside ourselves.

Yesterday we climbed the Mountain. Today our task is to stand at the summit of that mountain and receive the blessings awaiting us there. Our goal is not simply to experience that summit, but to carry those holy energies down again into the world, that we might share, and live, and walk yet further into the completion of Creation.

Note: Moshe Rabeinu spent a total of 80 days up on the mountain in order to receive the word of G-d, and “carry that energy back down again into the world…”, etc. How can we expected to achieve the same in one day? (It has to be a period of meditation and visualisation of at least a week - the 50-56th day.)

Standing now at the summit, open to the energies of the Mountain, receiving the Light which radiates from that place. Surrendering, I tremble in wonder at the completeness of my being, seeing that which I have never seen before, and hearing that which I have not yet heard.
Surrendering to the holiness of this moment, I bless the Universal Spirit Who honours me in such awesome ways.