15 Questions for the Fiftieth Day after Jewish Passover

Answers for Jewish Pentecost

Reb Shlomo Carlebach once recommended, ‘Don’t ruin an outstanding question with an answer.’ Asking is often more important than answering. However, I will try to give at least some answers to all the questions here.

Why do we learn through the night on Shavuot?

The Rabbis tell us that on the morning of the day we’d receive the Torah, we overslept. We didn’t wake up, and Moses had to wake us.

To atone for that, we don’t even go to sleep now we’re reliving this most central event in Jewish history. It’s the yearly opening of the Heavenly tab.

But why didn’t we wake up?

Let me suggest that it may have been a side effect of the fifty days of spiritual, emotional, or character elevation that we went through from the Exodus to the Giving of the Torah. How so? We rose above 50 levels of impurity and went from the lowest of the lowest levels in Egypt to the highest of the highest ever, like Adam and Eve before the Fall, the first sin.

Why do we count up and not down?

Had we been Christian or Muslim, we might have counted down. Their religions are G^d-centered. Didn’t the Giving of the Torah put G^d in the center? The Jewish G^d is much humbler. He only appears in the Torah in the third word. The Revelation’s greatness lay in our elevated status. We became one People of one mind. We had been building, so we count up.

Thus, we lost our Evil Drives. Different from popular (mis)understanding, the Evil Inclination is not all Evil. The Sages of the Talmud explain that normal bodily functions are part of this Inclination, like chickens laying eggs or having saliva when we eat. Perhaps, we lost our ability to wake up.

If so, what returned to us our ability to wake up?

Ready for the Giving of the Torah, we were encamped at the foot of Mount Sinai. In Hebrew grammar, facing the Mountain. The Rabbis explain that G^d may have held the Mount over our heads and said that if we’d accept the Torah, it’d be good for us; if not, there would be our graves.

This should have us ask two more questions.

How does G^d bring here Greek Philosophy’s faulty idea of Free Will?

Hellenist Thought says that Free Will means that nothing around or in us, or in our history, would force our will. So, we can always freely choose between options, and nothing would cause our choice. This is such rubbish that most professors of Western Philosophy reject Free Will as imaginary.

No, Free Will is what Moses tells us when he says, ‘Choose life,’ our ability to free ourselves from a lower moral level by making an effort. It doesn’t say, ‘Choose life over death!’ Its opposite is just going with the flow of attractions and revulsions, making no effort, staying morally stuck.

Of course, G^d didn’t speak Greek nonsense. Rather, the Rabbis suggest G^d said, ‘If you’d accept the Torah, it will be good for you; if not, there (in Egypt!) would have been your graves,’ meaning, I would never have let you go. But then, even more urgently, the second question arises.

Why did G^d force us?

We had already said, ‘We will do, and then, we’ll understand.’ That means we will obey, which will make us appreciate the choice rather than in the opposite sequence. We gave G^d carte blanche. So, why enforce us?

One would think that someone who does the Commandments for liking them gets more reward than someone who does so from obligation.

Our Sages explain that’s not so. When we’re obligated, our human need for autonomy makes us dislike it. Imagine you’re about to eat your favorite meal. Suddenly, someone appears out of nowhere, puts a gun to your head, and says, ‘Eat!’ That would remove most of the fun, no?

A social worker once told me she ordered her son to get some groceries. He said, ‘Aww, Mom, why demand this of me? I would have done it with pleasure without you commanding me.’ She explained, ‘I know. But now you also will get reward from Heaven for following my command.’

So, G^d may have forced us to make us entitled to more Reward. A prime Jewish idea for why G^d created the Universe is to be generous to us.

When we said, ‘We will do, and then, we’ll understand,’ we meant that we liked the Commandments. That’s not being obligated. That’s doing what you feel like. Then, G^d forced it upon us. Then, we became obligated. And after that, we had the option to say, ‘We are obligated, but I choose to do the Commandment because I want to, not because I should have to.’ This entitles us to two rewards, one for conquering our Evil Inclination against obeying and one for doing the Commandments from love and not fear.

Perhaps another reason for the enforcement answers the above question of how the Evil Inclination we need even to wake up returned to us.

But how was Moses able to wake us up?

First of all, Moses functioned on an entirely different level from us all. After the Revelation, we went back to our tents. The Rabbis explain that as ‘to our wives.’ Moses did not. For the last 40 years of his life, he separated from his wife, ready to communicate with G^d at every moment.

Yet, in Judaism, we acknowledge this as an exception. The most holy is to be married. Even the Holy Nazir continues to have marital relations. The High Priest cannot even officiate on Yom Kippur without a wife at home!

Perhaps Moses received his Evil Inclination from G^d forcing him to lead the Jewish revolt, much to his chagrin—but not all of his bodily functions. When he learned Torah on Mount Sinai, he fasted for 40 days and nights.

***

But a strange thing happened on our way to Mount Sinai.

The Rabbis suggest G^d first offered the Torah to all the other Peoples.

He said to thieves, ‘Would you like the Torah?’ ‘What’s in it?’ they asked. ‘You shall not steal.’ ‘Oh, that’s not for us. We live from theft.’

He said to murderers, ‘Would you like the Torah?’ ‘What’s in it?’ they asked. ‘You shall murder.’ ‘Oh, that’s not for us. We live from murder.’

He said to cheaters, ‘Would you like the Torah?’ ‘What’s in it?’ they asked. ‘You shall not cheat.’ ‘Oh, that’s not for us. We procreate via adultery.’

And so on for every Nation. The cases of robbery, murder, and adultery are blunt, but the Torah antagonizes every person and spurs all on to improve.

Anyway, in each case, G^d walked away without explaining, ‘Don’t worry about survival. When you keep the Torah, I’ll take care of you.’

Why did He not tell them, ‘You can safely keep the Torah?’

And why did He offer the Torah to us last? Were we his least favorite?

We will see some answers soon. But first, a few more questions.

When were we supposed to receive the Torah?

Let’s do some light calculus.

G^d ordered us to violate the Shabbat rules before the Exodus. Each family should buy a sheep and bind it to their beds. When the Egyptians asked, ‘What is this?’ we said, ‘We’re going to slaughter it in four days.’ This was an Egyptian Idol so it angered them. But G^d ordered a miracle—they couldn’t harm us. This we call the Shabbat of the Great [Miracle].

Four days later, on Tuesday morning, the day before the Exodus, we slaughtered it, and in the evening, with its blood on the doorpost telling us that our slave nation is special, we ate its meat as the first Seder’s climax.

The next morning, we left—on a Wednesday.

The next evening, the start of Thursday, we began counting 7 times 7 days. It was the day after the Shabbat. It doesn’t say the Shabbat Day. Shabbat means a period we abstain. On the Shabbat Day, we refrain from creative work. On Yom Kippur, a multiple Shabbat, we add drink, food, etc. On the first day of Pesach, we began cutting out chameitz, leavened foods.

This was to be followed by the 50^th day, the Receiving of the Torah. So, the daybreak we were supposed to receive the Torah was Friday morning.

Yet, our Rabbis tell us we received the Torah on Shabbat morning because Moses had asked for one more day because we were ‘not ready.’

This should make us ask a whole slew of questions.

What does it matter, 50 or 51 days of preparations?

Perhaps it was not about being ready to receive the Torah but unprepared to get this in the morning before Shabbat, when we had to collect the Manna, cook, prepare the house, learn all the new Shabbat Laws, etc.

Maybe Moses strove to give us a chance to leave the last level of impurity.

But because Moses asked for an extra day, we couldn’t wake up—showing again not to mess with G^d’s design. Moses also took the Mixed Multitude with him, out of compassion, resulting in lots of misery for the Jews.

How could being ready play any role?

Imagine, from the first of June, a new law that bicycles can’t run an orange light anymore. On June 1st, you violate the new law, and the police stops you. Will you get off the hook if you say, ‘Sorry, I’m not ready’?

Every year since, on the 50^th day after the Seder, we rejoice in the Giving of the Torah. Do we lie when we call it ‘The Time of the Gift of the Torah’?

This only seems true on the Diaspora Second Day of Shavuot.

Here are the answers to all our open questions.

When a friend asks us for a commitment, we will first ask, ‘What do you want? We won’t just commit. But when someone gives us a present, we say, ‘Thank you’ before we know what it is. We Jews understood the Torah was a gift—not an obligation. The other Nations first asked, ‘What is in it?’ because they thought they were being obligated. G^d didn’t tell them not to worry because He didn’t want to give the Torah to Peoples that find it OK to steal, murder, or be unfaithful. Before you can learn Judaism, you need to have a good character. If not, it’s like giving fertilizer to weeds. Therefore, we relearn the ethics in the Sayings of the Forefathers before every Shavuot and focus seven times on the seven Lower Sefirot.

G^d knew they weren’t fit, so He asked us last to show His impartiality.

Moses could ask for an extra day because it was a gift, not an obligation.

And what we say on Shavuot is correct. It’s not the day we received the Torah but ‘The Time of the Gift of the Torah,’ the day we understood the Torah to be a gift. As the old joke goes, G^d offers Moses the Stone Tablets. ‘How much do they cost?’ ‘They’re free.’ ‘OK, I’ll have two.’

And why does the Torah not state the date of the Giving of the Torah?

That would have prevented many misunderstandings. All other Jewish Festivals are mentioned by date. Let me suggest another answer than just ‘It’s 50 days after Pesach, depending on the lengths of the months.’

Receiving understanding of the Jewish Lore is of every day, year-round.

After Shavuot, I corrected and expanded the text that was posted before it.

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