When I was a bachur learning at the Mir Yeshiva in Yerushalayim, a friend of mine told me that he had a chavrusa with the rosh yeshiva, Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel. “Wow, that’s incredible, how did you manage to arrange that?” I asked. He said that many people learn with the Rosh Yeshiva, and I should also ask to get a slot. So I approached the Rosh Yeshiva. “Sure,” he said. “Come Monday morning at 11 a.m..” At the arranged time, the Rosh Yeshiva studied with me and a few others for an hour.
After a few months, I mustered up the courage to ask the Rosh Yeshiva if my chavrusa and I could have a private session with him, without anyone else. To my surprise, he agreed and we had our own private chavrusa! There were thousands learning in the yeshiva at that time, yet the Rosh Yeshiva, with his many responsibilities, still arranged time to learn Torah with me and my chavrusa by ourselves.
I personally find myself pressed for time and needing to prioritize my responsibilities. Even writing this dvar Torah is challenging, as there is a firm weekly deadline for writing and editing.
The Yom Tov of Shavuos is about time. Indeed, the name of each Yom Tov expresses something about that Yom Tov. Pesach is called Chag HaMatzos, the holiday of matzah, as it’s a mitzvah to eat matzah. It is also called Pesach—meaning skip—as Hashem “skipped” over the Jewish homes, sparing the Jewish firstborns during the plague of the firstborn. Sukkos is called Chag HaSukkos, as the mitzvah is to sit inside a sukkah, remembering that the Jewish nation sat inside sukkos (huts) when Hashem led them in the desert after they left Mitzrayim. But what mitzvah or concept does Chag HaShavuos involve? The word Shavuos means weeks. Why is there no reference to a specific mitzvah that is being performed on Shavuos or an event that occurred on Shavuos?
Let’s analyze the word shavua. The Hebrew word shavua means “week.” It also means “seven,” since it includes the word “sheva,” as in seven days in a week. The Hebrew word shevua also means “an oath.” What connects these three concepts of the root word of Shavuos: week, seven and oath?
Rav Moshe Shapiro explains that most units of time refer to a celestial movement. A day represents the Earth revolving around the sun. It takes a month for the moon to go around the Earth. But for a week, there’s no corresponding movement! The word shavua is used only because Hashem created the world in seven days.
Shavua also means an oath, as the Torah requires a person to make an oath in various situations to prove he is saying the truth. American court systems do that also! One who follows the seven-day week (shavua) by working six days and resting on Shabbos is “testifying” that Hashem created the world.
The Yom Tov of Shavuos receives its name from the mitzvah to count seven weeks of seven days each. Unlike other Yom Tovim, Shavuos does not fall on a set day of the month. It is the day after the counting of seven full weeks: 49. In fact, Shavuos can fall anywhere between the fifth and seventh of Sivan, depending on the number of days in the months of Nissan and Iyar.
Shavuos receives its name because it illustrates that this holiday is the creation of our counting of seven weeks. It is an oath testifying to the unique day when the Jewish nation received the Torah. Kiddush on Friday night starts with the words, “Yom Hashishi.” Rashi notes that the word “Hashishi”means the sixth day, while the preposition “the” refers to a specific sixth day…the sixth day of Sivan— the day the Jewish nation received the Torah. The world was created for the Torah!
Time has a purpose. Time is not just something that a person finds ways to fill. The requirement to count seven weeks of seven days from the second day of Pesach to Shavuos is our oath, our testimony, that time was created for the purpose of Torah. Hashem left that counting up to each and every person individually, to make their own oath—shevua—that the purpose of our time is to learn and observe the Torah.
As we approach and celebrate the Yom Tov of Shavuos, let us chart a path to use our time for the purpose for which time was created— to follow Hashem’s Torah and designate time daily to study Hashem’s Torah. If you can, come to our yeshiva and taste the sweetness of Torah for yourself. I look forward to seeing you there!
Rabbi Baruch Bodenheim is the Rosh Yeshiva of Passaic Torah Institute (PTI)/Yeshiva Ner Boruch. Rabbi Bodenheim can be reached at [email protected]. For more info about PTI and its Torah classes, visit www.pti.shulcloud.com
