Let Go and Let G*D

The opening verse in the book of numbers reads, "And G*D spoke to Moses in the wilderness". The sages ask why was the Torah given in the desert? One of the reasons given is that so no one could lay claim on it. If the Torah were given in the beautiful city of Jerusalem, then the people of Jerusalem could say the Torah is ours. The fact that Torah was given in the wilderness, a barren place, no single person could lay claim on it. It was given to the people. Rabbi Sharaga Simmons says that it was because the desert was empty, so that to acquire the Torah and G*D's wisdom we must be willing to open up a space inside ourselves. Lastly the Torah was given in exile because we must bring its life-giving waters to the desert places, and to the farthest corners of the earth. As we prepare for Shavuot beloved and the reliving of the Sinai experience, the message for us is to except G*D and His essence as a child in humility, we need to know our place, make some space, and let the truth of G*D and His Torah enter inside.

Rashi writes that we refer to Shavuot as Matan Toraseinu, the giving of our Torah, because we are all together in the study and fulfillment of the Torah. It is not enough to study Torah, one must help others in the study of Torah in love and respect. This is one of the messages of Shavuot, unlike the other Festivals, where we eat Matzah, shake the lulav and sit in the Sukkah, Shavuot is a time when Jewish people all over the world join together in brotherhood and friendship and study Torah together. The Lubavitcher Rebbe explains that the purpose of the Torah is to create a dwelling place for G*D in this plane, the lowest of all the worlds. Just as the essence of a person is in his home more than any place else, so to, G*D wanted His essence to be drawn down into this world in order for this to be His "home". The divine desire can only be actualized by the Torah being fulfilled in this world. When we perform G*D's commandments and learn His Torah with our physical bodies and minds, we literally bring G*D's essence into this plane. It is something only man can do.

Where Does the Torah Live
Where is the Torah? Does it reside in the heavens with the angels, or on a parchment scroll,
or with the rabbis and scholars? No.
It lives in the heart of each person who learns it, in the voice of the one who discusses it and in the life of the one who lives it.
That heart, that voice, that life-that too, is G*D's word.
Adapted from a teaching by T. Freeman

On Shavuot we read the book of Ruth, the Medrash refers to this book as Torah chesed, the Torah of kindness. Torah is not a study for wisdom's sake, rather it is a way of life. It is said in Proverbs 3:18 "For it is a tree of life for those who grasp it, and for them that uphold it, everyone is rendered happy. It's ways are ways of pleasantness and all it's paths are peace. Long life is at it's right side, riches and honor, at it's left". The tree alludes to the Torah beloved.
So why do we read the book of Ruth on Shavuot? There are several reasons given. The events of the book of Ruth occurred during the harvest, Shavuot is the Festival of the Harvest. King David was born on Shavuot and the book of Ruth concludes with the lineage of David. The name Ruth has the numerical value of 606, at Har Sinai the Jewish people accepted the 606 mitzvot, in addition to the seven Noahide Laws. The book of Ruth also teaches us acts of loving kindness. Most importantly the book of Ruth gives us the perspective of the ger tzadik, the true proselyte. Shavuot is the time of the giving of the Torah, and when we received it, we too, like the ger tzadik, pledged to accept the Torah and fullfill its 613 mitzvot. May it be HaShem's will that this Shavuot we receive the Torah and the message contained within, it is a time to harvest the fruits of our Torah study, may we study and put into practice the teachings of the Torah together.
Chag Sameach, beloved, Elizabeth

To get a little idea of the journey of the proselyte and the fate that they share with Israel I have included a teaching by a dear friend and mentor.
NITZAVIM VAYELECH - MOVIN' TO THE CENTER (but feelin' lonely just the same)

by Rabbi Baruch Melman HaKohen

The ger, the convert to Judaism, follows in the footsteps of Avraham Avinu, the Patriarch Abraham, and of Sarah Imenu, the Matriarch Sarah, who were themselves gerim. They chose a new path for themselves, following the deepest yearning of their heart for the ultimate truth that there is One G*d who demands righteousness and ethical behavior. The ger is precious to us as a people, and yet the ger may feel a sense of loneliness, as he/she chose this path for themselves.

Our tradition teaches that all the souls of Israel, past, present and future, stood as one at Mount Sinai, together with the souls of all future gerim, those who would accept the Torah, the Covenant between G*d and Israel. The ger is so holy. And as being holy means being set aside and special in the best sense, being holy and pure as the Sabbath is holy and pure, less sensitive and less refined souls may view the apartness as a possible negative, and so the Torah adjures us 36 times not to oppress the ger in any way. It would be like oppressing Avraham and Sarah, their parents.

The ger, the convert, is fundamentally alone. Unmoored from the past, yet not feeling fully hinged to the present, he eternally seeks validation that he has, in fact, arrived. The aloneness is his burden, and yet it is his fundamental strength. Recreating Abraham's singular journey, who himself was a ger, he finds solace in the sojourn, that the voyage is, in a certain sense, his ultimate calling.

Nitzavim/Vayelech- "standing, yet going," replicates so delicately the narrowing arc of Israel's destiny, from the edge of history to that of its vibrant center. Ironically, KI GERIM HAYITEM B'ERETZ MITZRAYIM,"because you were strangers in the land of Egypt," employs the plural form for stranger (gerim) when referring to Israel, yet when the Torah refers to the actual GER among Israel, it prefers the use of the singular. Maybe it is because each holy ger comes alone in his quest, following the deep yearning of his soul. In a sense he revels in that aloneness as the precursor of his search, for the search only begins with the confrontation with his essential aloneness. It is that very sense of aloneness which in the end gives comfort. As G*d is essentially alone, and yet yearns to be rejoined by the righteous of Israel and the world, so too does the ger share with G*d in that existential aloneness.

In the very opening lines of our parsha (Deut. 29:9,10), every group mentioned takes a plural ending-save the proselyte. But in parshat Yitro, in the very verses uttered at the Sabbath day Kiddush (Ex. 20:8-10), every referenced group takes the singular ending- along with the proselyte. Moreover, in Nitzavim, the proselyte is positioned in the center of the camp of Israel (vegercha asher b'KEREV MACHANECHA),

"and your proselyte who is in the midst of your camp,"

whereas, in Yitro, the ger is figuratively positioned at the edge of the camp, literally at the gates seeking admission (gercha asher B'SHAARECHA)

" your proselyte who is at your gates."

Maybe this reflects perspective. As in quantum physics, perspective itself effects reality, even effecting the affective, i.e., the realm of feelings. When one is standing on the edge, just another point along the circumference, then all whom you know is standing right next to you- immediately to your right, and immediately to your left. But when one is standing in the center,everyone else seems plural in the sense that one now takes in the greater whole from the central vantage point. The periphery, once veiled owing to one's having had been a part of that very periphery, now becomes enlarged in its seeming fullness by virtue of one's new perspective.

How true that the ger amongst us once stood alone at the gates, beckoning admission. And how true that those very gerim are now the vibrant center of our Jewish lives, whose vibrant enthusiasm so infectiously stimulate. As Israel is the central truth seeker and shaker in world history, so too is the ger the energy center and truth seeking core within Israel.

Israel, similarly, remains the vibrant center in world consciousness, stands alone, and similarly craves acceptance by those of the world tribunal so reticent to grant it. In the opening verse of our parsha (verse 9) the word "Israel" stands alone in the singular. So too does the word "ger" in the immediate verse following. Alone amongst the plurality, Israel and the ger share a fate forever intertwined, as stood Abraham, exemplar exemplorum.

Israel, having just left Egyptian bondage, in its precovenantal state, was still yet seemingly just another nation, standing at the gates of world history, but readying to stand center-stage. Israel, qua Israel, emerging from its own ger status as history's UR-stranger, had yet to receive the covenant through which to be then thrust to centerpoint. And in walking through those gates, the ger takes center stage, for the momentum keeps him going.

Israel, through her taking on the Covenant, symbolized by the Sabbath, and reaffirmed in the Kiddush, likewise becomes the new center- history's hub, even as that very hub urges a transcendence of history. The existential loneliness of Israel is the existential loneliness of the ger. The two remain as one, as one with the One G*d of Israel, the One G*d of the ger.