By: Avraham Goldstein
At Mayanot, we
learned that the giving of the Torah is not something that happened only in the
past. It’s something that we experience every year on Shavuot. Even more so,
Chassidus explains that a Jew in his divine service should view the Torah and
mitzvahs as new every day.
After Maariv and a festive meal, we
had a very long night ahead of us. Shavuot at Mayanot was draining physically
and spiritually (in a good way!). While staying up all night, pounding down XL
energy drinks and sugary, salty snacks, reciting the Tikkun (special passages
that achieve a spiritual correction when read), we were entertained with
classes such as Rabbi Silberg’s “Why do In-laws Always Interfere?”
When the clock struck 4 in the
morning, many Jews were going to sleep, but not us! How could we sleep with the
Kotel right down the street? As we were marching as an army together down Yaffo Street, it seemed like the thousands of other Jews walking
to the Kotel were joining us on a pilgrimage to the Holy Temple. It was truly
breath-taking. I carried my own chair, because from experience, I knew that all
the chairs would be taken by the time I got there. It wasn’t a folding chair,
so it was a little awkward to carry for the thirty minute walk, and I got some
funny looks, but it was well worth it in the end.
The Kotel was so packed we could
barely move. While we were praying, I could hardly see the Wall, as I was
sandwiched between hundreds of people. Although the Wall may not have been
visible, and praying may have been difficult with all the commotion, I felt like I could
tap into a very powerful energy, the energy that the Jews must have felt when
they were receiving the Torah together at Sinai on this very day.
When the clock struck 8 in the
morning, we were practically sleep walking, but it wasn’t yet bedtime for me
and my fellow students. Instead, it was time to run a Kiddush table with wine
and pastries for all the hungry Jews leaving the Kotel. It was amazing for me to
see all the different types of Jews that stopped by to make Kiddush and grab a
bite to eat.
Finally, we trekked back to Mayanot for
cheesecake! There must have been seven or eight varieties of cheesecake.
Mayanot students were happy to fulfill the custom of eating dairy on Shavuot. After
the dairy meal, most of the students slept all the way until the meat meal. We
had a lively farbrengen until Mincha, and before we knew it the festivities
were over. In Israel, keeping a single day of Yom Tov makes for one very
action-packed day.
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