The Repairing Process, A Metaphor For Shavuot:
Imagine that you have just
inherited a house. The side panels are
beaten up from the wind. Walking into
the back yard, it becomes pretty clear that some of the windows are going to
need to be replaced. When you step up the front steps onto the deck, one of the steps breaks under your foot. Inside, the couches in the living room are
worn out and barely staying together. In
the dusty kitchen, you notice that the antique oven is rusted over and the
table is barely standing on its three and a half legs. Topping it all off, there is a hole in the
ceiling of the upstairs bedroom, which has resulted in the room becoming
acquainted with all four of the seasons.
With all the work that needs to be done, maybe it would have been better
not to have been given the house at all.
Without
the proper funds, there is not a chance that the house will be in livable
condition. Out of nowhere you get a call
from your Dad and he tells you that he is willing to back the project, on the
condition that you do the work. Over the
next few days you collect the supplies and commence the project. Every day you show up, and, little by little,
what seemed at first to be a dilapidated mess, begins to look
like a home. Some days a friend comes by
to help, other days it is just you.
Either way, each day there is clear progress. Whenever you feel like giving up you are able
to look back at what the house looked like and how far it has come.
The last task is to get the electricity
running; however this is a costly bit, so you call your Dad again. He has seen all the progress that you made and
sends an electrician by to get everything running. Before turning on the lights for the first
time you realize that there would be no better way of experiencing this moment
than with your closest friends. At
nightfall you and your companions flip on the switch for the first time. All of the panels are freshly painted and the
windows are crystal clear. Instead of moldy
chairs, there are couches. A smell of
freshly baked Challah floats out of the kitchen and the fixed table is covered
with an assortment of cheese cake. The
ceiling has been fixed upstairs and the house is comfortably inhabitable. Moreover, it is a place that you are able to
have guests.
Making It Practical, Shavuot Insights:
After the Jewish people had suffered
years of forced labor coming out of Egypt, after Pesach (Passover) was a bit like
inheriting a beat-up house. We have
inherited our relationship with Hashem (G-d) from our forefathers; Avraham, Yitzchak,
and Yaakov. This profound unity with
Hashem has to be revealed from underneath the hardship and trauma of
slavery. During the Counting of the Omer (the time in between Passover and Shavuot) is when we begin this process of repair. This is each individual’s process of cleansing
and refining his or her emotional faculties. This procedure enables a person to
be a proper vessel to receive the Torah.
Matan Torah (receiving the Torah) is the revelation from
Hashem. It is only once we have
prepared ourselves and made ourselves into vessels which are fit to receive this
G-dly expression, that we actually do. By
setting each of our individual houses in order, we receive
this G-dly revelation. We are then able
to go forth and truly affect change in the world by revealing that truly we
are all part of a single Home.
While at Mayanot, I have felt a part of a single home and am very grateful for the experience of being here for the second time, for Shavuot, after learning at Mayanot for the last two years. I am very familiar with the process of repairing and rebuilding through receiving Torah, in my own life, and I hope we are all able to receive the Torah together this year.
Written by: Benjamin Shannon, Current Mayanot Men's Program Student
