Shavuot: 6th of Sivan or 50th Day of the Omer?

by Rav Aharon Harel, yeshiva.co, translated by Hillel Fendel

Some of the most profound thoughts of the Sfat Emet - the Gerrer Rebbe, Rav Yehuda Aryeh Leib - are found in his shortest essays. For instance:

We commemorate the Shavuot holiday as the day on which we received the Torah at Mt. Sinai, as we say in our prayers: "the time of the giving of our Torah." However, this is not precisely accurate. For the Talmud concludes (Tr. Shabbat 88) that the Torah was actually given on the 6^th day of Sivan, whereas we celebrate Shavuot on the day following the 49 days of the Omer counting. Though nowadays these two dates always coincide, this is only because of the way our calendar has been fixed. When the months were determined by the Great Court based on the testimony of those who saw the full moon, the 50^th day of the Omer did not always fall out on the 6^th day of Sivan.

The Sfat Emet wishes to understand: Why did the Torah not designate the commemoration of the Giving of the Torah on the actual day that the Torah was given? And why did Israel change the Torah's designation? 

The answer is that we are witness here to a two-way process of great love between Hashem and His people of Israel. Both Hashem and Israel come close to each other, as expressed in the duality of the special mitzvah of this holiday: the commandment to offer up Two Loaves, Sh'tei HaLechem, of the newly-harvested grain. The Sfat Emet says that it expresses G-d's descent toward us and our ascent towards Him. 

We see this as well in the different names of the holiday: G-d calls it in the Torah the "Day of First-Fruits," commemorating the gift that we give Him, while we call it the "Day of Giving the Torah," for the gift that He gave to us. 

Therefore, G-d "ignores," as it were, the connection between this day and the Giving of the Torah – to the extent that Shavuot was not designated precisely on the day that it happened. We, the nation of Israel – which was given the authority to determine the calendar and the holiday dates – are those who decided to connect our receiving of the Torah to its precise date, to express our joy at the beautiful present the Creator gave us. We did not suffice with an incidental commemoration of this great gift, but rather upgraded the 6^th day of Sivan to stand for the true Giving of the Torah. 

G-d, for His part, calls this holiday after the offering that we give to Him: "On the day of First-Fruits" (Numbers 28,26). The other two Festivals are called in the Torah by the names of their special commandments: the Festival of Matzot and the Festival of Sukkot. But on Shavuot, we bring a special sacrifice in honor of the holiday, and G-d names it in honor of this gift.

Our Joy

As stated, we name the holiday after the gift he gave us: the Day of the Giving of the Torah. One would think that the name of the holiday should be something that would evoke automatic gratitude and happiness. For instance, when we speak of Pesach as the Festival of Freedom and the Festival of Matzot [which we ate in order to facilitate our release from bondage], this surely evokes within us feelings of gratitude and joy. For will we not thank G-d for our redemption? The same with Sukkot: The name evokes feelings of gratitude to G-d for having given our ancestors shelter during their 40-year sojourn in the desert.

But to call Shavuot the "Festival of Giving the Torah" is a different story. The name reminds us that on this day we became obligated in no fewer than 613 commandments. Perhaps, Heaven forbid, a slight feeling of difficulty, of a heavy yoke, of obligation, steals into our hearts… But that is not the case. We are happy, we thank G-d for the Torah – not because we must give thanks on this day, but because we ourselves wanted to do so. 

The same is true on Sh'mini Atzeret, when we complete the public annual reading of the Torah: this day was not Biblically mandated as a day of joy for Torah study, but we rather designated it as such, a day on which we rejoice. This is why it is called Simchat Torah, the Rejoicing of the Law. 

We find this concept of double thanks woven throughout the writings of the Sfat Emet: G-d thanks his Nation of Israel, and His sons thank their Father in Heaven in return. As in the Redemption process, there is both it'aruta dil'tata, awakening from below, and it'aruta dil'eila, arousal from above.

May this coming Shavuot be a day in which we rise up towards G-d, even as we know that He is with us here on earth as well.