Parshat Bamidbar 5778
Rabbi Jablinowitz
There is a disagreement between Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua how one should spend Yom Tov. Rabbi Eliezer posits that one spends Yom Tov either exclusively involved in spiritual pursuits, sitting and learning in the Beis Medrash, or he can spend it exclusively in the physical pleasure of eating, drinking, and rejoicing on Yom Tov. Rabbi Yehoshua, however, holds that one should split up his day; one must spend half the day engaging in the physical pleasures of Simchas Yom Tov, and half the day in the spiritual pursuits of prayer and study.
However, there are certain days when even Rabbi Eliezer admits that one should partake of physical pleasure and not spend the whole day learning. One of those days is Shavuos. The Gemara in Pesachim 68B teaches Hakol Modim B'Atzeres De'Ba'inan Nami Lachem. Mai Ta'ama? Yom She'Nitnah Bo Torah Hu. Everybody agrees, i.e. even Rabbi Eliezer, that on Shavuos one should eat and drink. Why, asks the Gemara, because Shavuos is the day we received the Torah.
Why is receiving the Torah a reason to eat and drink and partake in the physical pleasure of Simchas Yom Tov? One would intuitively think that on the day we received the Torah Rabbi Eliezer would certainly posit that one could spend the whole day learning. And if anything, perhaps Rabbi Yehoshua, who holds one must eat on Yom Tov, would agree with Rabbi Eliezer that learning all day on Shavuos is acceptable!
Rashi on the Gemara explains that by eating and drinking and rejoicing on Shavuos we show that we are pleased and comfortable with receiving the Torah and its commandments. We are happy we have mitzvos and do not consider them as a burden and we show this by fulfilling the mitzvah of Simchas Yom Tov on the day we received the Torah.
The Sfas Emes answers on a deeper level. The pasuk states in Tehillim (Chapter 19, Pasuk 8), Toras Hashem Temimah Meshivas Nafesh, the Torah of Hashem is perfect, it calms the soul. The Sfas Emes connects this pasuk with a well known Medrash from Koheles Rabbah (6) which is quoted by the Meillas Yesharim. The Medrash states that our predicament in life is like an Ironi, a simple city dweller, who marries a princess. No matter what physical pleasures he provides for her she isn't impressed. A princess, who grew up in the house of the king and experienced great riches, can't be satisfied with the gifts provided by her simple city dwelling husband. The metaphor of the Medrash is clear. The princess represents a person's soul which comes from a higher sphere just as she grew up in the king's palace. And the husband who is a city dweller represents the physical body in this world. All the pleasures of this world do not satisfy our soul, the princess from the palace. The physical body might be pleased with worldly pleasures, but the soul remains empty and longing.
The only thing in this world which does calm the soul is Torah. Since the Torah was given to us by Hashem it is able to satisfy and calm the holy Neshamah. This is why the pasuk says that Torah is Meshivas Nafesh; unlike the physical pleasures of the world which do not provide any calm or satisfaction to the soul, Torah calms the soul and it enables us to have meaning and true pleasure in our life in this world.
This is why Hakol Modim B'Atzeres De'Bainan Nami Lachem. On Shavuos, the day we received the Torah, we eat and drink and perform the physical mitzvah of Simchas Yom Tov. This is because Torah allows our physical and spiritual sides, the Guf and the Neshamah, to reside together in spiritual harmony. The mitzvah of Simchas Yom Tov illustrates this reconciliation; a Divine command performed with the physical body. This is why Shavuos is particularly appropriate, and everyone agrees, that we should spend half the day showing that our life in the physical world has meaning only within the context of Torah and mitzvos.
Chazal teach in Avos teaches (6,2), Ein Lecha Ben Chorin Ela Mi She'Oseik B'Talmud Torah. The only free person is the one who is involved in learning Torah. Without Torah, one spends his whole life stuck within this battle. He tries all he can to amass wealth and fame and all the pleasures of the physical world. And yet he remains unsatisfied, like the princess married to the simple city dweller. It is only the one who is involved in Torah who is free and has peace of mind. And we express this truce established between the physical and the spiritual on Shavuos by eating and drinking to commemorate receiving the holy Torah at Har Sinai.
Good Shabbos and Good Yom Tov
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