Shavuos 5785
Rabbi Jablinowitz
The Mishnah in Rosh Hashanah teaches that there are four times over the course of the year that the world is judged. One of those times is Shavuos, as the Mishnah states, בעצרת על פירות האילן; on Shavuos, there is a judgment for the fruits of the trees. For this reason, the Gemara in Megillah 31B teaches in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar that the קללות at the end of sefer Devarim are read before Rosh Hashanah, and those at the end of sefer Vayikra are read before Shavuos. The Gemara explains that this is because, תכלה שנה וקללותיה, we want to finish off the year and its Kelalos, and begin the new year with bracha, תחל שנה וברכותיה. The Gemara asks, how is Shavuos considered a new year? And it answers, since the fruits are judged on Shavuos, it is considered as a Rosh Hashanah.
What is the significance of Shavuos being a Rosh Hashanah for the fruits of the trees? Why is it that precisely on Shavuos that the fruits are judged? The Sfas Emes answers that when Hashem gave the Torah to Bnei Yisrael, there was now Da’as and wisdom in the world. As described in the Gemara in Avodah Zarah 9A, prior to Matan Torah there were two thousand years of chaos and disorder, שני אלפים תהו. Only afterwards on Shavuos, did Torah and דעת come into the world.
The pasuk in sefer Yeshayahu says (Chapter 45, Pasuk 18), לא תהו בראה לשבת יצרה. The world was not created to be in a state of chaos; it was created to be settled. Man’s job is to procreate and produce offspring. This can only be done when there is knowledge and awareness. When Adam and Chava bring children into the world, the pasuk says (Chapter 4, Pasuk 1), והאדם ידע את חוה אשתו. In order to have children, Adam needed to “know Chava; he needed to have an intellectual connection with his wife in order to produce offspring.
Rashi in parshat Noach, on the words (Chapter 6, Pasuk 9), אלה תולדות נח, teaches that עיקר תולדותיהם של צדיקים מצות ומעשים טובים. The fundamental “offspring” of a person, the main way to produce fruit, is through performing mitzvos and doing good deeds. Torah is the essential means through which Bnei Yisrael are meant to be creative. The first pasuk before the Aseres HaDibros states (Chapter 20, Pasuk 1), וידבר אלוקים את כל הדברים האלה לאמר. The word לאמר is puzzling. Hashem was giving over the Dibros; what were they meant to respond (Rashi gives an answer to this question)? The Sfas Emes explains that the word לאמר expresses the notion that Bnei Yisrael were meant to spread the Torah forward; by teaching and by performing the mitzvos. The fundamental creativity of Bnei Yisrael was meant to be by passing on and spreading the Torah.
This is why it is precisely on Shavuos that the fruits of the tree are judged. Shavuos, when knowledge came into the world, and our fundamental obligation of creativity was established, is the time when the natural creativity of the trees to produce fruit is also determined. And Shavuos is also the essential time for us to be creative in Torah and mitzvos and produceמצוות and מעשים טובים.
The pasuk in parshat Pinchas (Chapter 28, Pasuk 26), refers to Shavuos as יום הבכורים. Rashi teaches that this is because it is the time of the first cutting of the wheat grain, and the Shtei HaLechem brought on Shavuos, is the first Mincha brought from the new crop of wheat. And though it is otherwise forbidden to bring a Mincha from chametz, the Shtei HaLechem is brought from chametz. Why is this so? If on Pesach we don’t eat chametz, which represents the yetzer hara, certainly after counting all the days of the Sefirah towards Matan Torah, we should not bring chametz in the Beis Hamikdash on Shavuos?
The Zohar Hakadosh on parshat Tetzaveh compares this to a king whose only child is sick. In order to cure him, he gives the child only food which is medicinal and therapeutic; any other food is prohibited. But once the child is cured, he allows him to eat whatever he wants.
The same is true of Am Yisrael. At Yetzias Mitzrayim, we were on a very low level spiritually. Hashem commanded us to only eat Matza; chametz is forbidden. Matza is called נהמא דאסוותא; healing bread which will strengthen Bnei Yisrael and establish their Emunah in Hashem. On Shavuos, we have been healed; our faith in Hashem has been strengthened and we are on a level where we can eat chametz, even as a Mincha in the Beis Hamikdash. Shavuos is the time, therefore, when our connection to Torah is at its highest. We are not held back by the yetzer hara, and can be creative and spread the Torah to others as well. We can fulfill our ultimate purpose in the world for which we received the Torah, as the first pasuk in the Aseres HaDibros says, לאמר. And as the last Mishnah in Makkos teaches, Hashem wanted to give us merit and gave us the job described by the navi Yeshayahu (Chapter 42, Pasuk 21), יגדיל תורה ויאדיר.
Good Shabbos and Good Yom Tov
Print this article