A Thought On Parshas Emor

A Thought on Parshas Emor

"...bikurim la'HaShem..."
"...first-harvest offerings to HaShem..." (23:17)

Many years ago as a young man, my gemara chavrusa was the late Rabbi Levi Meier a'h who had been menahel in Rav Wasserman's zt'l yeshiva long after I had already graduated. Each of us had been preparing shiurim to give over Shavuos and I remember that he had asked me why Chazal chose to refer to Shavuos as "zman matan Toroseinu" - the season of HaShem giving us the Torah, when this is not even mentioned in the Torah. Nowhere does the Torah link that yom tov observance with the traditional association which we make about it also being the time when we gathered at Sinai.

Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel asks this question as well. He notes that the Shavuous holy day was marked by it being the time of our bringing forth the first-harvest offerings, bikurim. It would have been proper, then, in our yom tov tefilos, to refer to it as "zman hav'as bikureinu" - the season of our bringing the season's first yield. For that matter, he writes, we should have said on Pesach "zman hav'as Omereinu" - the season of our bringing the Omer offering, and on Sukkos we should have said "zman nisuch mei'meinu" - the season of our water libations.

Moreover, Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel contends that the actual giving of the Torah that first year in the desert did not actually fall out on the day on which we now observe Shavuos (he goes into detail to demonstrate this from Talmudic sources.) This raises further question as to why our sages opted to refer to this holy day as "the season of our being given the Torah."

He offers at first the observation that one might argue that our prayer insertion does not claim that the day is yom matan Toroseinu - the actual day of getting the Torah, but rather the word used is zman which simply refers to the overall time of year or season. This would reduce the gravity of his latter question. Nonetheless, the basis for his original question, as later raised by Rabbi Levi Meier, remains. Why did Chazal define Shavuous as anything other than the day when historically, our first-harvest offerings were brought to Jerusalem?

Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel explains that although our prayers at times parallel and echo the order of the sacrifices corresponding to a particular day or season, prayer itself is an expression of our recognizing the goodness bestowed upon us by HaShem. Hence, on Pesach we give thanks that this is zman chei'ruseinu - the season of our national freedom and salvation. On Sukkos we exult over zman simchas'einu - the season of security and elation. On Shavuos, the goodness which is grounds for expressing praise is that we were given the Torah during that time. This is the history of Chazal focusing on our personal expression of gratitude during the holy days, rather than enunciating the rituals associated with each of them. The prayers are own own spiritual and verbal offering, and must express our personal experience of each holy day, and how we connect to it. Shavuos is zman matan Toros'einu.

Now, whereas Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel had queried the seeming lack of any mentioned
link in the scriptures between Shavuos and matan Torah, he observes that there are some exceptional highlights of the Shavuous ritual: shtei ha'lechem (the two-loaf offering) and shivas kvasim (the seven-sheep offering) are mentioned in our parsha. At a mystical level, he suggests that the two loaves allude to the two tablets upon which the words of Torah were first etched; the seven sheep allude to the seven sections of the Torah which Chazal identify (see Shabbos116a) and which are hinted at in Mishlei 9:1 as "the seven pillars."

Good Shabbos. D Fox