Holiness Together: The Shabbos After Receiving the Torah

1“Take a census of the sons of Gershon, they too, according to their fathers' houses, by their families.”¹ Notice the words “they too,” gam heim, which seem unnecessary.

2The sefer Yismach Yisrael quotes the holy Rebbe R' Dov Berish of Biala, zt"l, as saying that this Shabbos, the one after the festival of Shavuos, is “Shabbos shul-firen.”² In Yiddish this is the name of the Shabbos after a wedding, when the new couple is escorted to shul. Bnei Yisrael, he said, are like a bride being brought to shul. These words need explaining.

3Let us also first cite what the verse says after the receiving of the Torah: “They beheld God, and they ate and drank.”³ The Ramban explains that they held a celebration and made the day a festival: “For it is a duty to rejoice at receiving the Torah … for we make a feast on completing the Torah. And when they gave their donations for building the Beis HaMikdash, it says, ‘They slaughtered offerings to Hashem and brought up burnt offerings to Hashem … and they ate and drank before Hashem on that day with great joy.’ So too here, on the day of the Torah's wedding, they did the same.”⁴ So far his words. These words are very hard to understand. One would think that after receiving the Torah they should have sat down to review what they had heard and received at Mount Sinai. What place is there for eating and drinking right after receiving the Torah?

4aWe will begin with the words of my holy father and teacher, zt"l, on the verse “Behold, I come to you in the thickness of the cloud, so that the people will hear.”⁵ He explained it through a holy teaching of the Baal Shem Tov, zt"l, on the verse “If the anointed Kohen sins, to the guilt of the people.”⁶ The Baal Shem Tov taught that when the Kohen, meaning the tzaddik, happens to commit a subtle sin, it is for the good of the people. Sometimes the Holy One, blessed be He, causes a subtle blemish in the Kohen, the tzaddik, to bring him down from his level, so that when he returns in teshuvah he will raise the simple Jews up with him as well.

4bWith this my holy father explained Chazal's saying “If you have learned much Torah, al tachzik tovah le'atzmecha, do not claim credit for yourself, for that is what you were created for.”⁷ That is, if you are a person of stature, one who has “learned much Torah,” do not hold on to this good just to receive it yourself, living “for yourself.” That is the way of those of whom it is said, “they went to tend only themselves.”⁸ Rather, you must tend to the needs of the community and care for them. This is “do not hold the good to yourself”: bestow it on others, so that they rise with you in your avodah. And this is the meaning of “Behold, I come to you in the thickness of the cloud.” At times even a tzaddik has a subtle blemish, a kind of “thickness of the cloud.” Why? “So that the people will hear”: so that they too will be privileged to hear the word of Hashem. Those are his holy words.

5aWe can explain all these points. It is written, “Speak to the entire assembly of Bnei Yisrael and say to them: You shall be holy,” and Rashi explains: “This teaches that this parshah was said behakhel, before the whole assembled people.”⁹ The commentators ask: surely the whole Torah was said before the assembled people, since Bnei Yisrael would gather to hear the words of Hashem!¹⁰ The sefer Maor VaShemesh explains that Chazal meant to teach us something here: we should not think that the command “You shall be holy” means we must keep apart from people and seclude ourselves, each person alone, and become holy that way. That is why the verse tells us that this parshah was said before the assembled people, and is fulfilled in the same way: in unity, as friends gathered together.

5bThe holy Rebbe R' Elimelech of Lizhensk, zt"l, said something similar on the verse “If a man hides himself in secret places, then I …”¹¹ One who secludes himself and studies the Torah of Hashem alone, and through this grows in pride and self-importance, finds no favor at all before Hashem: of him it says, “I will not see him, says Hashem.” For this is not “the way where light dwells.”¹² Rather, a person must rise together with the community, and it is precisely through this that he reaches holiness.

6So it was at the receiving of the Torah. Hashem had commanded, “Sanctify them today and tomorrow,”¹³ and had given them the mitzvos of separating from their wives and of setting bounds around the mountain. So when they were privileged to receive the Torah, they might mistakenly have thought that the proper path is to seclude oneself completely, keeping apart from people and from everything physical. That is why the Torah tells us that this is not the proper path, and says instead, “They beheld God, and they ate and drank.” On the contrary, a person can reach great levels even through eating and a gathering of friends. As is well known, the holy Baal Shem Tov revealed this foundation: to sit at a meal with friends, and through it to rise to lofty levels in avodas Hashem, the service of Hashem.

7This also lets us explain why the Holy One, blessed be He, needed to say, “Return to your tents,”¹⁴ a question Tosafos raise. Hashem had commanded them to separate only for the sake of the giving of the Torah. So once they had received the Torah, they were permitted again as a matter of course. Why, then, did He need to permit them explicitly?¹⁵ In light of what we have said, we may answer that one might have thought that now that they had been privileged to receive the Torah, they must separate and seclude themselves all the more. So the Torah told them that this is not “the way where light dwells”; instead, “Return to your tents.”

8This is why this Shabbos is called “Shabbos shul-firen.” Just as the custom is to escort the groom and bride, amid a great crowd, to the gathering of the people in shul, so too, after receiving the Torah, Bnei Yisrael gather together on this Shabbos. They do so to show that the way to keep the Torah is through the gathering of the people, amid a great crowd.

9This also explains the verse “And Moshe went down from the mountain to the people.” Rashi comments: “This teaches that Moshe did not turn to his own affairs, but went from the mountain to the people.”¹⁶ As is well known, the holy sefarim, among them the Tiferes Shlomo, ask what affairs Moshe could have had.¹⁷ The answer is this. Moshe Rabbeinu lived in greater separation than all the rest of the people, as the Holy One, blessed be He, told him, “But you, stand here with Me,”¹⁸ because he regularly spoke with the Shechinah. So one might have said that he ought to seclude himself completely from all people. That is why the Torah tells us that even so, he did not turn to his own affairs, serving Hashem by himself. Instead he turned to the people as well and joined with them in his avodah, so that he himself would rise higher precisely through the gathering of the people. [This is also part of the teaching of my holy father, that the tzaddik must come down from his level for the good of the people: he must come down, join with the community and bestow good on it.]

10This may be hinted in the verse “They were jealous of Moshe in the camp, of Aharon, the holy one of Hashem.”¹⁹ Here the verse calls Aharon “the holy one of Hashem,” so that we should not think that the way to holiness lies only in total separation and complete seclusion from people. The verse makes clear that it is not so. Moshe Rabbeinu, though commanded to keep apart, was “Moshe in the camp,” among the people. And Aharon his brother, [who was also among the people,] was counted “the holy one of Hashem.” For it is precisely through the gathering of friends that people become holy.

11This is also why the Kohanim end the Priestly Blessing with “peace.”²⁰ When people live in unity, gather as friends, and hold to peace with one another as a middah, a character trait, they attain wholeness, which is the vessel that holds the blessings.²¹ For it is through gatherings of friends and joining with people that one can reach the ultimate wholeness.

12This is what the paytan who composed the Shabbos song meant: “‘We will do and we will hear,’ they said as one.”²² The emphasis is on their being united “as one,” for that is the way to keep the Torah. That is why Chazal said, “All agree that on Atzeres we also require ‘for you.’”²³ Since on Shavuos they were privileged to attain the middah of unity, they receive all the physical blessings as well, as a matter of course; these are the “for you.”

13May the Holy One, blessed be He, help us always to be privileged to receive an abundance of blessing, until the coming of Yinon.²⁴ Amen, may it be His will.