Dear Friends:
Shavuos is over. What now?
We have just passed through seven weeks of Sefira, in which we have attempted to elevate ourselves to the level at which we were prepared to accept the Torah directly from G-d. Now we have received the Torah, but obviously this is not the end; it is more like the beginning! The pattern of the Biblical Holidays clearly has an order. They begin with Passover, which centers around events firmly rooted in history. Then we march through the Desert and receive our “instructions for life” at Mount Sinai. These days also reflect actual historic events depicted in the Torah.
Where do we go from here? What does the rest of the Holiday cycle reflect? Are there ties to actual historic events as there are in Passover, Sefira and Shavuos? I would like to suggest that the Holiday cycle contains a hint of our future designed to guide us through to the ultimate end of our incredible spiritual journey. (After having written this, I learned from my Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Naftali Jaeger, Shlita”h, that these thoughts reflect the views of the Maharal and Rabbi Yitzchak Hutner ZT”L.)
As stated above, the events of Passover, Sefira and Shavuos are directly anchored in specific historical events laid out in the Torah. But then things begin to change. What about Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkos and Shemini Atzeres? They may be tied to specific events – for example that Moses descended with the second set of Tablets on Yom Kippur – but they differ from events like the Exodus from Egypt and the events at Mount Sinai in which the entire nation took part as a whole.
Why is there a difference in nature between the beginning of the Holiday cycle and the end? Why is the “anchor” to specific national, historic events present on Passover but not on Sukkos?
I am wondering whether the Torah is suggesting something extremely deep, giving us a type of prophesy that we will later need as we navigate the swirling waters of our future. Perhaps the rest of the holiday season DOES, in fact, anchor us to specific events, but perhaps those events have not happened yet! Perhaps they are in the future, beyond the historic time period covered by events described in the Written Torah.
Let me explain: we have already noted that Passover and Shavuos are anchored to events actually depicted in the Torah. With this anchor in place, we Children of Israel sail off into history. How will we navigate after the passing of our Leader Moses? As Exile lengthens, we are further and further from our historic anchors and the Patriarchs, Prophets, Kings and great Rabbis who were present at our beginnings as a Nation. We were firmly anchored to the Torah at Mount Sinai, but will that anchor hold into the distant future? Under G-d’s merciful guidance, we believe that our story will continue up to the time of the Final Redemption and beyond. What does the Holiday Cycle tell us about future events? Perhaps it is giving us, so to speak, an anchor in the future.
The upcoming period between Shavuos and Rosh Hashana is a period of terrible anguish. During the summer months we experience the Three Weeks and the catastrophes of Tisha B’Av. This is also part of the Holiday Cycle, although it has no actual holidays. Perhaps this part of the cycle reflects the years of Exile. In other words, the Torah is hinting that, following the acceptance of the Torah at Mount Sinai, there will be a long period, which includes at its beginning the triumph of the monarchy of King David and the building of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, but then descends into millennia of suffering, a long and terrible Exile, during which terrible things may happen to us, G-d forbid. The summer months, between Shavuos and Rosh Hashana, perhaps reflect the future time period between the giving of the Torah and the Final Redemption.
Immediately following Shavuos, we are still basking in the glow of Har Sinai, and this may reflect the period of settling the Land of Israel, the establishment of the monarchy and the building of the Holy Temple. But as history continues, catastrophes come upon us. The Ten Tribes are sundered from the rest and from the Land, our Holy Temples are destroyed and, finally, we are cast out of the Land and become like “a vagrant and wanderer on earth.” (Bereishis 4:12)
But Tisha B’Av ends, followed by a great day known as T’U B’Av, on which hope returns to the beleaguered nation. Then we enter a month called Elul, in which we learn that we can repent for our sins and our rebellion. Elul is the sixth month, Erev Shabbos so to speak, when the “taam” (taste) of the Seventh month is beginning to be felt. During Elul, G-d calls upon us to “prepare for Shabbos,” and we hear the call!
And so, at the end of this long summer of Exile, we do teshuva (repent), and at the very opening of the Seventh Month, the month which represents Shabbos, we hear the sound of the shofar. (Isn’t it interesting: just as the Great Shofar will come unexpectedly at the end of history, there is no “Rosh Chodesh Bentching” before Rosh Hashana!) Perhaps we can say that Rosh Hashana is equivalent to the future day which will herald the period of the Final Redemption. In order for us to enter that period we must be judged upon how well we learned the lessons of Exile, how well we succeeded in our teshuva. This is a future day, a specific day which has not come yet, but the Torah is telling us that it will come, with just as much reality and certainty as the historic days of Passover and Shavuos.
The Ten Days of Repentance from Rosh Hashana through Yom Kippur are then a hint of days in the future which will mark the beginning of the Final Redemption. We are instructed during these days that our entry into the era of Redemption will be based on the success of our Return to G-d and His Torah.
Finally, having passed through these days of teshuva, we come to Sukkos, real days in the future, in which we will live under the wings of G-d’s Presence, dwelling with our Seven Shepherds (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron and King David), who will have returned to us. Having successfully learned the lessons of Teshuva, we will live with complete trust in G-d, gathering in the harvest of all the years of our devotion to Him, having survived the catastrophes and tests of Exile. Shemini Atzeres/Simchas Torah would then be corresponding to the unending future, in which we will be united under the Torah forever.
These will all be real events and real days. Thus we see hinted in advance the incredible panorama of our history, all encompassed within the scheme of the Holiday Cycle. Through this panorama of past, present and future, we can see that our future is assured through our ad
herence to the Torah which we have just received in glory on Mount Sinai. May we all soon enter the Days of Redemption and merit to be sheltered “beneath His Wings” (Psalm 91) until the end of time … and beyond!
© Copyright 2010 by Roy S. Neuberger
