Jun 3/06 - Shavuot

Commentary by Chazzan Aníbal Mass

 

Rabbi Yaakov Krantz, better-known as the Maggid of Dubna, was invited once to celebrate Shavuot with the Gaon Rabbi Elijah of Vilna.  After dinner on the first night of Shavuot, the two Tzadikim (righteous men) hurried to go to the Bet Hakeneset (synagogue), and once there, each one did two different things: The Gaon of Vilna began to read the “Tikkun Leil Shavuot” (special book for the night of Shavuot), and the Maggid of Dubna began to study Halachot (Jewish laws) and to review the Gemara. 

 

The “Tikkun Leil Shavuot” is a book with all the Parashiot (weekly sections) of the Bible; the Books of Neviim (prophets) and the Ketuvim (Psalms, Proverbs, etc.), but in an abbreviated way. We can find the first three and the last three P’sukim (verses) of each Parasha. There are also some fragments of the Guemara and of the Zohar, so that the reader has a chance to read a summary of the whole Torah during the first night of Shavuot. 

 

After a while, the Gaon asked Rabbi Yaakov why he did not, instead, study the Tikkun, as would have been proper.

Replied Rabbi Yaakov of Dubno: "I am a Maggid (a storyteller). May I, therefore, answer your question with a Mashal (a story)?"

Rabbi Elijah agreed and the Maggid of Dubno began: 

There was once a traveler in commercial textiles who was very successful in obtaining large orders from his customers. When calling on them he carried with him only a small book of samples, and wherever he showed them there was immediate demand for the materials.

 

Now this man had a neighbor, a poor man who said to himself, "If the man next door can make such a good living showing scraps of material and selling them, why can I not do the same?" And so his wife set to work and prepared for him a home-made album into which she pasted remnants of cloth. But when he made the rounds of textile dealers he found to his dismay that they would not listen to him and, in fact, even laughed in his face. Greatly discouraged, he asked his prosperous neighbor to give him the secret of his success.

 

The latter replied: “That should not be too difficult to explain. The book which I carry with me represents samples from huge bolts of material actually available at the warehouses of the factories which I represent. All that my customers need do is to leaf through my sample book and select the pattern they like, and the factory will send them whatever quantity they wish. But of what good are those scraps which your wife pasted together? You have no stock in trade from which you could make the materials available to the customers. Your homemade sample book is only a collection of scraps representing nothing.”

 Said the Maggid of Dubno: “This Mashal should answer your question. You, my master, have access to a vast stock of knowledge of all the holy books of our people, and the brief selections from each, which you read in your Tikkun, have meaning to you as exquisite samples of the spiritual treasures they represent. One section of the Mishna in the Tikkun will instantly recall to you all the laws and commentaries pertaining to that subject. But as for me,” said Rabbi Yaakov modestly, “I am just a simple Maggid and have little learning. Therefore the samples contained in the Tikkun don't mean so much to me. I would get little more benefit from these selections than the would-be-merchant from his scraps. Hence I must go back to the original source and study the Gemara itself on the Eve of Shavuot.”

 

During Shavuot, we declare: “Torah is worth staying up all night for!!”

 

Through this e-update I want to extend a special invitation to all readers to make a special effort to attend our Torah study night on the eve of Shavuot. In Judaism, studying is regarded as one of the most important Mitzvot, because it opens the door for observance of the other Mitzvot. The Talmud says (Shabbat 127a): “The study of Torah is equal to the sum total of all other Mitzvot” . In fact, the Torah is the essence of the Jewish people, our very life and soul. Without it we literally have no existence.

 

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach,

 

Chazzan Anibal Mass