A Shavuot Torah 2008 / 5768 Sarah Yehudit Schneider based on Tsidkat HaTsadik 193, 182-184 According to Jewish tradition, the Torah’s revelation was the most profound manifestation of God that has ever transpired on the planet. An estimated four million people experienced that historic event.1[1] A searing revelation of Presence engraved the souls of an entire nation with the-truth-of-the-universe compressed into a single burst of light. Its impact continues to impel thei

Sarah Yehudit Schneider Shavuot, the anniversary of the Torah’s revelation, is called the marriage ceremony between the Jewish people and HaShem. Just as a wedding formalizes and makes public the bond of commitment between a man and a woman, thereby permitting them to enter into physical intimacy, so the revelation of the Torah — its mitzvot and their acceptance by the people — introduced a parallel dimension of intimacy between humanity and G‑d. It enabled the soul to have

While HaShem revealed the Torah no bird chirped, no fowl flew, no ox lowed, the Ophanim stirred not a wing, the Seraphim ceased their “Holy, Holy, Holy’s,” the sea did not roar, and no creature peeped…the whole world held still in breathless silence while the voice reverberated: I AM HASHEM YOUR GOD [and spoke the Commandments that changed our world.]… (Shmot Rabba 29:9) We Jews pride ourselves in the fact that our religion began as a collective revelation. An estimated four

Sarah Yehudit Schneider When a person sees 600,000 (or more) Jews gathered in a single place s/he recites the following blessing: Blessed are You, G-d, Sovereign of the Universe, Knower of Secrets. It is no coincidence that 600,000 is the approximate number of Israelite families who experienced the revelation at Sinai.[1] It is also the number of root souls in the universe, according to the Ari. Every person and creature is hooked up to one or another of these 600,000 spirit

Jacob’s ladder reaches up through the worlds to the inwardness of G-d called the Infinite Light. The point of our religion (with its 613 commands) is to bring us up those rungs to meet HaShem there face to face, core to core. That is what our First Commandment asks of us, to behold the simple oneness that Hashem refers to when He says, “I am….” [2], [3] It’s a multi-millennial journey with milestones along the way. Meor v’Shemesh divides the path into three stages based on th

Shavuot 2014 / 5774 Sarah Yehudit Schneider The Torah’s revelation at Sinai was the most profound manifestation of God that ever transpired on the planet. An estimated four million people beheld that historic event. A searing revelation of Presence engraved the souls of an entire nation with the-truth-of-the-universe compressed into a single burst of light. Its impact continues to impel their generations to be seekers and servants of God and will do so until the end of time.

Shavuot 5775 / 2015 Sarah Yehudit Schneider תאנא כמה פנים לפנים אית ליה לקודשא בריך הוא. פנים דנהרין. פנים דלא נהרין. פנים עילאין. פנים תתאין. פנים רחיקין. פנים קריבין. פנים דלגו. פנים דלבר. פנים דימינא. פנים דשמאלא. תא חזי זכאין אינון ישראל קמיה דקב״ה דאחידן באנפין עלאין דמלכא. באינון פנים דהוא ושמיה אחידן בהו ואינון ושמיה חד הוא. [הזהר ח״ב דף פז ע״א] It has been taught: How many faces upon faces has the Holy One! Shining faces, dim faces; high faces, low faces; distant fa

Shavuot 2016 /5776 Sarah Yehudit Schneider The Torah revealed at Sinai (on Shavuot) is not the one in our study halls today. Those Tablets shattered when Moshe, witnessing the Golden Calf, cast them to the ground. HaShem eventually accepted our teshuva and 120 days later (on Yom Kippur) we received their replacement—a second set—related to the first…but different. At Sinai we got the Torah of Atzilut—the Torah of Unanimity. A searing revelation of presence engraved the sou

Shavuot 5778 / 2018 Sarah Yehudit Schneider “And you shall know the soul of a convert // because you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” [Ex 23:9] All HaShem’s secrets are buried in the Torah, though they’re concealed behind many obscuring garments. The wise, who are full of eyes, can find the secrets hidden there.…In numerous places the Holy One cautions us to not oppress the convert…In one of those places a great secret emerges from its sheath in the first half of the ver

A Shavuot Teaching (2019 / 5779)from the teachings of R. Shlomo Elyashiv (The Leshem) Sarah Yehudit Schneider The Torah revealed at Sinai (on Shavuot) is not the one in our study halls today. Those Tablets shattered when Moshe, witnessing the Golden Calf, cast them to the ground. HaShem eventually accepted our teshuva and 120 days later (on Yom Kippur) we received their replacement—a second set—related to the first…but different. At Sinai we got the Torah of Atzilut—the Torah

Shavuot teachings over the years (2008-2016).

h Shavuot 5784 / 2024(reprint)Sarah Yehudit Schneider If it’s truth then it’s also Torah. [TY RH 3:8]If someone asserts that the nations have wisdom…believe them. Yet, if someone asserts that the nations have [Oral] Torah, do not believe them.” [LamR 2:13] Our Written Torah is fixed and final. Its sequence of letters, spacings, stories and commands is sacred and static. A scribal error of even a single letter invalidates the entire scroll. Its authority derives from its cons

Shavuot teachings over the years.

When HaShem revealed the Torah at Sinai, the Israelites died at every word. Their souls flew from their bodies and Hashem revived them with the dew that He will use to resurrect the dead. [MR Ex. 29:4; TB 88b] From where does the dew of resurrection descend? From the head of God, as it says (SHS 5:2), “For My head is drenched with dew, My locks with the damp of night” [YS SHS 988] “This is the Torah when a man dies in a tent…” (Num. 19:14)1 Resh Lakish derives from this ver