With Shavuot coming tomorrow night, let us delve into some of its deeper cosmic mysteries, as relayed in a most profound passage in the Zohar (III, 97b-98b, together with Ra’aya Mehemna). It begins by describing Shavuot night as a “wedding” between Hashem and His people. It is well-known that Mount Sinai served as the “chuppah”, the Torah as the “ketubah”, Hashem as the groom, and Israel as the bride. As explored in depth previously, in ancient times an Israelite bride was adorned with 24 different ornaments, and the corresponding “ornaments” of the Jewish people are the 24 books of Tanakh.
The Zohar says that there are those who, on Shavuot, learn the Oral Torah at night and the Written Torah during the day. But it also says that, just as a bride is excited the whole night before her wedding and doesn’t sleep, and prepares for her wedding with her 24 adornments, so too the Jewish people should stay up all night and not sleep, and “adorn” ourselves with the 24 books of Tanakh. This is why the Arizal laid out his tikkun text for Torah study on the night of Shavuot to be entirely from Tanakh, the Written Torah, and not the Oral Torah. The Arizal says that together with the Tanakh, one should study mystical commentaries on it. (This was the impetus behind my tikkun for Shavuot, to lay out the correct sections of study from Tanakh, and provide a concise and fitting mystical commentary on each section.) Why Tanakh and its encoded secrets should be the sole focus on Shavuot needs further elucidation.
The Zohar continues to teach us that just as a woman needs to count seven days before going to the mikveh to be purified and ready for her groom, so too does Israel count seven weeks of seven days during Sefirat haOmer in preparation for our “marriage” at Sinai. The forty-nine days of the Omer and Shavuot correspond to the Nun Sha’arei Binah, the Fifty Gates of Understanding. On Shavuot, the fiftieth day, all fifty gates are open, and the highest levels of Torah wisdom can be accessed. To help us in this goal, the yetzer hara is completely subdued on Shavuot. The Zohar explains that this is why on most other holidays the Torah commands the bringing of a chatat “sin offering”, but this is not the case on Shavuot! No “sin offering” need be brought on Shavuot because the yetzer hara is held back and nullified anyway. And this is also why Shavuot is referred to as ‘Atzeret in the Torah and in our ancient texts, alluding to the fact that the yetzer hara is “stopped” or “arrested”.
It is worth remembering that opposite the Fifty Gates of Understanding are fifty grades of impurity. In fact, the numerical value of “impure”, tameh (טמא), is 50. These fifty impurities further correspond to the fifty major forms of constriction that hold us all back. We are all constricted and constrained by various aspects of life in the physical world, including time and space, labour and finances, relationships and obligations, our health and biology, and so on. The highest constriction is death itself, which none can escape in this world but a select few. When we say that we are “coming out” of Egypt or breaking free from Mitzrayim, on a deeper level it means breaking free from all those constrictions that hold us back in life. It means transcending all the stresses and worries and limitations. This is why Mitzrayim (מצרים) can be read as metzar-yam (מצר י״ם), literally “fifty narrows” or “fifty constrictions”.
When we count each day of the Omer, we should meditate on liberating ourselves from all the constrictions, purifying from all the impurities, while accessing higher and higher levels of understanding. The First Redemption out of Egypt required breaking free from the 50 and receiving the Torah. (At Sinai, even death itself did not constrain the Israelites; recall that they died and resurrected when they heard the Ten Commandments.) The Final Redemption will require the same. It is interesting to note that the First Redemption was all about the “straits” of Egypt, Mitzrayim or Metzar Yam, and today, as we are on the cusp of the Final Redemption, the whole global focus now is on the Straits of Hormuz, Metzar Hormuz in Hebrew.
Bread of Torah, Tree of Life
The Zohar then explains why the main mitzvah of Shavuot in Temple times was presenting the shtei halechem, the two loaves of bread. In the preceding 49 days of the Omer, each day they would wave six measures worth of barley (shisha se’orim). On the fiftieth day, the barley was replaced with two loaves of bread. What did all of this mean? On the simple level, the two loaves of bread (shtei halechem) represent the Two Tablets of the Law (shnei luchot). More deeply, the Zohar says that bread is human food, whereas barley is animal feed, and on Shavuot we transcend the base animal level of our biology and became higher spiritual beings in the image of God.
In fact, the Zohar points out that the milui (“letter-filling” technique of gematria, where the letters of a word are spelled out to reveal their inner value) of Hashem’s name is יוֹ”ד הֵ”א וָא”ו הֵ”א, which equals 45, the value of Adam (אדם)! Adam was originally meant to eat from the Tree of Life, but he rushed and ate from the Tree of Knowledge instead. The Zohar says that bread, the food of Adam, is the Tree of Life, whereas barley, animal feed, is the Tree of Knowledge. And the passage concludes with an incredible statement; one that few rabbis ever dare quote, and a reason for why some rabbis were so opposed to the Zohar! I present it here in the original language as well as the Hebrew and English translations so that there is no doubt as to what it is saying:
דְּמָארֵי קַבָּלָה, וּמָארֵי מִדּוֹת, אִינּוּן מִסְּטַר דְּאִילָנָא דְּחַיִּי. שְׁאָר עַמָּא מִסִּטְרָא דְּאִילָנָא דְּטוֹב וָרָע, אָסוּר וְהֶתֵּר. וּבְגִין דָּא, מִן הַבְּהֵמָה, מַאֲכָל דִּלְהוֹן, עֹמֶר לֶחֶם שְׂעוֹרִים, (רות ג׳:ט״ו) וַיָּמָד שֵׁשׁ שְׂעוֹרִים. וַיָּשֶׁת עָלֶיהָ, אוֹרַיְיתָא דִּבְעַל פֶּה, דְּשִׁית סִדְרֵי מִשְׁנָה. אֲבָל אִלֵּין דְּאִילָנָא דְּחַיִּי, דְּאִינּוּן אָדָם אוֹרַיְיתָא דִּלְהוֹן, נָהֲמָא דְּקוּדְשָׁא בְּרִיךְ הוּא. הֲדָא הוּא דִכְתִיב, (משלי ט׳:ה׳) לְכוּ לַחֲמוּ בְלַחְמִי וְהַיְינוּ שְׁתֵּי הַלֶּחֶם. חֲדוּ כֻּלְּהוּ תָּנָאִין וַאֲמוֹרָאִין, וְאָמְרוּ מַאן קָאִים קַמֵּי סִינַי.
שֶׁבַּעָלֵי קַבָּלָה וּבַעֲלֵי מִדּוֹת הֵם מִצַּד שֶׁל עֵץ הַחַיִּים. שְׁאָר הָעָם מֵהַצַּד שֶׁל עֵץ טוֹב וָרָע, אִסּוּר וְהֶתֵּר. וּמִשּׁוּם כָּךְ מִן הַבְּהֵמָה, מַאֲכָל שֶׁלָּהֶם עֹמֶר, לֶחֶם שְׂעוֹרִים. וַיָּמָד שֵׁשׁ שְׂעֹרִים וַיָּשֶׁת עָלֶיהָ – תּוֹרָה שֶׁבְּעַל פֶּה שֶׁל שִׁשָּׁה סִדְרֵי מִשְׁנָה. אֲבָל אֵלּוּ שֶׁל עֵץ הַחַיִּים, שֶׁהֵם אָדָם, הַתּוֹרָה שֶׁלָּהֶם הִיא לַחְמוֹ שֶׁל הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא. זֶהוּ שֶׁכָּתוּב (משלי ט) לְכוּ לַחֲמוּ בְלַחְמִי, וְהַיְנוּ שְׁתֵּי הַלֶּחֶם. שָׂמְחוּ כָּל הַתַּנָּאִים וְהָאָמוֹרָאִים וְאָמְרוּ: מִי עוֹמֵד לִפְנֵי סִינַי?
The masters of Kabbalah and those with good character are from the side of the Tree of Life. All others are from the side of the Tree of Good and Evil, what is forbidden and what is permitted, and therefore, from the animals, for their food is the omer of barley, “And he measured out six measures of barley and put it on her back” (Ruth 3:15)—this is the Oral Torah of six orders of Mishnah. But those who are of the Tree of Life, who are “Adam”, their Torah is the bread of the Holy One, blessed be He, as is written, “Come, eat my bread” (Proverbs 9:5) referring to the two loaves of bread. All the tannaim and amoraim rejoiced and said: Who can stand before Sinai?
The Zohar says that the omer’s six measures of barley allude to the six orders of Mishnah upon which the Oral Torah is built. The Mishnah and Talmud are primarily made up of rabbinic discussions of what is “good and evil” and what is “forbidden and permitted”. Thus, the Oral Torah is connected to the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The Written Torah, however, is the literal Word of God, Hashem’s “bread” that He invites us all to eat. The Zohar says that those who prioritize study of Oral Torah are like behemah, like the livestock that consume barley. Those who prioritize the study of Tanakh and its depths, meanwhile, are the true Adam that eat human bread. And this now explains why the tikkun text for Shavuot is built entirely on study of Tanakh, and not Mishnah or Talmud! Shavuot is not the time for “barley”—the six rabbinic orders of the Oral Torah—but rather the time for “bread”, the Word of God revealed directly at Sinai.
Moreover, the mystical tradition is built entirely upon the Tanakh. Most of the Zohar’s passages begin with one of the Sages reciting a verse from Tanakh, and going on to elucidate that verse or use it as a segue into a mystical discussion. The Zohar is arranged by weekly parasha to further reinforce its direct connection to the Written Torah. This is Kabbalah, a term that actually comes from Tanakh, for it was originally used to refer to the books of the Prophets. When the term “kabbalah” is used in the Talmud, the Sages are referring to something from Nevi’im or Ketuvim! Kabbalah and Tanakh are deeply intertwined, and the purpose of Kabbalah is to reveal the hidden mysteries of God’s Word. That’s why the Arizal tells us (in Sha’ar haKavanot) to spend the night of Shavuot learning Tanakh, “And after this, the remainder of the night should be spent contemplating the secrets of Torah, and the Zohar, according to one’s abilities.”
Why does the Zohar here take a seemingly negative view of Mishnah (and Talmud)? There are countless beautiful gems of wisdom in the Mishnah and Talmud, of course. Jewish practice, ritual, and halakhah is built on it. Yet, at the same time, it inevitably leads to excessive legalism, with people being so focused on the letter of the law that they forget the spirit of the law. Additionally, each generation institutes more and more “fences”, stringencies, and customs, resulting in a bloating of the law and a further straying from the original Word of God. As we see so much in the religious world today, it can result in an “halakhic prison” and a form of mental and spiritual bondage.
This is precisely the bondage that we need to free ourselves from during Sefirat haOmer and on Shavuot. To return to a more balanced, uplifting, and authentic Judaism. There is no way to reach the 50th Gate of Understanding without breaking free from the fifty constrictions and impurities. The Oral Torah of the Mishnah and Talmud should be studied, of course, and the Zohar affirms this as well, but we have to make sure to have our priorities in order. We mustn’t forget that one is likened to barley, animal fodder, and the other is the bread of Hashem, as the Zohar explicitly states. (For more on this, see the class on Queen Esther’s Kabbalah where I quoted another passage from the Zohar’s Ra’aya Mehemna which provides further explanation and clarity.)
Finally, the Zohar implies that the “masters of mysticism” (marei kabbalah) are those that have truly good character (marei middot). It implies that those who focus on the Written Torah and revealing its deeper mysteries are the ones who are the true tzadikim, while those who focus on the Oral Torah are not. Why would it suggest such a thing? Are there not plenty of good and righteous Talmudists out there? The reason is because there is a fundamental difference in worldview between the Zohar mystics and the Talmud legalists:
The mystics see the whole cosmos as one, every iota permeating with Godliness, and all of Israel united as one entity. The legalists, meanwhile, are busy with constant debate and argumentation; busy pondering who is right and who is wrong, who is holy and who is not, who is pure and who is impure. It is inherently divisive and competitive, and leads to elitism, and a “holier-than-thou” attitude, as we have sadly seen throughout history to the present day. The Talmud itself admits that when “the disciples of Hillel and Shammai proliferated, the Torah became like two Torahs”. (Sotah 47b) And it warns (Yevamot 13b) that the mitzvah of lo titgodedu means, on a deeper level, to avoid “cutting up” Israel into different camps or factions, agudot, which is precisely what we have today with so many different religious groups, sects, Hasidic “dynasties”, shuls, and insular communities each with their own brand of Judaism.
The Zohar’s vision and goal is to reunify the people under one umbrella and that requires, first and foremost, a recognition and return to the primacy of the Written Torah as the revealed Word of Hashem, and a mystical worldview where we recognize that we are all part of a singular oneness. Fittingly, Shavuot is the one holiday that has no specific rituals associated with it. It doesn’t require fulfilling reams of halakhot. There is essentially no debate about it, and nothing to argue over. It’s simple and straightforward, and the focus is entirely on the core that we can all agree on: the Tanakh, the Tree of Life. And that’s why the deeper message of Shavuot is so important for us all to absorb and internalize.
Chag sameach!
For my friends in Israel who were asking where to get the tikkun in time for Shavuot: there should still be copies available at Pomeranz and Sefer ve Sefel in Jerusalem. The Israeli edition has a new cover that looks like this:
