When God gave the Jewish people the Torah at Mount Sinai, the entire world became silent (Shemot Rabbah 29:9). The wind stopped blowing, no animals made a sound, and every human being stopped speaking. Why? Was God afraid the Jews would not be able to hear his voice? Surely He could have caused His voice to resonate over all of the natural sounds of the world, and would that not have made the greatest impression of all?
God silenced the noise so we could hear the voice within ourselves – the voice that longed for a spiritual connection, the voice that longed for His Torah.
We are constantly bombarded with distractions. Silencing it all, even momentarily, becomes nearly impossible.
Yet, in the age of Covid-19, a certain Coved/כובד/burden has been released from us. The Coved of consumerism, the coved of rushing, the coved of being in one place one hour and somewhere else the next. We’ve come to appreciate more what we’ve always known deserves our gratitude. We’ve been freed in a manner that has allowed us to listen- listen to the voices of our children, of our spouses, of ourselves, of nature. Essentially, through the “silence”, to hear the voice of God in everything.
Judaism is so much more than a religion; it’s a relationship. Through the silence at Sinai, God was showing us a key to maintaining our relationship with Him, others, and even ourselves. Listen. Listen to the inner voice of your soul that quietly urges you to connect. Take a moment to pause and listen to the sounds all around.
Silence stops everything and enables us to think, to make good decisions that allow us to connect.
This Shavuot may we tap into the power of silencing distraction in order to connect. May the Almighty give us the strength to sit in the silence and listen to our gentle inner voice so that we can make good decisions and forge our best personal path.
This Shavuot, in an effort to unite our community throughout Torah learning, I’d like to invite our entire shul and community to embark on learning the same Torah talk titled: The Torah of Truth and Kindness. You can print the source sheet before Shavuot HERE. It is based on a talk by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks about the Torah as it was given to both women and men.
This will serve as the source material for next Sunday’s candid conversation on the source material. What do you like about it? What troubles you about it?
Pre-Shavuot Yizkor and Drasha- 5:45 pm on Thursday, May 28
Please join for a virtual Yizkor followed by a Shavuot drasha to help prepare us for Shavuot, the holiday of the giving of the Torah.