This year I really wanted to work on myself during the Sefirah period, but Shavuos is basically here and see that I didn’t get anywhere. The days flew by and I missed the boat. The seforim teach us that Shavuos is a culmination of Sefirah, so I am left to wonder “do I have any hope for having a meaningful Shavuos?”
1. First of all, one has to know that the last week of Sefirah coincides with middas haMalchus. Middas haMalchus is like a tamtsis, a summary that contains elements of all the other middos. So even if you missed the boat untill now, you can still hop on and catch up on all the avodah that you missed.
2. One has to believe that by doing the actual mitzvah of counting Sefirah every day, he definitely is ready for Shavuos. For sure the kavanah is very important, but the main thing is the actual mitzvah. As an example of this, when one eats in a mindful and paced manner, he will get full quicker, and in a more healthy way, than if he eats very quickly. But at the end of the day, it is the food that fills him up, regardless of the manner in which he ate it. When we do a mitzvah, we give our soul nutrition, even if we didn’t do the mitzvah in the most ideal manner which would have given us the maximum benefits. Even if we didn’t utilize the mitzvah of Sefiros Ha’omer in the ideal manner as a steady process of growth, the fact that we counted is nutrition for our neshamah, and helps us come ready for Shavuos.
3. One should be mekasher (attach) himself in his mind with all of Klal Yisroel, and particularly with the Tzadikim. Think how we are all one big neshamah, and in this way even though you may have missed the boat, you are connected to Shavuos by attaching yourself to the other parts of your neshamah.
4. Try to access the main ohr of Shavuos, the ohr of Kesser, [Editor’s Note: See the Torah from Harav Yussie Zakutinsky in this issue for more on this concept] which is the amazing spiritual light that fills us up with a feeling of “only Hashem, ein od milvado!!!” [This light shines the whole day of Shavuos, but specifically during the Kesser of the Mussaf Kedusha, and even more so by the word “echad” of “Shema Yisroel” right after that].
When one feels totally unprepared for Shavuos, he has to be mechazek (strengthen) himself that Hashem is everywhere, and with me too. This is the way He wanted me to come to Shavuos, and I accept His Will with love. In this way a person can come even closer to Hashem because he has no ego. He is full of humility! And through this amazing feeling of closeness to Hashem even from his far place, one makes up for all the avodah he missed and jumps right into the ohr of Kesser!!
This is not just a trick, it is a real avodah. The yetzer hora tells the person, “You cannot have a meaningful Shavuos. You are far from Hashem.” Answer him: “I know better than that. I know that Hashem is everywhere, even in the far place that I stand, and he loves each and every Yid like an only child!! And I can definitely tap into the beautiful light of Shavuos and take it with me for the whole year! True that I didn’t prepare myself enough, and I know that it is not OK, but l am most definitely going to be filled up with light because I am accepting the Will of Hashem with love.
Then just pick up your eyes Heavenward and beseech Hashem, “Abba I know I didn’t prepare myself enough, but I really, really want the ohr of Shavuos.” With these avodos, you can be sure you will get fired up!!
I’ve heard that Shavuos is like the day of judgment for Torah learning. It feels like Shavuos is a special Yom Tov for those in Kollel and Yeshivah bochurim, but I am not a full-time learner, so what should my perspective be regarding learning Torah, and this judgement on Shavuos?
The word “Torah” means “hora’ah,” to teach. The Torah is the way Hashem communicates to us what He wants from us, so that we know how to serve Him. Just like a father who is sending his son to travel to a distant land will still make sure to give him guidance on how to navigate the journey and make sure all his needs will be taken care of along the way, Hashem sent our neshamos down to this world, and He gave us the Torah to guide us and communicate with us along the way.
There are two parts to Torah. One is called “yedias haTorah,” learning and remembering what we learn. In this part of the Torah every Yid has his personal portion in, even though it is not every Yid’s tafkid to be a full time learner. Everyone has to learn based on his abilities (l’fi kocho). Like Chazal relate explicitly that “a thousand go into the Beis Medrash to learn and only one comes out a moreh hora’ah” (Halachic authority). From here we see that although every Yid has his part of Torah, not necessarily does everyone need to be a full-time learner.
Then there is the second part of Torah which is called “matan Torah,” meaning to say the zechus that every single Yid has to connect to Hashem! By Har Sinai Hashem made Himself accessible to every Yid, so that every Yid can live with Hashem in a very real way. Hashem is conveying to us how He wants us to live, and how much He loves us. This is very clear from the pesukim in the Torah that describe Matan Torah. They don’t mention much about the content of the Torah itself, but rather focus more on the fact that Hashem was choosing us to be His beloved nation.
This is the great gift we received at Matan Torah, exclusively for Klal Yisrael, and Shavuos is the opportunity for each and every Yid to think about and contemplate his connection to Hashem, and Hashem’s love for us. This is the deeper meaning of what the seforim say that it is a yom hadin (day of judgement) for Torah – meaning that it is a yom hadin on how much we will be zoche to connect to Hashem through the Torah!
So how does one connect to this energy of Torah? Does it have nothing to do with how much we learn Torah?
The way to connect with this energy is that when you sit down to learn, whatever learning you are doing – Daf Hayomi, Chumash, etc. – think to yourself: “I am about to receive Hashem’s messages to me. Abba! assist me so that through this learning I get filled up with a love and passion for you: that I experience a serene simchah and joyfulness, emunah and deveykus!”
The only pathway to real deveykus and closeness with Hashem is through learning Torah, but that is not dependent on how much you learn. One should learn l’fi kocho with these intentions, and this will bring him to the utmost deveykus!
After all this is said, there is no reason that one should have any pressure about how much he learns on Shavuos. It is not about the quantity of learning. It is about the quality of learning!!
This is why we stay up Shavuos night: we show with this how much we are yearning and waiting to be able to renew ourselves with closeness to Hashem. For this purpose, we do not have to specifically learn heavy sugyos on Shavuos night. Just saying pesukim [Tikkun] is enough, because the main thing that counts is your heart!
[This is why, contrary to public knowledge, Shavuos has the same relevance for women as it does for men: they too can come close to Hashem through learning those parts of Torah that are relevant to them!]
This is the p’shat in the famous chazal אחד המרבה ואחד הממעט ובלבד שיכוון לבו לשמים (One can do more and another can do less, as long as one directs one’s heart Heavenward)!
Avodah L’maaseh
1. One who wasn’t zoche during the year to learn enough, should utilize this holy day to talk to Hashem and tell him how much he wants to be close to Him and feel Him during this coming year, and beseech Hashem: “V’sein chelkeinu b’Torashecha — help me have a kvius of learning this coming year, and help me connect to You through the Torah.”
2. It is very worthwhile to put effort into the davening on Shavuos, and to add personal hisbodedus on this holy day.
3. One should also try to be mekabel on himself a kvius in learning l’fi kocho like we said earlier, even a little bit, but with a kvius, a set time and amount. This is the kli for Hashem’s light to manifest within us.
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 37 Shavuos 2025.
