YOELI and YOSSI’S SPECIAL SHAVUOS NUGGETS CHEESECAKE BALLS? UM… MILCHIG MORSELS…
The famous song “Kad Yasvun Yisrael” details what happens when Yidden learn Torah. Hashem looks down and says to His malachim, “Look! Look! My precious children are putting aside all their pain and distractions, and are involved in learning my most desirable thing — the Torah!
Many seforim explain that there is no date written for Matan Torah in the Torah, because Matan Torah happens every day. When we learn, there is thunder and there is lightning. There is smoke and fire, and the Heavens shake. We create the experience when we learn — no matter when or where! Our job is to allow ourselves to feel it!
The Nesivos Shalom says the night of Shavuos is literally the holiest night of the year. If you’re staying up, what should you do? He explains that in “Dayeinu,” we thank Hashem for bringing us to Har Sinai, without us even receiving the Torah. What is that step? We worked on our middos, throughout Sefiras Ha’omer — until we were clean, heilig, and ready. That’s quite the step! The night of Shavuos is the night when we prepare ourselves for the Torah! Let’s try to act in a holy way, and get excited and ready for the treasure we are about to receive! It’s not about learning all of Shas or an entire masechta. It’s about cleaning our neshamos and opening up for the best gift in the world!
Rabbi Nachman (Sichos haRan) says Hashem gave us the ability to forget in order to excite us to learn Torah as if it was given today! When we forget, we need to chazer, and when we do, we experience our learning all over again! When we chazer regularly and really know what we learned, this feeling happens all the time!
He also says that when we go to Olam Haba, we will remember what we tried to learn — even if we didn’t understand everything. Torah is neshamah food — and even if we don’t understand everything right now, our neshamah hears it and retains it L’asid Lavo!
The last word in the Torah is Yisrael — ending with a “lamed.” The first word is Bereishis — beginning with “beis.” Lamed and Beis spell “Lev.” In order to go from level to level in learning… the most important thing is to learn with lev! With passion and simchah and excitement! Stop and think — I am learning Hashem’s Torah!
Hey everyone! Baruch here! When we learn, Matan Torah happens all over again! In fact we have a mitzvah to remember what happened at Har Sinai! What does that mean? Well, here are some amazing nissim Hashem made at the time of Matan Torah:
Shofar:
The shofar blown at Har Sinai was the shofar of the ram from the Akeidah, the ayil of Yitzchok (Rashi). There were many sounds at Har Sinai.
Seventy Languages:
Hashem translated His voice into all the 70 languages. (Now there are more — but these are the basic languages and the ones people spoke back then.) Everyone in the world knew what was going on and that Hashem was giving the Torah to the Yidden. Also, non-Jewish people back then lived lawless lives — they all knew now that there was a Torah in the world, and there was a G-d!
Seeing Sounds:
The possuk says we saw the sounds and heard what we saw! Rav Asher Weiss, shlita, explains something deep we can all learn from this. The best way to know something is to see it. Sometimes you’ll hear something and say, “What was that sound?” or “Is that smell what I think it is?” But if you see a skunk falling from the roof… you’ll know what the sound was, and you’ll know why it smells. At Har Sinai we saw the sounds — everything was so clear. BUT… We can’t trust our eyes only! We know Hashem does so much we can’t understand by just seeing! We also have to hear what we see — meaning know that we still aren’t 100% able to judge with our eyes. We need to remember — Hashem runs the show and there is a lot going on beneath the surface!
NO ECHO:
Hashem’s voice at Har Sinai had no echo. This was because the Torah spread throughout the whole world — even inside things that would normally cause an echo! Hashem’s voice was everywhere — there was nothing for it to bounce off of! Mind Blowing!
The mountain was held over our heads:
Not only that, but the Ramban says the mountain shook! Like it says in Hallel (Tehillim 114) “Heharim rakdu k’eilim: the mountains danced like rams…” Har Sinai actually danced over our heads! The Aish Kodesh hy”d, in his sefer Derech HaMelech, says that actually “Kafah aleihem har k’gigis” means Hashem cupped the mountain over us. It shielded us and surrounded us. The avodah of Shavuos is to try to surround ourselves with Torah and not with the influences of the Yezter Hara!
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 37 Shavuos 2025.