Last year, close to 70 people sat squeezed next to each other, enjoying food from a communal buffet, and sharing hugs, singing, and laughter as Rabbi Alana Alpert and I kicked off our Tikkun Leil Shavuot. Kids were passed from one set of loving arms to another, as were shared plates and water bottles. By 2am, the learning and celebration were still going strong, albeit with fewer people and our amazing pizzas (thank you Pie-Sci), cheesecakes (thank you Ruby & Yifat), and blintzes (thank you Justin) totally demolished. We mused about what the coming years would bring.
This year's Tikkun Leil Shavuot will be a little different from that squished together opening and those 2am visions. It will exceed our wildest expectations. We have an unprecedented number of teachers and sessions. We have an entire evening planned for our youngest learners. We have teachers from across the state and across the country. Our community has stepped up in remarkable ways to coordinate (thank you IADS, T'chiyah, and Dor Hadash staff), teach (thank you to our over 20 teachers), and learn (thank you to the many people who enthusiastically registered well before the deadline).
We are in the midst of a global pandemic and will honor the memories of those we have lost. And even as we face obstacles and tragedy, we will still teach and learn Torah together.
And that commitment to teaching and learning has been present for millenia. The holiday of Shavuot is sometimes called z'man matan Torateinu, the time of the giving of the Torah. As the holiday evolved from its agricultural origins in the Torah, we ascribed the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai to the day of Shavuot. Thus the focus on teaching and learning Torah in all of its forms on Erev Shavuot.
But a Chasidic teaching reminds us that it is not called z'man kabbalat Torateinu, the time of our receiving of the Torah. That happens everyday. Every hour. Every moment. In classrooms and kitchens and cars and fields... and now on Zoom. During times of plague and persecution and celebration and joy we teach and learn Torah. I look forward to doing so with you tonight. May we be blessed with the ability to continue to do so in the sacred moments to come. Chag Sameach.