By Rabbi Moshe Pogrow
As we all know, Shavuos is also called zman Matan Toraseinu, and indeed, a look at Shemos reveals that Matan Torah occurred on the sixth or seventh day of Sivan—i.e., on or around the 50th day since counting had begun on 16th of Nissan.
We have a tradition that the day of Matan Torah was a Shabbos. According to the Seder Olam, yetzias Mitzrayim took place on a Friday. The Gemara (Shabbos 87b), however, says it was Thursday. So only according to the Seder Olam could Matan Torah have taken place on the 50th day—according to the Gemara, which for us is the decisive authority, Matan Torah was in fact on the 51st day. Thus, the 50th day of the Omer is not the anniversary of Matan Torah, but the day before.
Had the Torah intended us to celebrate the day of the month on which the Torah was given, it would have given us the exact date, as it did for Pesach. But this is not the Torah’s intention; hence, u’krasem b’etzem hayom hazeh. Do not establish the Yom Tov on the day of the month on which the Torah was given; rather, without taking that into account, establish it b’etzem hayom hazeh, on the 50th day. The view accepted by the nation is that Shavuos falls on the day before Matan Torah, that Torah was not given on the 50th day, but on the 51st.
From this we learn a profound truth. The Yom Tov of Matan Torah does not celebrate the giving of the Torah. Rather, it celebrates our becoming worthy to receive it. The day before Matan Torah, the last day of preparation, that is the day represented by the 50th day. On that day, the people were ready for their great mission. We can see this in the name of the Yom Tov: Shavuos is not named after the mitzvos that apply to it, but after the counting that leads up to it.
Matan Torah, too, was not limited to one day at Har Sinai. The Torah was received over the course of forty years. The Aseres Hadibros heard at Har Sinai have no greater holiness than any of the other 613 commandments.
Hashem Himself explains the significance of the day at Har Sinai: it was only to prove that Hashem does speak to man, so that when we received the Torah through Moshe, it was with full confidence that he spoke the word of Hashem. Thus, the Aseres Hadibros received no special place in tefillah, so that one should not imagine that they are the entirety of the Torah. A similar consideration may be the Torah’s motive in not designating the day of their giving as a Yom Tov.
Based on the commentary of Rav Shamshon Raphael Hirsch zt”l on Chumash, with permission from the publisher.
