The Essence of Shavu’os
Rav Yosef went out of his way to celebrate Shavu’os with a festive meal because Torah made him what he was. If not for Shavu’os, the day when the Torah was given, he would be just another “Yosef,” with nothing special about him.
We should not belittle minhagim of the Jewish people such as staying up to learn on Shavu’os night. Such things are very important. But we see from the Gemara that the real mitzvah of the day is the festive meal, the se’udah, in which we rejoice and celebrate that we received the Torah.
Just Be Happy
It is said in the name of the Vilna Gaon that the reason everyone agrees a festive meal must be held is because Shavu’os is different from other holidays, each of which has a special mitzvah to do. Pesach has matzah, Rosh Hashanah has shofar, and so forth. But Shavu’os has no special mitzvah to do on that day. The only thing we need to do on Shavu’os is to be happy, to fulfill the mitzvah of simchas Yom Tov, which is expressed by holding a festive meal. This why all views concur that a se’udah must be held on Shavu’os.
And why doesn’t Shavu’os have a special mitzvah? The simple explanation is because it is merely a continuation of the days of Sefiras Ha’Omer. We count the Omer for forty-nine days, and the fiftieth day is the holiday of Shavu’os.
Sefiras Ha’Omer is all about building ourselves in preparation to receive the Torah on Shavu’os. This is the very form and shape of Sefiras Ha’Omer. We build one row on top of another, seven and then another seven, until the person is completely built when Shavu’os comes. Counting the Omer and the holiday of Shavu’os at its conclusion are a matter of תחילתו השתדלות וסופו מתנה. It starts with our own efforts, and ends with a gift from Heaven. During the days of the Sefirah, a person builds himself. But Shavu’os itself is a matter of וירד ה’ על הר סיני – Hashem opens the gates of heaven and comes to give us His Torah as a gift.
Shavu’os could not possibly be anything other than the receiving of a gift. On Shavu’os we get the Torah, and regarding Torah, we pray in the Shemoneh Esreh:
חננו מאתך דעה בינה והשכל – “Grace us with knowledge, understanding and comprehension.”
The word חננו, “Grace us,” derives from מתנת חנם, an undeserved gift.
There are things you can’t buy with money. Let’s say we see someone wearing a nice watch. We might ask him where he bought it, because its value looks like something in his general price range, so it is reasonable to assume that he purchased it himself. But if we see poor kollel man holding a diamond worth five million dollars, we don’t ask him, “Where did you buy it?” We rather ask him who gifted him with this diamond, because he could not possibly have bought it himself.
The Torah Hakedoshah contains within it such wondrous closeness to Hakadosh Baruch Hu that even if a person would put all his effort and strength into fulfilling mitzvos and doing ma’asim tovim, there is no way he could thereby acquire Torah. A Jew is not capable on his own of understanding and knowing what it says in the Torah. Even Moshe Rabbeinu couldn’t do it.
Said R. Abahu, for all the forty days that Moshe was in heaven, he learned Torah and forgot it. He said, “Master of the World, I have forty days and I don’t know anything.” What did Hakadosh Baruch Hu do? When the forty days were over, Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave him the Torah as a gift, as it says, ויתן אל משה – “He gave to Moshe.”
Even Moshe Rabbeinu received the Torah as a gift, not as something he earned by means of his deeds.
We see this idea emphasized in the wording of the Shemoneh Esreh prayer. Before we ask for Torah, before we say חננו מאתך דעה בינה והשכל, “Grace us with knowledge, understanding and comprehension,” we preface it by saying אתה חונן לאדם דעת – “You graciously bestow knowledge upon human beings.” There is no such preface when we ask for forgiveness (סלח לנו) or healing (ה’ רפאנו) or sustenance (ברך עלינו). But we do say it before asking for Torah, because asking for Torah is asking for Hashem Himself. Thus, we first offer a praise of Hashem, without which we would be lacking the requisite merit to even ask for such a thing. The giving of Torah is always as an undeserved gift, מתנם חינם.
Shavu’os is the day we received the Torah, and like it was back then at Har Sinai, so it is every year. Hashem opens the gates of heaven and pours out a great flow of Torah, completely independent of our deeds. Therefore, we were not commanded to perform any mitzvah on this day.
In order to leave Egypt, the Jewish people needed to demonstrate mesirus nefesh though the blood of korban Pesach and the blood of milah. So every year, on Pesach, we have certain mitzvos to do, which are related to this. But to merit receiving the Torah at Sinai, the Jewish people did nothing. The Torah was given as gift.
