Torah Tidbit Exodus 19:1 – 20:23
The regular parashah sequence is interrupted by revisiting the giving of Torah at Sinai. The Jewish festival of Shavuos ([feast of] weeks), which falls on this Friday (May 30 / 6 Sivan) honors this event. But this Torah, given to the Jews, also contains a section that isn’t for the Jews. God also codified the Noahide Laws within this Torah, ensuring their preservation on earth, for He knew that Israel would be faithful to preserve and live all the Torah. If as a Gentile you’re offended or surprised by that, you shouldn’t be. Let’s be brutally honest with ourselves as Gentiles – no culture or nation throughout history, other than the Jews, has been able to carry out these more basic Noahide laws (7 basic laws vs. 613 for the Jews) for more than a few generations, let alone several thousand years. Those of us learning and delighting in the Noahide laws, with their accompanying wisdom and inspiration, owe a great debt of gratitude to the Jews for their amazing sacrifice of blood, toil, tears and sweat to bring that intact body of knowledge to us today.
Also on Shavous the fruit of the trees is “judged” – God decides how much fruit each nation will receive for the year.
Walking the Walk
The day God gave the Torah to Israel, He “appeared” as cloud, smoke, fire and lighting on the top of Mt. Sinai. While God worked out final details with Moses, the thunder and a continual shofar (ram’s horn) blast grew deafening loud. Moses came back down to stand in front of the people. At the height of what must have been body shaking thunder, all went quiet. Not a bird chirped, dog barked, coyote howled. No wind, not even a breeze.
Then God spoke. Not with loud thunderous booming loudspeaker in-your-face shouting but instead speaking in a calming, reassuring, totally peaceful quiet voice. To over one million souls that morning, every man, woman and child. God spoke, “I am Hashem…”. This was a truly singular event in history without its equal.
God spoke. We’ve all, at some time, thought how great it would be to have God speak to us – tell us which way to go or perhaps carry us through a difficult time. But would we recognize His voice? How often has He sent clear messages to us but our minds and souls are too dulled to hear them, let alone recognize their source? Is there any hope for us? The Israelites took a big risk in time, effort and their very lives by wandering out into the desert for Him. Although we cannot really do the same, we can each day go out into a “desert” – a place where we separate ourselves physically and mentally from the normal distractions of our lives. There we can talk and work out things with Him. So get busy this week. Get prepared for Torah day. Go separate yourself for awhile each day this week and give that time solely to Him.