Bamidbar & Shavuot
Come, Connect
Dear Friend,
Among the most enjoyable parts of working for Chabad.org’s “Ask the Rabbi” team is the opportunity to be in touch with people from all over the world—a businessman from Switzerland, a graduate student in the United Kingdom, a mom in South Dakota, a tech entrepreneur in India.
They come for various reasons, but ultimately, it comes down to the same thing: communication. Whether it’s a question about the intricacies of halachah, the meaning of a Torah verse or even a life decision, they’ve all turned to a channel of communication, and we’re more than happy to respond in kind.
We are approaching the holiday of Shavuot, when the Jewish people heard the Ten Commandments from G‑d. G‑d “spoke” to our ancestors, beginning a relationship that enables Jews for all future generations to interact with Him. Until that point the spiritual and material were separate, but that changed with G‑d descending on Mount Sinai to “speak” to us.
We relive (and recommit ourselves to) this super-deep experience every year, when we attend the reading of the Ten Commandments in the synagogue. Every Jew is encouraged to participate, especially young children, for they are the Jewish future.
Be there, and you may even get some ice cream and a slice of cheesecake. Not a bad deal.
Rabbi Eliezer Zalmanov,
on behalf of the Chabad.org Editorial Team
Shavuot marks the giving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai. The Ten Commandments are read in synagogues, just as they were in the desert on Mt. Sinai over 3,300 years ago.
Chabad centers around the world are prepping for an influx of children coming to synagogue for the reading of the Ten Commandments on the festival of Shavuot.
It’s an argument I hear all the time. People will approach me and attempt to explain to me exactly why they can’t accept more Judaism into their lives: because they just weren’t born into it.
Is it wrong to regift? My uncle just came back from Hong Kong and brought me a very expensive green tie with red zigzags. I would not be caught dead wearing it. But I have a friend with the same taste as my uncle who would love it, and it's his birthday next week. Is there any issue with me passing it on, rather than letting it gather dust in my closet?
Given the incomparable significance of the Torah, what is the function of prophecy and of the prophetic books, the Neviim (“Prophets”) and Ketuvim (“Hagiographa”), composed after the Torah was given at Sinai? And why did the era of prophecy end?
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