Page 16-THE NEWS-May, 1985
Tlicughts From The
Ltt1)avitcher Rebbe
The Shavuoth Festival and Mount Sinai
By Rabbi Yossi Groner
On Shavuoth we celebrate
the giving of the Torah to the
Jewish people on Mount Sinai.
There is a lesson to be learn
ed from the fact that the
Torah was given on Mount
Sinai; in fact there is a Trac
tate in the Talmud which
opens with the words “Moses
received the Torah from
Mount Sinai.
The Midrash relates that
various mountains quarrelled
£imong themselves as to which
of them should merit that the
Torah be given on its peak.
Mount Tabor claimed this
honor inasmuch as it was a
high peak; Mt. Carmel main-
teiined that it deserved this
privilege. G-d ended their
dispute by saying that high
and lofty mountains are not
the fitting place for receiving
the Torah. Instead, the low
liest of all the mountains -
Mt. Sinai — was to be chosen,
emphasizing the virtue of
humility.
An obvious question pre
sents itself. If humility is the
trait to be stressed, then the
Torah should have been given
in a low valley, or at least on
a plain, and not on a mountain
at all. If, on the other hand,
the virtue of pride is to be em*
phasized, then the appropriate
place for the “Giving of the
Torah ” was surely on a peak
higher than Sinai?
The explanation is, that in
order to receive the Torah, and
to study it and observe its
laws, one must possess the
two qualities of Sinai: “lowest
of all the peaks” on the one
hand, yet a mountain (and not
a valley) on the other hand.
Humility is required because
Torah is the infinite Wisdom
of the Infinite G-d. Man, with
his finite intellect, cannot ap
proach the study of the Torah
with preconceived notions, or
with an “I-know-it-all” at
titude, but rather, with a feel
ing of humbleness. Arrogance
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and haughtiness are ana
themas to the Torah.
However, humility often has
a drawback. Many an un
assuming person allows his
humbleness to outweigh his
principles. He meekly “foUows
the crowd” although he may
totally disagree on principle
with their conduct. Unfor
tunately, many a Jew today
possesses this type of humil
ity. Desperately afraid of a
spoken jibe, or even a scoffing
glance, he ashamedly tries to
suppress any outward expres
sion of his Judaism.
The Torah was given on a
mountain, teaching us to have
an element of pride and the
strength of a mountain. In
deed, the entire Code of Jewish
Law (Shulchan Aruch) opens
with the injunction: “Not to be
ashamed in the face of cynics.”
Yet this pride is in no way a
contradiction to the feeling of
humility required of us,
because such pride does not
stem from one’s own ar
rogance and self-importance.
It is, rather, the pride of a
soldier carrying out his King’s
command, the pride of a Jew
carrying out G-d’s orders.
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