Shavuot Torah
Reflection by Ariel Dominique Hendelman, the Or HaLev Team
"We have been on a journey, all of us, for 50 days, from the second night of Pesach to the night of Shavuot, the 6th of Sivan. On this journey, we have left our places of constriction and confinement, found increased expansion, and are now on our way to revelation. But this revelation requires commitment. We don’t just climb to the mountain top and receive; we first declare that `we will do and we will hear.` We declare a commitment to the process of being in relationship with our Creator, with the Mystery, and in the face of that we say that we will do whatever is required of us, even before knowing what that might be. This is the kind of commitment that begets true revelation.
In our meditation practice, we encounter very much the same. We climb the mountain of patterns and thoughts and emotions within, built up by wounds as much as by wisdom - and we declare that we will stay sitting and silent through it all. We declare this by simply staying put, by dedicating ourselves to this practice, no matter what may be asked of us. We do this because we know that a true commitment to the practice is what makes revelation possible. Through commitment to a daily practice, we can learn to be with ourselves, to get to know ourselves on a deeper level, and to start to carve out some space for responding from an aligned and aware place.
The gifts come from the revelation, which comes from the commitment. This is the mindfulness teaching of Shavuot.
On this Shavuot, how can we commit more fully to our relationship to the Infinite One, to the Mystery that holds all of creation together? How can we commit more whole-heartedly so that when revelation comes, as it surely will, we are ready to receive it?"