May 23, 2026 – Shavuot

• Torah: Deuteronomy 14:22 – 16:17
• Haftara: Habakkuk 3:1-19
• Brit Chadasha: Acts 2:21-42

וְעָשִׂ֜יתָ חַ֤ג שָׁבֻעוֹת֙ לַיהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ מִסַּ֛ת נִדְבַ֥ת יָדְךָ֖ אֲשֶׁ֣ר תִּתֵּ֑ן כַּאֲשֶׁ֥ר יְבָרֶכְךָ֖ יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֶֽיךָ׃

Ve’asita chag Shavu’ot l’Adonay Eloheycha misat nidvat yadecha asher titen ka’asher yevarechecha Adonay Eloheycha.

Then you shall observe the Feast of Weeks for the LORD your God, offering your freewill contribution according as the LORD your God has blessed you. (Devarim 16:10)

On Shavuot the Torah was given at mount Sinai as Hashem appeared in a dark cloud with flashes of lighting and thunder causing the mountain to shake violently. From the cloud Adonai spoke to all Israel to declare His Torah to us as a nation that we might be His people. Adonai was calling us to come into the special relationship of a husband and wife, to become one with Him. All Israel said all that Hashem has said we will do, and so the Kallah or bride said yes, and Hashem responded with the two tablets of stone with the words of the Ketubah for His treasured bride.

The giving of the Torah not only served us as the written promise by our Chatan (bridegroom) to guard us in our relationship to Him, but also shows us the way to discern the way to live until he comes to take us finally to live together with Him. The original sin of Adam and Chavah, was to learn knowledge about the good, and the evil, and that knowledge was passed on to the generations. Our Ketubah (Torah) however shows us how to identify, and separate the good and the bad, and choose the good Adonai has shown us in His Torah. He has in fact thusly provided for us the fruit of the Ets Chayiem (tree of Life) when we taste and see that the ways of Hashem are pure and Tov (good) and lead to life.

Baruch Hashem for the Ketubah, our Torah, that seals us for Him as His own, and washes us to make us ready for the wedding feast. We long for His appearing and on Shavuot we remember our betrothal to the King and pray that it will be in our days and in our time!

Even so Adonai – The Ruach and the Kalah say bo’ and may it be in our day and in our times.

Shalom Mish’pachah from Beth Hallel Lodi.