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4 Sivan 5762 - May 15, 2002 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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Opinion & Comment
Thank You for the Torah

by Mordecai Plaut

Thank you Hashem.

We thank you Hashem for Mattan Torah on that first Shavuos, for bringing us to the foot of Mount Sinai where we were truly one, "as one man with one heart." We are grateful for the unforgettable experience that day -- when the whole creation received the first two Commandments directly -- which all of us, who were immediately present in spirit, recall at least subliminally to this day and forever. Individually and as a nation we met our Maker in this world and received from Him the wisdom that accompanies us through the ages until the final Redemption and beyond.

Thank you Hashem for a Torah that gives us detailed instructions on how to run our lives, on how to understand and deal with life-cycle events that can be traumatic, on how to be better people and how to relate to our families and friends properly.

It is a grand body of wisdom that provides a complete education within itself -- and for everyone from the most limited who can understand the stories at their level to the most capable who have vast expanses to conquer and untold depths to plumb. It gives us the information that we need and the training to extend and apply its principles to whatever we may encounter.

Those who devote themselves to it and achieve even minimal mastery enthusiastically report that it is "sweeter than honey." It is ever-new and ever-nourishing, a constant and daily source of inspiration and insight.

It is a Torah that brings together those who are likeminded, and desire to grow and to improve themselves and their environments, while it teaches us and gives us effective techniques for keeping away from those who may, one way or another, drag us down or hinder us in our upward journey.

The Torah defines us as a nation and unites us, across time and across space, forming our essence in a way that emphasizes our kinship to our fellow Jews whatever their cultural background and external appearance. It is the Torah that makes us one and the Torah -- an abstract body of Divine wisdom and not any piece of land however holy it is -- that makes us into a nation. Only if we are true to the Torah do we have a full national identity that can give us any sort of legitimacy among the other nations of the world.

Far from being only an effective guide to the material world, the Torah also introduces us and brings us to the world of the spirit. It teaches us of powers and forces such as tumah and taharoh that have no real material effect, as well as elevating our minds and souls to intimacy with eternity.

The Torah is for us. It is Divine wisdom for human use. Hashem has given it to us out of His love for us and for our everlasting benefit.

However, the real way to say thank you is not just by singing its praises and explaining its benefits. That is not what Hashem intended in giving it to us.

The proper and best way to celebrate the wonderful Torah that we have is by doing what is says: talmud Torah keneged kulom. The more we learn it and fully fulfill what it says, on Shavuos and every day, the more thoroughly we saturate ourselves with it and grow through it, the better and more sincere is our thanks to Hashem.

Chag somayach.


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