We Have Everything

By Rabbi Moshe Krieger, Yeshivas Bircas HaTorah (www.bircas.org)

Every year on Shavuos we celebrate Zman Matan Toraseinu — the time Hashem gave us the Torah. There is an obvious question. The Luchos given at Har Sinai were later shattered. When Moshe came down from the mountain and saw the sin of the Golden Calf, he smashed them. The second Luchos were only given on Yom Kippur. So what exactly are we celebrating? The tablets we received on this day were broken.

Rav Menachem Freiman, the Mashgiach of Yeshivas Eitz Chaim, explained that Shavuos is still the celebration of the original giving of the Torah — the great Ma’amad Har Sinai, the awesome standing before Hashem. The second Luchos came later without that same open revelation. At Har Sinai, Hashem showed all of creation what Torah truly is. The Midrash says (Shemos Rabbah 29:9) that at the moment of Matan Torah the entire world fell silent. No bird called out, no animal stirred, the seas did not move. Everything stopped, as if the world itself was testifying: this is the center of all creation. Torah is what matters most.

There was also a fire at Har Sinai. The Bach (Siman 47) writes that the fire revealed the exaltedness of Torah: kedushah – holiness and ruchniyus – spirituality.   It is holy, it is lifted above the world, it affects all of creation.

The Shelah HaKadosh writes in Ner Mitzvah (18) that on Shavuos a person should plant in his heart a profound feeling of how great and elevated Torah truly is. He adds another dimension. The Mishnah in Rosh Hashanah (16a) says that on Shavuos we are judged on the fruit of the tree. He explains that this refers to the souls of Klal Yisrael, which are like the fruit of Hashem’s tree. On Shavuos, a person is judged on his Torah — how much he learned, how much he valued it, how careful he was not to waste time, and how much help from Heaven he will receive in the coming year. Rabbi Freiman asks: isn’t everything judged on Rosh Hashanah? Why should there be a separate judgment on Shavuos? He answers: Shavuos is the Yom Tov when a person feels the greatness of Torah. If someone truly felt how exalted Torah is, how could he waste a moment of it? So Shavuos itself is the day when that feeling is meant to be renewed and strengthened for the whole year ahead.

Rav Yosef in the Gemara expresses this beautifully in (Pesachim 68b). He would prepare a special meal on Shavuos and say: “If not for this day, I would be one of the many Yosefs in the marketplace?” Rashi explains that Torah exalted him and made him who he is. Without Torah, he would have been just another person in the crowd. The meal itself was a statement.

Why a feast? If Shavuos is about the greatness and kedushah of Torah, wouldn’t it be more fitting to spend the whole day learning? Why the emphasis on a beautiful seudah?

Rabbi Freiman explains a deep message behind Rav Yosef’s meal. Ordinarily, physical pleasures carry a risk — they can pull a person away from avodas Hashem — serving Hashem. But the Gemara in Kiddushin (30b) says that Hashem created the yetzer hara — the evil inclination — and also created the Torah as its antidote. The Gemara gives a mashal: a father wounds his son but immediately places a bandage on it. As long as the bandage stays on, the son can eat and drink normally without the wound becoming infected. So too Hashem gave us the Torah as a protection. When a person is genuinely connected to Torah, its kedushah guards him. Rav Yosef’s meal was a living demonstration: I can eat and celebrate without being dragged down, because my Torah protects me.

There is something even deeper here. A person who is truly invested in Torah does not just resist the pull of material things — he stops craving them the same way others do. Torah becomes his center. Everything else becomes a tool. Money, comfort, and possessions are there only to help him serve Hashem better, not as goals in themselves. This we find by Yaakov and Eisav.  Eisav says, “I have a lot”. (Bereishis 33:9) When a person has a lot, he still wants more. Yaakov says, “I have everything”. (Bereishis 33:11) When Torah is the center and everything else is only there to support it, a person can truly say: I have everything.

There is a pasuk in Tehillim (34:11) that says that people who seek Hashem lack nothing. The Shelah HaKadosh asks: does this mean that everyone who seeks Hashem becomes wealthy? No. It means he does not feel lacking. His life is so connected to Torah and Hashem that he does not feel he is missing anything. Torah is everything. The other things are secondary.

This is really our main avodah on Shavous.  The Shelah HaKadosh (Ner Mitzvah19) writes that on Shavuos we need to receive the crown of the Torah. But what does that mean? The Rambam in Hilchos Talmud Torah (3:6) speaks about the crown of Torah and how a person acquires it. He explains that it means not to chase wealth or honor, but being ready to live simply, even on bread and water, and to make Torah the main focus. This does not mean a person that a person should want to suffer but because Torah is his true desire everything else becomes secondary. The Rambam is describing a person whose Torah is his real identity. His inner title is a ben Torah.

On Shavuos, this is what we have to ask ourselves. Is Torah my main thing? Is my learning, my davening, my avodas Hashem what I build my life around? Am I cutting away things that are really not important. The gedolim lived this way. By them, Torah was the only thing that mattered.

The Chofetz Chaim lived with great simplicity. His children once came to him and pointed out that the neighbors had bought beautiful new clothes for Yom Tov. Why shouldn’t they have the same? The Chofetz Chaim smiled and said: they don’t really have much Torah, so Hashem gives them something else — at least they have nice clothes. But we — we have everything. We have Torah.

There is a similar story about Rav Aharon Leib Shteinman. Someone came to him and said: my wife wants me to buy a new, nicer car. I have the money for it, but I am worried it will cause jealousy in my neighborhood and bring an ayin hara. Should I buy it or not? Rav Shteinman listened, then asked him: how many masechtos do you know? The man was embarrassed. He admitted he had never finished even one. Rav Shteinman told him: in that case, what is there to be jealous of? You don’t have anything that people could really be jealous of. A car is nothing.

May we be zocheh this Shavuos to accept the crown of Torah and to feel that with Torah, we have everything.