Shavuot reminds us that the Torah is G-d’s gift to the Jewish people. Shavuot is one of the three pilgrimage festivals (the others are Pesach and Sukkot) in the Jewish religion and its observance is directly linked to that of Pesach, or Passover.
On Pesach, G-d freed the Jews from the Egyptian House of Bondage and bestowed the Torah to the Jews at Mount Sinai and charged them to be a holy nation that serves G-d.
Although it is not as familiar as Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Pesach or even Chanukah, it is one of the Yom Tovim (Biblically-mandated festival dates) which all activities prohibited on Shabbat are prohibited on the festival dates, except for some related to food preparation.
I was initially ecstatic that Republican Senate Candidate Geoff Diehl was holding a fundraiser for his campaign here in Newton due to his solid, reform-oriented voting record and political views while serving as a Massachusetts state representative. However, it was disappointing that his staff scheduled the event on Shavuot without checking with the local Republican City Committee to see if the event conflicted with important Jewish observances due to the significant presence of Jewish people in our community who serve on the committee. If this occurred last year, I probably would have gone to the event, I probably would not have even known what Shavuot is, let alone why it is a holy day.
This year, I put G-d’s law before politics when the two conflict. To that end, I reached out to the three Jewish members of the Massachusetts Republican State Committee to persuade them to persuade the rest of the committee to reschedule the 2018 MassGOP State Convention on a day other than Shabbat. If that is not possible, then to allow absentee balloting for Jewish Republican delegates who would ordinarily like to attend the convention to vote in the contested intraparty statewide races but do not want to violate Shabbat to do so.
Over the last year, I have accepted Torah personally and begun to apply it to my daily life. To that end, I attend Shabbat services regularly and read the Chumash at home in addition to listening to the Torah as it is reads in synagogue. Next year, I will read the Soncino Chumash, and the year after that, buy a copy of the Stone Chumash.
For those Jews who had personal experience with a “Jew for Jesus” or other soul-snatching missionary, I recommend reading the Stone Chumash’s Midrash commentary to Genesis 1:26 and keeping it with you at all times in order to rebut a common argument made by such individuals or the groups they belong to.
Earlier this year, I gave one of two Torah commentaries on Parshat Yitro that particular week at my shul with the encouragement of Rabbi Shlomo Yaffe, a respected Hasidic rabbi who serves as the director of the Institute for Judaic Knowledge. I compared becoming a baal teshuva (returning) Jew to Yitro’s conversion to Judaism, how even though G-d warned Israel against idol worship, Israel slid into idolatry with the Golden Calf in Parshat Ki Tisa and how Exodus 18:21 is the timeless standard for choosing elected and appointed public servants. My commentary was well received by the congregation and inspired me to try to deliver one on Parshat Shoftim later in the year.
I would like to give a special recognition to Fred Chanowski, president of the Beth Menachem Chabad. Earlier this year, Fred sponsored Kiddush in honor of the 53rd anniversary of his bar mitzvah. Fred read the first aliyah of Parshat Bo as well as the Haftarah reading for that week. I am impressed that he manages to maintain the strong connection to his heritage and observance of Judaism while simultaneously achieving success in his personal and professional life.
Finally, I just realized that this past week’s Torah Portion was Parshat Bamidbar. I read Parshat Bamidbar 24 years ago at Temple Ohabei Shalom in Brookline for my bar mitzvah. I think it was apropos that my bar mitzvah parsha was Bamidbar, as it is the first in the Book of Numbers, most of the Torah portion deals with the census of the Israelite men and people know all about my strong analytical skills when it comes to finance and other quantitative topics. Someday, I may follow Fred’s example of directly reading from the Torah and Haftarah to celebrate the anniversary of my Bar Mitzvah.
Joshua Norman is an Auburndale resident who serves as the statewide treasurer for the Massachusetts Affiliate of a nationwide faith-based voter education group