Immediately, If Not Sooner!
Three Anniversaries
The Holiday of Shavuos is first and foremost the anniversary of the day in which the Torah was given at Mount Sinai. Every Shavuos we not only commemorate this momentous event; we relive it, because, in truth, the revelation at Sinai occurs over and over again each year on Shavuos—especially when we read the Ten Commandments.
Shavuos is also the anniversary of the passing of King David, who was born and died on the same day—seventy years apart.
The third major historical event to have occurred on Shavuos is the passing of the Ba’al Shem Tov, the founder of the Chassidic movement, exactly 250 years ago.
The three protagonists of this day are therefore Moses, David and Rabbi Yisrael Ba’al Shem Tov. The initials of these three names—Moses, Yisrael, David—forms the Hebrew word. miyad, which means “immediately.”
What do these three personalities/events have to do with the idea of immediacy?
Removal of Barriers
One suggestion perhaps is that the ideal that all three had in common was the removal of the forces that prevent us from realizing our G-d given goals. The impediments to achieving our objectives that prolong our agony can be removed by the collective energy of these three leaders and their ideals.
All three personified the most central ideals and focuses of Judaism, albeit in different ways: Moses through the commandments; David through his prayers and the Ba’al Shem Tov through touching and revealing the inner soul of Judaism.
Before Moses time, the spiritual realms were blocked from entering in the parameters of the physical world. As the Midrash puts it, there existed a “decree” or dichotomy between the upper spheres and the lower spheres. The revelation of G-d at Mount Sinai and the subsequent communication of the Torah to the Jewish people through Moses, who acted as the conduit to bring the Torah down to us, removed that dichotomy. When we do a Mitzvah that involves a physical act; that object and the person who performs the Mitzvah become holy. The Mitzvah act connects the person and the object with which the Mitzvah was performed to G-d. Indeed, one of the translations of the word Mitzvah is “connection.”
Prayer—especially as it was revealed through King David and expressed so poignantly in his Psalms—represents the removal of the barriers between our needs and wants and G-d’s “consciousness.” Through prayer, G-d— by His own choice and volition, of course— “pays attention” to our needs. Moreover our needs and wants, through prayer, can become His “needs” and “wants.” Of course, G-d has no inherent needs; but He chose to make our needs and wants His needs and wants. It is prayer that bridges the gap between the two.
The Ba’al Shem Tov removed the barrier between the inner soul of the Jew and his outer persona. The Ba’al Shem Tov revealed the exquisite beauty in even—nay, especially—the simplest Jew. No longer did we have to dig endlessly to find the inner treasures beneath the surface of every Jew; the Ba’al Shem Tov’s teachings facilitated that. The Ba’al Shem Tov’s teachings also helped to expose the Divine in nature and reveal the inner dimension of G-d and His Torah.
The Three Prongs
It is therefore no wonder that the term miyad-immediately is used in conjunction with the coming of Moshiach as Maimonides writes: “Israel returns to G-d and they are redeemed miyad-immediately.”
In these words, Maimonides alludes to the three pronged approach to removing the last barrier that separates between us and the Messianic Age.
First and foremost, the smooth and unobstructed transition from exile to redemption is brought about by the study of Torah that is associated with Moses. Torah is the medium that changes our conscious mindset. It helps us to think, speak and behave in a liberated fashion.
Second, the power of prayer, where we come to G-d and “demand” that He bring an end to exile—as King David did plead and demand of G-d to fulfill his requests on behalf of the Jewish people—has the power to remove the obstacles that G-d may have imposed because He is waiting for us to ask for it.
And last, but not least, the study of the Ba’al Shem Tovs’ Chassidic teachings—as they have been expounded upon in the myriad of Chassidic works written by his successors, particularly, the over 200 volumes authored by the Lubavitcher Rebbe—we can touch the unconscious precincts of our soul and reveal its core and essence, referred to as the “Moshiach” spark of our soul.
The Ba’al Shem Tov is the one who revealed the inner light of Torah and of the Jewish soul. And this year his contribution of light assumes even greater significance inasmuch as this is the 250th anniversary of his passing. In Hebrew the number 250 is represented by the word ner-which means candle. Through his teachings we are able to reveal that light.
When we unleash the three pronged “assault” on exile in all of its manifestations, it facilitates the immediate, unhindered, unequivocal, unqualified, unmitigated and irreversible process of the Messianic Age. Because when we harness the three forces represented by Moses, David and the Ba’al Shem Tov, we remove: a) the conscious resistance to Redemption, b) the G-dly imposed resistance to Redemption and c) the suppression of the subconscious Messianic core. May we see this happen immediatelymiyad!
And may we all receive the Torah this Shavuos with joy and profound inner inspiration!
From the book Light from the Future: Shavuos by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
