... וּמַהוּ (עמוס ג, ח): ה' אֱלֹהִים דִּבֶּר מִי לֹא יִנָּבֵא, אָמַר רַבִּי אַבָּהוּ בְּשֵׁם רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן, כְּשֶׁנָּתַן הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא אֶת הַתּוֹרָה, צִפּוֹר לֹא צָוַח, עוֹף לֹא פָּרַח, שׁוֹר לֹא גָּעָה, אוֹפַנִּים לֹא עָפוּ, שְׂרָפִים לֹא אָמְרוּ קָדוֹשׁ קָדוֹשׁ, הַיָּם לֹא נִזְדַּעֲזָע, הַבְּרִיּוֹת לֹא דִּבְּרוּ, אֶלָּא הָעוֹלָם שׁוֹתֵק וּמַחֲרִישׁ, וְיָצָא הַקּוֹל: אָנֹכִי ה' אֱלֹהֶיךָ...
... And what is "Ad-nai E-lohim spoke, who won't prophesy? (Amos 3:8)" Said Rabbi Abahu in the name of Rabbi Yochanan: When the Holy Blessed One gave the Torah, no bird chirped, no fowl fluttered, no ox grazed, the angels did not fly, the Seraphim did not utter 'kadosh, kadosh, kadosh', the sea did not roar, the creatures did not speak; the universe was silent and mute. And the voice came forth: I am Adonai your God.
~ Remember that Mount Sinai is in the Sinai Desert, so this midrash indicates that a miracle occurred, temporarily turning that area into fertile land with an abundance of greenery.
~ Where is the garden?
~ What is the rose?
~ Why is Torah needed in the world?
Eitan Fishbane: R. Bahya asks: Why does the Torah emphasize God’s speech to Moshe in the wilderness of Sinai (בְּמִדְבַּר סִינַי)? It was to teach that “a person does not attain the Torah until they have made themselves empty and abandoned like the wilderness” To receive the revelation of Torah—or perhaps a bit less grandly, to let Torah take root in one’s heart—a person must first make themselves into a midbar, an inner empty wilderness that is cleared of all the weeds and brush that obstruct true perception and feeling.
In this transformed reading, the midbar may be said to embody a pure state of emptiness—an inner cleansing that allows us to go deeper into the spiritual path. Becoming hefker kemidbar is a process of letting go of our imprisonment in materiality, in ephemeral and finite desires—to be liberated into the vastness of an inner wilderness. As R. Nahman of Bratzlav taught (Likutei Moharan I:52), the most profound opening of the heart to God takes place in the physical space of darkness and wilderness, the frightening ground of loneliness and alienation. It is in hitbodedut (solitude) that we are able to empty our minds and hearts of society’s overwhelming drumbeat, where the ultimate bitul hayeish (erasure of superficial, mundane consciousness) becomes possible, and we are truly opened in all of our vulnerability before Divinity. In that place of midbar, we are able to break open the heart in ways we didn’t know were possible, to cry out to God from a place of the deepest emotional honesty. The midbar is an inner place of psyche as much as it is a terrestrial location. It is our spiritual work to let that divine solitude refine the openness and gentleness with which we treat our fellow human beings.
Elie Wiesel: When the Holy Seer of Lublin was a little boy, he was known to skip school for hours or even days. Once, his teacher followed the young boy to see what became of these free moments. The Seer walked to the edge of the town, then deep into the woods, and there, in a small green circle of trees, he began to pray. The next day the teacher asked the boy what drew him to those woods. The Seer of Lublin replied, I can find God there.
"But," said the teacher, "surely God is the same in the town as in the wilderness."
That is true, replied the Seer, but I am not the same.
~ How will you make yourself like a wilderness this year?
~ What will your personal Har Sinai look like?
אסור להתענות במוצאי חג השבועות: הגה ... ונוהגין לשטוח עשבים בשבועות בבית הכנסת והבתים זכר לשמחת מתן תורה ונוהגין בכל מקום לאכול מאכלי חלב ביום ראשון של שבועות ...
It is prohibited to fast immediately after the holiday of Shavuot. Ramah: ... We have the custom to spread out plants on Shavuot in the synagogue and in houses, as a memory for the happiness of the receiving of the Torah. We have a custom everywhere to eat dairy food on the first day of Shavuot. ....