Shavuot is the holiday where we celebrate direct revelation. According to Jewish tradition, it was not only the ‘written Torah’ (the Five Books of Moses) that were transmitted at this time, but also the seeds of the ‘oral Torah’ - that is, all future discussion and development of these ideas.
We are not satisfied by the idea that revelation is a thing of the past. We want to have our own direct experience. So what does having a tradition have to offer us in our quest for personal revelation and access to truth? We want to guide you into considering some of your own experiences (and desires for experience) - and we also want to share some ancient sources that touch on these ideas. You don't have to look at them all. In fact, if you find yourself in a juicy discussion, feel empowered to stick with it!
Q. Have you had any experiences where you felt you were receiving the revelation of something from beyond ordinary reality? If so, what was it like?
Below are some biblical descriptions of the experience of direct revelation.
Q. What do you notice about the nature of reality in the sources that follow?
INSTABILITY AND REVELATION
at the presence of the Lord of all the earth.
(2) The LORD said to [Moses], “What is that in your hand?” And he replied, “A rod.” (3) [God] said, “Cast it on the ground.” He cast it on the ground and it became a snake; and Moses recoiled from it. (4) Then ה' said to Moses, “Put out your hand and grasp it by the tail”—he put out his hand and seized it, and it became a rod in his hand— (5) “that they may believe that ה', the God of their ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, did appear to you.”
(6) ה' said to him further, “Put your hand into your bosom.” He put his hand into his bosom; and when he took it out, his hand was encrusted with snowy scales! (7) And [God] said, “Put your hand back into your bosom.”—He put his hand back into his bosom; and when he took it out of his bosom, there it was again like the rest of his body.—
(1) When Israel went forth from Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange speech, (2) Judah became God's sacred, Israel, God's dominion.
(3) The sea saw them and fled, Jordan ran backward, (4) mountains skipped like rams, hills like sheep.
(5) What alarmed you, O sea, that you fled? Jordan, that you ran backward?
(6) Mountains, that you skipped like rams, hills, like sheep?
(7) Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, (8) who turns the rock into a pool of water, the flinty rock into a fountain.
Earlier we encountered the image of God's "sapphire mosaic / footstool." Here is the verse from Exodus describing this vision, followed by a passage from the Talmud that uses it a jumping-off point for associative religious imagery.
Q. What do you make of this pair of texts?
It is taught that Rabbi Meir would say: What is different about tekhelet from all other types of colors such that it was chosen for the mitzva of tzitzit (the ritual fringes on the corners of our garments)? It is because tekhelet resembles in its color the sea, and the sea resembles the sky, and the sky resembles the Throne of Glory, as it is stated: “And they saw the God of Israel; under whose feet was the like of a paved work of sapphire stone, and the like of the very heaven for clearness” (Exodus 24:10), indicating that the sky is like a sapphire brickwork. And it is written: “The likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone” (Ezekiel 1:26).
Q. Do you recall a time in your life when you have questioned what is true? How did you go about resolving your question? What did you find?
THE EXPANSIVE NATURE OF REVELATION
The Torah records many stories of conflict, mistakes and breaking of covenants. One instance of breaking is the tale of the two tablets of stone. In Exodus 32, after 40 days and nights on Mt Sinai, Moses receives two tablets of stone on which were carved - apparently by God Godself - the conditions of God's contract (or covenant) with the Israelites. However, when he saw the Israelites worshipping an idol, Moses broke the tablets. Later, after various moves towards repentance and another 40 days and nights, God gives Moses a second set. According to the tradition, this second set was somewhat different from the first... and both the broken pieces of the first set, and the unbroken pieces of the second, were kept together, at the center of God's shrine.
What can we learn from these images?
(15) And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, with the two tables of the testimony in his hand; tables that were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written. (16) And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables. .... (19) And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing; and Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and broke them beneath the mount.
הִתְחִיל מִצְטַעֵר עַל שִׁבּוּר הַלּוּחוֹת, וְאָמַר לוֹ הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא: אַל תִּצְטָעֵר בַּלּוּחוֹת הָרִאשׁוֹנוֹת, שֶׁלֹא הָיוּ אֶלָּא עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְּרוֹת לְבָד, וּבַלּוּחוֹת הַשְּׁנִיִּים אֲנִי נוֹתֵן לְךָ שֶׁיְהֵא בָהֶם הֲלָכוֹת מִדְרָשׁ וְאַגָּדוֹת, הֲדָא הוּא דִכְתִיב: וְיַגֶּד לְךָ תַּעֲלֻמוֹת חָכְמָה כִּי כִפְלַיִם לְתוּשִׁיָּה, וְלֹא עוֹד, אֶלָּא שֶׁאַתָּה מְבֻשָֹּׂר שֶׁמָּחַלְתִּי לְךָ עַל חַטָּיָה שֶׁלְּךָ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (איוב יא, ו): וְדַע כִּי יַשֶּׁה לְךָ אֱלוֹקַּ מֵעֲוֹנֶךָ.
(1) ...[Moses] started feeling bad that he broke the tablets, so G-d told him: Do not feel bad about the first tablets, for they only contained the ten commandments. However in the second tablets I will give you, they will have Halacha [law], Midrash [legend] and Agadah [illustrative story], and this is what is said: (Job 11): I will tell you hidden wisdom for it shall be doubly comforting.
Rav Huna said… the [full] tablets and the broken tablets lay [side by side] in the Aron (Ark of the Pact).
Rabbinic Judaism believes in an Oral Torah that is divinely revealed alongside the written word. In this story from the Talmud, a student challenges the famous sage Hillel to defend the validity of the Oral Torah.
Q. What do you make of this tale? Is it a convincing argument?
תָּנוּ רַבָּנַן: מַעֲשֶׂה בְּגוֹי אֶחָד שֶׁבָּא לִפְנֵי שַׁמַּאי. אָמַר לוֹ: כַּמָּה תּוֹרוֹת יֵשׁ לָכֶם? אָמַר לוֹ: שְׁתַּיִם, תּוֹרָה שֶׁבִּכְתָב וְתוֹרָה שֶׁבְּעַל פֶּה. אָמַר לוֹ: שֶׁבִּכְתָב אֲנִי מַאֲמִינְךָ, וְשֶׁבְּעַל פֶּה — אֵינִי מַאֲמִינְךָ. גַּיְּירֵנִי עַל מְנָת שֶׁתְּלַמְּדֵנִי תּוֹרָה שֶׁבִּכְתָב. גָּעַר בּוֹ וְהוֹצִיאוֹ בִּנְזִיפָה.
בָּא לִפְנֵי הִלֵּל, גַּיְירֵיהּ. יוֹמָא קַמָּא אֲמַר לֵיהּ: א״ב ג״ד. לִמְחַר אֲפֵיךְ לֵיהּ. אֲמַר לֵיהּ: וְהָא אֶתְמוֹל לָא אֲמַרְתְּ לִי הָכִי! אֲמַר לֵיהּ: לָאו עֲלַי דִּידִי קָא סָמְכַתְּ? דְּעַל פֶּה נָמֵי סְמוֹךְ עֲלַי.
The Sages taught: There was an incident involving one gentile who came before Shammai. The gentile said to Shammai: How many Torahs do you have? He said to him: Two, the Written Torah and the Oral Torah.
The gentile said to him: With regard to the Written Torah, I believe you, but with regard to the Oral Torah, I do not believe you. Convert me on condition that you will teach me only the Written Torah. Shammai scolded him and cast him out with reprimand.
The same gentile came before Hillel, who converted him and began teaching him Torah. On the first day, he showed him the letters of the alphabet and said to him: Alef, bet, gimmel, dalet. The next day he reversed the order of the letters and told him that an alef is a tav and so on. The convert said to him: But yesterday you did not tell me that. Hillel said to him: You see that it is impossible to learn what is written without relying on an oral tradition. Didn’t you rely on me?
The very first teaching in Pirke Avot, one section of the Oral Torah (that got written down about 1800 years ago), sets forth the idea of an unbroken chain of oral tradition. It concludes with three teachings from the 'Men of the Great Assembly.'
Q. What do the Men of the Great Assembly want to add to the tradition they received? What seems important (or inscrutable) about these teachings?
(א) משֶׁה קִבֵּל תּוֹרָה מִסִּינַי, וּמְסָרָהּ לִיהוֹשֻׁעַ, וִיהוֹשֻׁעַ לִזְקֵנִים, וּזְקֵנִים לִנְבִיאִים, וּנְבִיאִים מְסָרוּהָ לְאַנְשֵׁי כְנֶסֶת הַגְּדוֹלָה. הֵם אָמְרוּ שְׁלשָׁה דְבָרִים, הֱווּ מְתוּנִים בַּדִּין, וְהַעֲמִידוּ תַלְמִידִים הַרְבֵּה, וַעֲשׂוּ סְיָג לַתּוֹרָה:
(1) Moses received the Torah at Sinai and transmitted it to Joshua, Joshua to the elders, and the elders to the prophets, and the prophets to the Men of the Great Assembly. They said three things: Be patient in [the administration of] justice, raise many disciples and make a fence round the Torah.