Shavuot, as we are told, is the day on which we received the Torah. Simchat Torah, which comes four months later, is the time we celebrate receiving the Torah. Why such a long gap in between??
There was once a King who decided it was time to marry off his daughter, the Princess. The one condition - whoever was to marry her could not see her until the chupah (the wedding canopy). Naturally, no Prince around was running to accept this intimidating offer.
Eventually, a Prince from a nearby town stepped up to the plate and agreed to the terms thinking "how bad could it be?". As the wedding drew nearer, the Prince began to realize just how bad it could be and started getting nervous. "What if she's ugly? What if she's mean? What if her breath smells? How do I know if she can cook?" he wondered (along with many other concerns).
Finally, the day had arrived. As the Prince stood at the chupah watching the Princess approach him, he could feel the sweat pouring down his head. When she reached him, he worriedly looked through her veil - she wasn't ugly!! Slightly relieved, he still worried about his other concerns...
After the chupah, they went to the customary "Yichud Room." The began to speak and he noticed that the scent emanating from her mouth was not horific - two concerns down!! As they spoke more, he realized that not only wasn't she mean - she was actually pretty nice!!
As the weeks passed after their wedding, the Princess greeted her Prince every morning with a home-cooked breakfast - and it was delicious. She could cook!! With each day, the Prince so that all of his concerns were being disproved.
With their 6-month anniversary approaching, the Prince went to his father-in-law and requested a second wedding celebration. "A second celebration" screamed the King, "do you know how much the first cost me, why on earth do you need a second?!?"
"Well, your heinous", replied the Prince. "The condition you had set on my marriage to your daughter was that I could not meet her until the wedding. As such, I really didn't know what I had gotten myself into and so I couldn't truly celebrate at our first wedding. Now that 6 months have passed, I know what a wonderful woman I married and can actually celebrate having gotten her."
The King agreed and a second celebration was held that was ten times as big as the first!!
When the Jewish people accepted the Torah, they accepted it נעשה ונשמה. While they were eager to accept Hashem's Torah, they didn't know what they had gotten themselves into and so they could not really celebrate it. Four months later, when they had experienced the glory that is the Torah, they were prepared to celebrate it!
Luckily for us, as we "accept" the Torah tomorrow, we do it knowing fully what a treasure our ancestors received. With this in mind, I invite each of you to accept it with simcha and to celebrate it with joy!!
Chag Shavuot Sameach!
*A Special thank you to Rebbetzin Nalini Ibragimov for sharing this story with me years ago*
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment