The Medrash relates that G-d wanted to give the Torah to the Jews as soon as they left Egypt. However, he saw, that as the Jews were traveling toward Mount Sinai, there were various disagreements and quarrelling among them. Therefore, G-d waited until they encamped in unison at Mount Sinai. Only when the Jews became total united with each other did they became worthy of receiving the Torah, which is the epitome of peace. As the verse in Proverbs describing the Torah states, “Its ways are ways of pleasantness and all its paths are peace.”
The Shem Mishmuel enlightens us with a deeper understanding why having unity was a prerequisite to receiving the Torah.
Our tradition teaches us that all the written letters of the Torah are formulations of Names of the Almighty. Additionally, every letter of the Torah represents a different soul of the Jewish people.
In order that a Sefer Torah be Kosher every letter has to be written correctly and intact, and letters that form words need to be close to each other. If a letter is separated too much from the rest of the word, the Torah is invalid since the word is not complete. Only once it is fixed does the Torah become Kosher.
With this said, we can now grasp the importance and significance of having unity among the Jews before accepting the Torah. Since each letter of the Torah represents a unique soul of the Jewish nation, if there is a separation between two Jews due to baseless hatred, it essentially means that two letters of the Torah are separated and the Torah is lacking its completeness.
G-d freed us from the Egyptian slavery to give us a mandate as to how we are to utilize our freedom correctly. The Torah is the perfect instrument to give us direction in life. Therefore, as the Medrash indicates, the most logical time for us to receive our orders would have been upon our exit from Egypt. However, G-d held off, because the Torah would not be complete if the Jews were not as one with each other.
As the Jews got on their way travelling toward Mount Sinai they slowly but surely elevated themselves to the requisite level of unity to be deserving of receiving the Torah.
Each year we are commanded to experience the observance of Pesach, when we talk about and reenact the way our ancestors, back in Egypt, spent the night before they left.
The Torah mandates us to begin counting 49 days from the second day of Pesach up until the 50th day which determines the holiday of Shavuos – when we received the Torah from G-d.
During these 49 days the Jews in the desert worked on their spiritual and interpersonal relationships becoming elevated and worthy of receiving the Torah.
We have a Mitzvah each year during this time of year to Count the Omer each night for 49 nights. The Torah tells us the count should be Temimos – complete – without missing a day of the count.
The Torah may also be alluding to the fact that just as the Jews, at the actual event of G-d’s Revelation, were complete and at peace with each other, so too, we strive to towards that ideal completeness as we enter the Holiday of Shavuos.
Each Hebrew month has a symbol. The Mazal for this month of Sivan, which is host to Shavuos, is twins. Kabalistic commentators speak of the relationship between twins and this month. They indicate that it is twofold. One is that just as there is a harmonious relationship between twins, due to their shared existence, so too, when the Jews received the Torah on Shavuos there was peace and accord between them all.
The second idea is, that G-d has an intimate bond as twins with the Jewish people who uphold and fulfill His Torah.
There are times when we embrace and are at peace with our brethren without external stimuli, which is highly commendable. There are other times when we are compelled to be at one with our brethren due to circumstances. We are currently in that position. Our brothers and sisters in Israel are being attacked throughout the land brazenly and with unparalleled brutality. We feel for each of them and wince in pain when they are attacked, hurt, and killed. We sympathize with them as they deal with the trauma and fear.
It makes no difference to us which type of Jew is attacked – we care and we feel and express a concern for each other as a nation symbolized by twins. May G-d look kindly on us and deliver to us all a needed salvation!
