Pentecost/Shavu'ot

[sheep wrecked]

I am finding lots of info on the net about Shavu'ot, including some connected to kabbalah. Here is one - I bolded in red some of the text as concepts that are contradictory to Scripture and show the mystical/kabbalistic view.

Quote:Indeed, Shavuot commemorates the face-to-face encounter between God and the Jewish people. Our tradition tells us that we all stood at Sinai, every Jewish soul, even those not yet born. The making of the covenant and the giving of the Torah serves as a shared experience among all Jews, past and present. We each entered into that covenant, that relationship, with God, and we accepted that Torah, that teaching. We connected ourselves with God and God’s wisdom for eternity.

Within the Ten Commandments, there are actually two sets of laws. One reflects man’s relationship with God, mitzvot beyn adam l’makom, and one set that reflects man’s relationship toward his fellow man, mitzvot beyn adam l’chaveyro. The revelation at Mt. Sinai continued beyond the tenth commandment, including an additional 603 ethical and religious laws to bring the total to 613 commandments. Of those 613 commandments, 248 are positive commandments, said to correspond to the number of bones in the body [there are only 206 bones in the human body according to Gray's Anatomy used by all medical students], and 365 are negative commandments, said to correspond to the days of the year [Biblical years were 360 days - 12 months with 30 days each based on the moon's cycles] . When viewed together, they suggest that we Jews devote every part of our bodies, every day of our lives, to following God’s Torah as revealed to all of us, born and unborn, that day at Mount Sinai.

I see this as an indication that we are imbued with Torah. Each and every one of us carries the Torah and its commandments within us. For what is Torah but wisdom and lessons and inspiration? Indeed, we are told that Moses brought down from that mountain not only the commandments but the oral Torah and the mystical tradition we know as Kabbalah.

All of this we commemorate on Shavuot. Every day, however, we have a chance to offer this Torah ourselves not only through our actions - by performing mitzvot- but also by actually offering our wisdom to others. We can inspire each other with our actions, our words, our experiences. That’s how we can continue the tradition of giving Torah every day. Maybe that’s part of our covenant with God, to actually take the Torah and make it alive, make it our own, transform it into something personal, and then share it. We need to pass it on l’dor v’dor, from generation to generation, making it constantly new and relevant.

Most Jews celebrate Shavuot with all-night study sessions. This tradition comes from the fact that the Israelites at Mount Sinai were so consumed with their fear-rather than their awe-of God that they could not listen to the revelation being given to them. (Exodus 20:15-18).

On this night before the full day of Shavuot, Jews study late into the night, sometimes till dawn, in the hope that once again God might choose Shavuot to reveal to Israel the hidden mystical truths underlying creation.

Here’s what I suggest, however. Let’s not wait for God to reveal these truths. Instead, let’s search within ourselves, we who are created in God’s image and who were there at the mountain that day. We may not have listened but we heard. Plus, we have a spark of divinity within us, a neshamah, a soul, connected to God. We have our own mystical truths to share, our own Torah to give that will inspire and enlighten others.

Yes, this Shavuot, let’s not wait to see if God reveals truths and lessons to us. Let’s channel the Divine Energy ourselves by offering our own Torah to our friends, families, and communities. Ask for Divine Wisdom [hokman - kabbalistic term - the manifestation of EnSof, the greater Divine Being]. Meditate and pray and connect with God. Draw on old stories and apply them to your own life and experiences, thus renewing them and making them relevant once again. Or simply tell new stories of your own.

Everyone has a Torah. What’s yours? Give it this Shavuot.

http://purespiritcreations.com/wordpress...our-torah/