Hi all.
Don’t worry.
You did not lose a day.
It’s not Thursday.
It is indeed Wednesday.
The holiday of Shavuot begins tomorrow evening and is celebrated for two days, Friday and Shabbat.
This confusion of days reminds me of something that happened a number of years ago when Shavuot was on Friday and Shabbat.
I was actually in labor on my way to give birth. We were living in Baltimore at the time and we were headed to Sinai hospital.
Here it was Shavuot and we were headed to Sinai. (Mt Sinai is where we received the Torah, the 613 Commandments, on Shavuot. Jewish hospitals are sometimes called Sinai or Mt Sinai because all who were ill were cured there at the time the Torah was given.)
We don’t drive on holidays. but the impending birth allowed us to do so as long as no unnecessary mechanical efforts were made, like turning on the radio.
We pulled up at Sinai hospital and my husband jumped out of the car to help me get out but he didn’t turn off the engine. The dispensation which allows for driving or doing anything mechanical with the car, runs out when the destination has been achieved.
Non Jewish Sinai hospital staff are well versed in Jewish law and are familiar with Rabbis jumping out of cars on Shabbat and leaving them running. The policy was for them to then park the car and bring the keys to reception.
So we were not worried about the reaction we would receive from the parking attendant.
Until the gentleman on duty called after my husband’s retreating back as he was bringing me to the Emergency entrance yelling
“ Rabbi! It’s Friday”.
So reaching out one day earlier than expected with a quick Shavuot message.

Quick trivia quiz:
What Mitzva is associated with
Rosh Hashana?
Shofar
How about Sukkot?
Sukka
Passover?
Matza
Shavuot?
The clock is ticking….
There is none.
On Shavuot we received the Torah. Our job on Shavuot is to study the Torah.
On Shavuot we as a nation accepted the Torah, the 613 Mitzvot, and became the Jewish people.
On Shavuot we need to tap into the essence of what it is to be a Jew.
The Talmud teaches us that a Jew has three seminal characteristics: we are humble, merciful and doers of deeds of loving kindness.
Chessed.
That is why on Shavuot we have a custom to read the Book of Ruth. This is a book totally based on Chessed.
Ruth was a Moabite princess who married the son of a fabulously wealthy Jew from Bethlehem. This family left Israel precipitously because a famine had come to their region and they were afraid the community would rely on them for support. (They were so wealthy they could’ve supported the whole region for ten years without a problem!)
The family escaped to the Land of Moab. Moab is the anti-Chessed nation who had treated the Jews poorly during their desert trek on the way to Mt Sinai. So much so that there was a law that a Jew could not marry a male Moabite convert.
This is inappropriate locale the family chose. Things take a turn for the worse and the men in the family die, leaving a widow and two widowed daughters in law, sisters and former Moabite princesses. After pleading to join their MIL as she returns home to a life of disgrace and penury, one sister gives in and returns home. The other sister, Ruth, stays and utters the sentence which will bind her to the Jewish people forever.
She performs the ultimate Chessed by accompanying her mother in law under very difficult circumstances.
Ruth’s conviction and devotion ultimately lead to a happy ending and in her remarriage, which takes place after much drama, she sets the stage for the future of the Jewish people.
Because Ruth is not only the matriarch whose offspring include King David, she is the progenitor of Moshiach, the Redeemer himself.
Ruth becomes a Jew because she is inspired by the behavior of her Mother in law and she continues to act with tremendous Chessed herself, establishing herself as a Jewish woman.
This Megilla, or Book, teaches us that we do not have to be stuck in our reality, we have the option to make choices on the road of life that will take us to greatness, no matter our origins.
Ruth reminds us that each of us as individuals can tap into our strengths to become great and bring greatness to the world even if our beginnings are humble or seemingly unimportant.
Everyone has the power to expand their orbit and impact the world eternally through kindness.
This is the message of the Book of Ruth and the roadmap of how to live as a Jew.
Thank Gd I am happy to share that after the hair raising ride and parking drama, we were blessed with a beautiful baby girl that Shavuot all those years ago.
The Hebrew date was 6 of Sivan.
And her English birthday on that Friday…
6/13!
Happy Shavuot and
Shabbat Shalom and so much love!