Rabbi Sherman is on sabbatical. Please enjoy an Honorable Mensch-Ion from our Rabbinic Intern, Moe Howard.

This Saturday, we gather not only to observe Shabbat but the summertime festival of Shavuot. What does Shavuot commemorate? In the Torah, it is Hag ha-Bikurim, “the Feast of First Fruits,” when offerings of newly ripened grain were brought to the Temple in Jerusalem in gratitude for the harvest. In the prayers of the siddur, it is zman matan Torateinu, “the season of the giving of our Torah,” when our ancestors received the laws of the covenant at Sinai—and when we celebrate receiving them anew.

But in the Mishnah, the first major work of rabbinic literature, Shavuot is not necessarily a cause for celebration. “At four times of year the world is judged,” it reads: “On Shavuot, concerning fruits that grow on trees.” The yield destined for the coming year is determined—for better or worse—on this day.

And perhaps that yield is not only agricultural. Indeed, the Torah itself is compared to an etz hayim, “a tree of life to those who grasp it.” What, then, are its fruits? They are the kinder, wiser, holier lives we lead because of it.

It’s true that money does not grow on trees. The Torah does not promise material prosperity. It promises something much greater: v’tomcheha meushar, “whoever holds onto it is happy.” Happiness is the product (and the produce) of learning, loving, and living a tradition that connects us across time and space, gender and race, class and culture and politics.

May it continue to bear fruit for many years to come.

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach