| All-Night Torah Study
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| | The custom of all-night Torah study goes back to 1533, when Rabbi Joseph Caro, author of the Shulchan Aruch, then living in Ottoman Salonika, invited his Kabbalistic colleagues to hold a night-long study vigil.
During the course of the vigil an angel appeared before them and commanded them to go live in Eretz Yisrael.
According to the Midrash, the night before the Torah was given the Israelites retired early to be well-rested for the momentous day ahead, but they overslept and Moses had to wake them up because G!d was already waiting on the mountaintop.
To rectify this flaw in the national character, religious Jews stay up all night to learn Torah.
Any subject may be studied, although Talmud, Mishna and Torah typically top the list.
In many communities, men and women attend classes and lectures until the early hours of the morning.
In Jerusalem, thousands of people finish off the nighttime study session by walking to the Kotel before dawn and joining the sunrise minyan there.
The latter activity is reminiscent of Shavuot's status as one of the three Biblical pilgrimage festivals, when the Jews living in the Land of Israel journeyed to Jerusalem to celebrate the holiday.
|  | Tikkun Leil Shavuot
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In keeping with the custom of engaging in all-night Torah study, the Arizal , a leading Kabbalist of the 16th century, arranged a special service for the evening of Shavuot.
The Tikkun Leil Shavuot (Rectification for Shavuot Night) consists of excerpts from the beginning and end of each of the 24 books of TaNaK.
It includes the reading of several key sections such as the account of the days of Creation, The Exodus, the giving of the Ten Commandments and the Shema, and the 63 chapters of Mishnah.
This is followed by the reading of Sefer Yetzirah, the 613 commandments as enumerated by Maimonides, and excerpts from the Zohar, with opening and concluding prayers.
The reading is divided into thirteen parts, after each of which a Kaddish di-Rabbanan is recited when the Tikkun is studied in a group of at least ten people.
| | Dairy Foods
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Dairy foods such as cheesecake and blintzes with cheese and other fillings are traditionally served on Shavuot.
One explanation for the consumption of dairy foods on this holiday is that the Israelites had not yet received the Torah, with its laws of shechita (ritual slaughtering of animals).
As the food they had prepared beforehand was not in accordance with these laws, they opted to eat simple dairy meals to honor the holiday.
Some say it harkens back to King Solomon's portrayal of the Torah as "honey and milk are under your tongue" (Song of Songs 4:11).
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The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal:
A Path of Transformation for the Modern Jew
A Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the
Torah and Talmud
| | | | Shavuot and Lag B'Omer
A Holiday Message From Rabbi Arthur Segal's Jewish Spiritual Renewal May 2010
| | Shalom My Dear Talmidim, Chaverim, v' Rabbanim:
Shalom and peace to one and all.
May brings us the flowering spring. I pray by now we are all thawed out from the unusually cold winter we had.
There are two Jewish holidays this month. The first that I wish to address is Shavuot, without which there would be no Judaism, Christianity, or even Islam.
Beginning at sundown on May 18, we celebrate G!d giving the Torah to Moses on Mount Sinai, which included, of course, the Ten Commandments on the Twin Tablets.
| | | |  | | Much can be written about Shavuot. Shavuot comes from the Hebrew word for seven. It is seven weeks from the second day of Passover.
During these 49 days we count the Omer, also counting up from one to 49, as we did with the Hanukkah candles. Jews are commanded to grow spiritually during this time.
During this time we study the Talmud's Pirkei Avot (Ethics of our Fathers) to aid our spiritual growth. This is in preparation for Shavuot. Shavuot is the day that G!d revealed Torah to Moses, the Hebrews and the other peoples at the base of Mt. Sinai.
Spiritually, we are married to G!d and Torah under a wedding Kupah on this holiday (Talmud Bavli Tractate Pesachim 49B), but there are other spiritual lessons.
The Midrash tells us that Mt. Sinai was chosen because it was in an area belonging to no nation. This allowed the information in Torah to be available to all peoples.
Mt. Sinai is a small flat mountain. It is a humble mountain, not a tall proud one and it was for this humility that it was chosen.
Sinai is close to the Hebrew word for hatred, "sinat." Those who live by G!d's words will be hated, sometimes by fellow Jews. This is because we are showing them that they can lead a spiritual, much more fulfilling life with G!d.
We show others that it is possible to give up defects of character, including resentments and egotistical behaviors. We are not better than others. But we are to be a ''light unto other nations.'' Knowing for what we stand means we won't fall for "anything."
| | | | | Who Chose Who?
Another spiritual lesson is the dissolution of the idea of Jews being the "chosen people."
Torah was offered to many other Nations before the Hebrews accepted it. Some Nations said, "we do not want Torah because we can no longer steal," and others said, "We do not want it because we can no longer commit adultery." (Midrash).
The Hebrews said, "We will do and we will hear." (Ex.24:7). We chose G!d, He didn't choose us. We aren't special. We are like everyone else, although it has been quipped, "only more so."
It has also been written that once the Hebrews started to hear G!d speak, they became afraid and wanted to run and not accept Torah, and that G!d had to hold Mt. Sinai literally over their heads in order to make them obey (Talmud Bavli Tractate Shabbat 88a).
The spiritual aspect of this for us is that if the generation of Hebrews who saw "signs and wonders" performed for them in Egypt just seven weeks before were reticent to accept G!d and Torah, then we, 3,300 years removed from the event, have to make the revelation on Sinai relevant to our lives every day.
Jews will study from dusk 'til dawn on Shavuot, called Tikkun Leil Shavuot ("Rectification for Shavuot Night").
(Lessons about Shavuot continue below...)
| | | | | | From Dusk 'til Dawn is
All the Time You'll Need...
...to completely transform your life.
 Well, not quite.
While you could read my book, The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal: A Path of Transformation for the Modern Jew, cover to cover in a single night, you'll really never want to put it down.
That's because Jewish Spiritual Renewal is a lifetime journey up the path to a happier, more spiritual life. This book sets you on that path with a simple, step-by-step life transformation process.
The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal: A Path of Transformation for the Modern Jew, teaches you how to transform your life into one that is happier, more peaceful, and more spiritual, regardless of what is going on in the world around you.
In this book, I distill the teachings of our sages and rabbis that have been passed along for thousands of years, along with lessons from the Torah and the Talmud.
But unlike other Jewish spiritual texts that you may have read, or sermons you may have heard, this book presents these lessons in a concise, easy-to-read, easy-to-follow life transformation process that you can follow step-by-step at your own pace.
You will learn:
- That "normative" Judaism as you have known it throughout your life is not really Judaism at all, why it may leave you uninspired, and how spiritual renewal will help you recapture that inspiration (Chapter 1).
- That your ego is your own worst enemy, and how to win the battle against it (Chapter 2).
- How to stop struggling for control over things you cannot control, and be happier because of it (Chapter 3).
- How spiritual renewal conquers the fears and character flaws that are holding you back in life (Chapters 4 and 5).
- To actually get rid of your character flaws forever (Chapter 6).
- How to turn negative relationships in your life positive
(Chapter 7). - How simple it is to make prayer a regular part of your days...without going back to Hebrew school (Chapter 8).
- How to find peace of mind through meditation (Chapter 9).
- How to simplify life's toughest decisions (Chapter 10).
- How spiritual renewal transforms you into the best individual you can be, and how to stay on track (Chapter 11).
- How to celebrate the Sabbath and the Jewish Holidays with meaning (Chapters 12 and 13).
- How to live with happiness, joy, and freedom every day of your life (Chapter 14).
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| | | | | Don't Forget Your Mother-in-Law on Mothers Day
We read the book of Ruth on Shavuot because she accepted G!d and Torah as a convert and this took place during the end of spring harvest festival on which Shavuot is biblically-based.
A spiritual question for us is: "If Ruth came to our shores today, how would we treat her?"
"How does love for one's mother-in-law make a person a good Jew?" the sages ask in the Talmud.
The rabbis in Talmud Bavli Tractate Ketuboth 111B posit that one cannot love another without knowing details about the person. Therefore one cannot love G!d, which is one of the greatest of all mitzvoth, if one has not studied G!d. This is one of first points of Rabbi Ibn Packuda's Duties of the Heart of circa 1050 C.E. Spain.
| | | | | Lag B'Omer
The other Holiday in May is Lag B'Omer starting on the eve of May 1.
The Talmud Bavli Tractate Yevamot 62b states that during the time of Rabbi Akiva, 133 CE, 24,000 of his Rabbinic students died from a divine-sent plague.
The Talmud then goes on to say that this was because they did not show proper respect to one another. They begrudged each other the spiritual levels attained by their comrades. These young rabbis would say that their ordination, Semikha, was better than the next ones.
Jews celebrate Lag B'Omer as the traditional day that this plague ended, and to remember that all rabbis are equal and deserve one anothers respect and that of all Jews.
This is regardless of whether they studied and obtained traditional Semikha one on one with rabbis, or went to a modern rabbinic college, studying with other students under rabbinic lecturers .
| | | | Lag B'Omer Customs
After the death of Rabbi Akiva 's 24,000 students, he taught just five students. Among them was the future Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.
When Rabbi Akiva was martyred by the Romans, his five students were left without a rabbinic teacher. According to the Talmud, Hadrian decreed that anyone who gave or accepted Semikha would be killed, any city in which the ceremony took place would be razed, and all crops within a mile of the ceremony's site would be destroyed.
The line of succession was saved by Rabbi Yehuda ben Bava. He took no other rabbis with him, and five students of the recently martyred Rabbi Akiva, to a mountain pass far from any settlement or farm, and this one Rabbi ordained all five students.
These new Rabbis were: Rabbi Meir, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, Rabbi Yehudah (ben Ila'i), Rabbi Yosi and Rabbi Elazar ben Shamua - an entire generation of Torah leadership.
When the Romans attacked them, Rabbi Yehuda blocked the pass with his body allowing the others to escape and became one of Judaism's ten Rabbinic Martyrs himself by being speared 300 times.
Hence, Semikha is also granted from one rabbi to a new rabbi, without the need of two witnesses, and the five rabbis carried on this tradition (Talmud Tractate Sanhedrin 14a).
Those who today deny any rabbi who has not received Semikha the traditional way - as did the Akiva students killed by plague - show great disrespect to Jewish tradition and the Martyrdom of Rabbi Yeduda ben Bava.
Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai went on to become the greatest teacher of Torah in his generation. The day of Lag B' Omer is also celebrated as the Hillula or Yahrzeit, the anniversary of the death of bar Yochai who is purported to have authored the Zohar, a landmark text of Jewish mysticism.
According to tradition, on the day of his death he revealed the deepest secrets of the Kabbalah. This day is seen as a celebration of the giving of the hidden, mystical Torah through Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, as a parallel to Shavuot, which celebrates the giving of the revealed Torah through Moses.
Indeed, there is a source in the Kabbalah that Moses was reincarnated as Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai to give this mystical element of the Torah to the Jewish people.
Many Jews make a pilgrimage to bar Yochai's tomb in Meron on Lag B' Omer. My wife Ellen and I were blessed to be there during this time, and for miles into the hills one could see bonfires, weddings and 3 year old boys receiving their first haircuts.
| | | | May G!d bless all of us with a Jewish Spiritually Renewed Shavuot and Lag B'Omer.
Many Blessings,
Rabbi Arthur Segal
| | | | | | The Torah and Talmud
In Plain English
In my years of Rabbinic Counseling I've noticed that many modern Jews are not as familiar with the Torah and the Talmud as they might be.
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The Talmud teaches that the Torah is about loving our fellow man and that we are to ''go and study.'' The rest is commentary.
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