Emor, Vayikra 23:36. Atzeres and Shavuos

In the Torah, two holidays are called Atzeres.  They are Shmini Atzeres, after Sukkos, as said here (Vayikra 23:36) and in Bamidbar (29:35), and the seventh day of Pesach, which is also called Atzeres (Devarim 16:8),  שֵׁשֶׁת יָמִים תֹּאכַל מַצּוֹת וּבַיּוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי עֲצֶרֶת לַיהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ לֹא תַעֲשֶׂה מְלָאכָה.  The only one of the three Regalim that is never called Atzeres in the Torah is Shavuos.  In Shas, however, the word Atzeres refers to one and only one holiday- Shavuos.  For example, (Pesachim 68b),

ר' אליעזר אומר אין לו לאדם בי"ט אלא או אוכל ושותה או יושב ושונה ר' יהושע אומר חלקהו חציו לאכילה ושתיה וחציו לבית המדרש וא"ר יוחנן ושניהם מקרא אחד דרשו כתוב אחד אומר (דברים טז) עצרת לה' אלהיך וכתוב אחד אומר (במדבר כט) עצרת תהיה לכם ר' אליעזר סבר או כולו לה' או כולו לכם ור' יהושע סבר חלקהו חציו לה' וחציו לכם:  א"ר אלעזר הכל מודים בעצרת דבעינן נמי לכם מ"ט יום שניתנה בו תורה הוא

So after citing two places in the Torah that mention Atzeres as referring to the end of Pesach and the day after Sukkos, Rebbi Eliezer uses the unmodified word 'Atzeres' as referring to Shavuos, which clearly demonstrates that in their parlance, the unmodified word refers specifically and unequivocally to Shavuos.
Two questions:

• 1.  What did Chazal perceive in Shavuos that earned it the title 'Atzeres'?

• 2.  Isn't it strange that davka the one Yomtov that's not called Atzeres in the Torah is the one that acquired, in Chazal's language, the sole use of the title, to the extent that it supplanted the other uses?  

The Ramban in our parsha (where the Torah calls the day after Sukkos Atzeres) addresses the first question- in what sense is Shavuos an 'Atzeres':

ועל דרך האמת כי ששת ימים עשה ה' את השמים ואת הארץ (שמות כ יא) ויום השביעי הוא שבת ואין לו בן זוג וכנסת ישראל היא בת זוגו שנאמר ואת הארץ והנה היא שמינית "עצרת היא" כי שם נעצר הכל וצוה בחג המצות שבעה ימים בקדושה לפניהם ולאחריהם כי כולם קדושים ובתוכם ה' ומנה ממנו תשעה וארבעים יום שבעה שבועות כימי עולם וקדש יום שמיני כשמיני של חג והימים הספורים בינתים כחולו של מועד בין הראשון והשמיני בחג והוא יום מתן תורה שהראם בו את אשו הגדולה ודבריו שמעו מתוך האש ולכך יקראו רבותינו ז"ל בכל מקום חג השבועות עצרת כי הוא כיום שמיני של חג שקראו הכתוב כן וזהו מאמרם (חגיגה יז) שמיני רגל בפני עצמו הוא לענין פז"ר קש"ב ותשלומין דראשון הוא כי הוא אצילות הראשונים ואינו כאחדות שלהם ולכך יזכיר בפרשת כל הבכור (דברים טז טו) בשלש רגלים חג המצות וחג השבועות וחג הסוכות שבעת ימים ולא יזכיר השמיני כי שם אמר יראה כל זכורך וגו' והנה זה מבואר

The Ramban explains that the Torah tells us to count seven weeks after Shavuos, viewing each week as a day, and those weeks/days are a type of Chol Hamoed between the first week/day (Pesach) and the last and eighth day (Shavuos), the day the Torah was given.  This is why Chazal call Shavuos "Atzeres," because it is like the eighth day of the holiday (Pesach) and so it can be thought of as an Atzeres.  The Atzeres is the refinement and perfection of the holiday it follows.

This explains why Chazal thought of Shavuos as an Atzeres.  But the second question remains, and another question arises: 

• 2.  Even if you do use the term, why supplant the other uses?

• 3.  The Torah already gives Pesach its Atzeres- the seventh day of Pesach is called Atzeres.  Why give Pesach another Atzeres?

Psachim 116a

  מתחיל בגנות ומסיים בשבח:  מאי בגנות רב אמר מתחלה עובדי עבודת גלולים  היו אבותינו ושמואל אמר עבדים היינו

The Hagada is begins with a description of the degraded state of our ancestors, and leads up to their redemption.  What 'degradation' is meant?  Rav- that they worshiped idols.  Shmuel- that they were slaves.
To commemorate our redemption from Egypt, Rav and Shmuel emphasize different aspects of the Geula.  Rav says that the primary focus of the Hagada is the redemption from the spiritual debasement of paganism, and Shmuel says that the Hagada should emphasize the deliverance from the brutal horrors of slavery.

The Ramban has told us that Atzeres is the day that the promise of the holiday is fulfilled, that its potential is realized.  Certainly, the Torah talks of the physical degradation and existential danger we faced in Mitzrayim, and the redemption of leaving Mitzrayim saved us from those horrors.  The process thus begun culminated seven days later in the Splitting of the Sea  This is the Atzeres of Pesach, the day that the redemption that began with leaving Egypt, was made absolute by the destruction of the Egyptian pursuers and the unhindered movement towards Eretz Yisrael that began at that point.  This is consistent with Shmuel's idea of the focus of Pesach.  But Rav says that we should think of Yetzias Mitzrayim as a spiritual redemption, as being freed from paganism and spiritual blindness- (Avos 6:8) "והלוחות מעשה אלהים המה והמכתב מכתב אלהים הוא חרות על הלוחות אלתקרא חרות אלא חירות שאין לך בן חורין אלא מי שעוסק בתלמוד תורה"  Only he who learns Torah is truly free.  According to Shmuel, the culmination of Pesach is Krias Yam Suf.  According to Rav, the trajectory that was begun with Yetzias Mitzrayim reaches its target in Matan Torah; the culmination of Pesach, the apogee that is apparent only to those that make Torah the center of their lives, the Osek BaTorah, is Matan Torah.  For those people, the Atzeres of Pesach is Shavuos.

Not only is Shavuos an Atzeres, it is The Atzeres par excellence.  As Rebbi Eliezer says,  brought above, from Psachim 68b, א"ר אלעזר הכל מודים בעצרת דבעינן נמי לכם מ"ט יום שניתנה בו תורה הוא  :  Among all the yamim tovim, Shavuos deserves complete physical and spiritual rejoicing, because it is the ultimate of geulos and the apex of our national existence.

So why, as Micha asks, does the Torah wait for Chazal to introduce the novel appellation for Shavuos?  Because only from the perspective of a Torah completed by Torah SheBa'al Peh can we say that Matan Torah culminated our spiritual redemption.  We find that the Torah SheBichsav sometimes has a perspective, e.g., yad tachas yad, arba'im yakenu, which is clarified by our Chachamim through Torah SheBaal Peh.  Here, too.  The Torah SheBichsav focuses on the nationalist, on the physical aspect of the Geula.  Only through a Torah comprising Torah SheBichsav and Torah SheBa'al Peh can we say that our spiritual redemption is what made us into true Bnei Chorin.

In short: Shmuel holds that the ikkar sippur of the Geula was our escape from misery and death, and our transformation from a miserable horde into a proud and confident nation.  Rav holds that ikkar of the sippur is our transformation from pagans into malachim, from a people engrossed with their physical desires and superstitions into a truly free people enraptured by spiritual growth.  Shmuel's version of the redemption was finalized at Krias Yam Suf, so the seventh day of Pesach is the realization of the potential of Yetzias Mitzrayim.  Rav's version of the redemption was finalized at Har Sinai, so Shavuos is the realization of the potential of Yetzias Mitzrayim.  Torah SheBichsav expresses Shmuel's idea; Torah SheBaal Peh voices Rav's.


The above is from Harav Moshe Jofen, Rosh Yeshivas Novardok/Beis Yosef in Flatbush.


Updates, July 2017.
I saw this in Rav Zevin's Moadim b'Halacha:

במשנה ובתלמוד נקרא חג השבועות בשם עצרת שם זה מצינו במקרא רק בשביעי של פסח ובשמיני עצרת ולא בשבועות לראשונה אנו מוצאים השם עצרת ביחס לשבועות בתרגום אונקלוס בפסוק ״וביום הבכורים בשבועותיכם מתרגם אונקלוס ״...בעצרתיכון״  וכבר עמד על כך בפסיקתא זוטרתא 

(also known as מדרש לקח טוב, written by R Eliezer ben Toviah, a contemporary of Rashi) 

״אמר ר' טוביה ברבי אליעזר ז"ל: חזרתי על כל עניני המועדות ולא מצאתי חג שבועות שנקרא עצרת ורבותינו ז"ל קראו בכל מקום עצרת לחג השבועות והוא לשון תרגום דאמר אונקלוס הגר בעצרתכון״ אבל לא ביאר טעמו של דבר. במקום אחר מצינו לשבועות השם ״עצרת של פסח״: ״ראויה היתה עצרת של חג להיות רחוקה חמשים יום כשם שעצרת של פסח רחוקה חמשים יום "  (פסיקתא דרב כהנא הוצאת ר"ש בוכר פסקא ביום השמיני עצרת שיר השירים רבה פרשה ז.)     לפי זה נקרא עצרת מחמת הזיקה של החג לפסח ובספר קדושת לוי להצדיק מברדיצוב כתב (פרשת נשא דרוש לשבועות)  ״נשאלתי במדינת ליטא מפני מה נקרא חג שבועות בשם עצרת והשבתי בשלשה אופנים אופן אח' הוא על דרך הפשט הלא נראה בכל החגים יש בהם שני מיני עבדות להבורא ב"ה הא' הוא בעשיית המצוה השייך לחג פלוני כפסח אכילת מצה ודומיהן והב' הוא איסור עשיית מלאכה ובחג שבועות אינו כן רק מצוה אחת דהיינו שאנו נעצרין מעשיית המלאכה ועל זה נקרא בשם עצרת״

כיוון לטעם זה בחזון יחזקאל לתוספתא ר"ה פ"א והוסיף ש״כנראה אחר חרבן הבית שבטלה הבאת שתי הלחם ולא היה בו שום קיום מצוה פרטית זולת שהוא יום טוב התחילו קוראים כבכל את חג השבועות עצרת אשר בו אתה עצור רק ממלאכה.״ ואינו, קראו בשם עצרת לשבועות אף בזמן הבית ובארץ ישראל. (ראה שביעית פ"א מ"א ועוד בכמה מקומות. אף תרגום אונקלוס נתחבר בימי הבית כפי שהוכיח שד"ל באוהב גר.)

Then I saw this in a Tosfos HaRosh on Parshas Emor:

 עצרת היא והיכא נקראת שבועות עצרת י״ל דכתיב ״בשבועותיכם״ ומתרגמי' בעצרתיכון. ו וי"ללפי שקבלו ישראל את התורה נעצרו ישראל מגשת לנשותיהם לכך נקראת עצרת. וכן נוטריקו"ן על"ה צי"ר רי"ש תור"א. כמו טורא בטי"ת

(דהיינו שעלה משה שליח ה'להר סינילהביא את התורה)

And Emes L'Yaakov in Pinchas

במדבר כ״ח כ״ו 

וביום הבכורים בהקריבכם מנחה חדשה לה' בשבעתיכם 

תרגם אונקלוס בעצרתיכון הרי שחג השבועות שכינוהו חז"ל בשם עצרת כבר נקרא כן בימי אונקלוס וכן תרגמו יונתן בעצרתכו י אלא דאונקלוס תרגמו בלשון רבים וכמו שכתוב כמקרא בלשון רבים כשבועותיכם ולא שבועותכם 

והיה אפשר לומר דבאמת מצינו במקרא (ירמיה ה׳ כ״ד) תקופת הקציר שכינוה כשם שבועות קצירו מפני שבמשך שבעת השבועות האלו נעשים גם קציר השעורים וגם קציר החטים וכדמצינו ברות א' פכ"ב והמה באו בית לחם בתחלת קציר שערים ואח"כ מצינו שם ב' פכ"א עד אם כלו את כל הקציר אשר לי ואח"כ בפכ"ג כתוב ותדבק בנערות בעז ללקוט עד כלות קציר השערים רקציר החטים ונמצא שאין זמן חדש לכל קציר ולפיכך נקרא שבועות קציר ואפשר דלפיכך נקרא עצרת מפני שאז נגמר זמן הקציר ואפשר דמנחת העומר היא בסוף שבוע הראשון של קצירת שעורים ושתי הלחם הוא גמר קציר החטים ונתרגם כהרמב"ן דממחרת השכת הוא השבוע הראשון של קציר השעורים ועכ"פ אינן אלא ח' שכועות והיינו ד' לכל קציר ודו"ק 

and finally, the Sforno in Vayikra 23:36 mentions that the appelation only appears in the words of Chazal, and explains why that is.  The term Atzeres means "special gathering." The last day of Sukkos was specifically intended to have us remain gathered in Yerushalayim, the last day of Pesach recalls the gathering and Shira at the Yam Suf, and Shavuos was certainly an Atzeres because of ויחן ישראל נגד ההר. But since Klal Yisrael lost the crown of Mattan Torah after the chet ha'aeigel, the Torah does not use that special term. I think that answer is a little צריך עיון. If Mattan Torah is still a reason to celebrate, call it Atzeres. If you don't want to call it Atzeres because of the tragic reversal, then don't celebrate, and Chazal shouldn't call it Atzeres either.

עצרת הוא ענין העצירה הוא לא בלבד לשבות ממלאכת הדיוט אבל היא עם זה אזהרת עמידה איזה זמן במקומות הקדש לעבוד במקומות ההם את האל יתברך בתורה או בתפלה או בעבודה כענין ושם איש מעבדי שאול ביום ההוא נעצר לפני ה' והוא אמרו קדשו צום קראו עצרה ועל זה הדרך אמר יהוא קדשו עצרה לבעל. אמר אם כן שזה היום אחר חג הסכות אשר בו שלמו כל שמחות הרגלים הוא קודש להיות יום עצרת שיעצרו במקומות הקודש ותהיה שמחתו שמחה של תורה ומעשים טובים כאמרו ישמח ישראל בעושיו וזה כענין ויהי כי הקיפו ימי המשתה וישלח איוב ויקדשם והשכים בבקר והעלה עולות מספר כלם כי אמר איוב אולי חטאו בני וכו' וזה מפני השמחה הקודמת ובהיות שביום שביעי של פסח נעצרו ישראל עם משה יחדו לשורר לאל יתברך כאמרו אז ישיר משה ובני ישראל קדש אותו היום להיות עצרת לה' אף על פי שלא היתה התשועה בתחלת היום וזה באר במשנה תורה באמרו וביום השכיעי עצרת לה' אלהיך לא תעשה מלאכה ובהיות שהיה יום החמשים ליציאת מצרים יום מתן תורה אשר בו נעצרו ישראל יחדו לעבודת האל יתברך קראוהו רבותינו ז''ל (מועד קטן פרק ואלו מגלחין) עצרת. אמנם בתורה לא הוזכר אותו היום בזה השם כלל וזה מפני שקלקלו ישראל את המושג כעצירתם ויתנצלו את עדים מהר חורב:

Fun and Games on Shavuos.

I had an experience "ahf alleh Yiddishe sonim gezogt" on Shavuos. I spoke in a neighborhood shul, and this is the drasha I prepared. The drasha is probably not useful to anyone until next Shavuos, but in my case, the delivery was far more interesting than the content.

I had finished the introductory part of the drasha, set up the structure, and was beginning the heart of the drasha, and suddenly I had no idea what was supposed to follow. I sat there looking at the passuk in chumash I had built the drasha on, and had no idea what preceded it and what I meant to do with it. I appeared to the listeners like a half-wit bar mitzvah boy who forgot his place in the pshetel. In that I am almost forty four years past my bar mitzvah, it was an uncomfortable position to be in, both for most the listeners and for me (although I think some listeners were getting oneg yomtov out of it). After five minutes of increasing perplexity and anxiety, in the spirit of shooting a horse with a broken leg, the Rav decided it was time to bentch. Two of my friends- doctors who had come to hear me speak- decided I needed to go to the emergency room to be examined, and another friend took me and my wife and waited for three hours, until I was admitted. After a night of physical invasion, observation and introspection, I learned that 1. I am mortal; after more than fifty years of perfect health despite a spectrum of habits ranging from execrable to negligent, some consequences are inevitable; 2. High blood pressure, untreated, can lead to circulatory dysfunction which can cause a transient inability to access memory files, 3. It is acutely uncomfortable to be the object of pity and scrutiny; 4. The attractiveness of "Live while you live and die and be done with it" as a life philosophy appears to diminish in direct proportion to the proximity of its natural consequences.

The drasha. Thanks to Chaim B. of www.divreichaim.blogspot.com for several of the marei makom.

Reb Akiva Eiger, in his first teshuva, says that a woman who forgets yaaleh veyavo in bentching on Yomtov does not have to repeat bentching, because simcha, and its concomitant chiyuv to make seudos on Yomtov, (where there is no Shamor/Zachor hekesh,) is a zman grama. Her husband has a chiyuv to be mesamei'ach her, but she has no personal simcha obligation. For her, the day is not mechayeiv the seuda, and so bedi'eved, if she doesn't mention the day in bentching, she does not have to repeat the bentching.
The Vilner Dayan, the Binyan Shlomo (OC II 47), says that while this may be true on Pesach and Sukkos, he would disagree regarding Shavuos. The Gemara in Taanis says that everyone agrees you need chatzi lachem on Shavuos, because it is the day of Matan Torah, and simple logic mandates that we celebrate this day with festive meals. If so, he says, the chiyuv seuda and simcha on Shavuos is a svara; the ptur of zman grama only applies to dinei Torah, not to things that are mi'svara, as indicated in several gemaros, such as mezuza, tefilla, megilla, and daled kosos.

Reb Shlomo Kluger in the Chachmas Shlomo OC 428 says that although kiddush levana should be recited as early as possible, in Sivan it is best to say it after Shavuos: we say "chok uzman nasan lahem shelo yeshanu es tafkidam," and it was only with Matan Torah that the laws of nature were ratified and made immutable.

So the celebration of Shavuos is unique. Our bodies and souls join in a festive celebration of the culmination of the brias ha'olam, the covenant that elevated Klal Yisrael to be the earthly representatives of the Ribono shel Olam, and a roadmap and opportunity for true communion with God. But Shavuos seems relatively poor in specific mitzvos. On Pesach, when we commemorate Yetzias Mitzrayim, we reenact the geula with the Seder and eat Matza. Sukkos, we sit in Sukkos to re-experience the Sukkos Hashem provided for us in the Midbar. On Shavuos, the King of the Shalosh Regalim, we have no special mitzvos. There is an issur melacha, there are the Shtei Halechem and Shelmei Tzibur that are kodshei kodoshim, there are Kiddush and simcha, but there is no particular and unique mitzva for individuals on Yomtov. Why is that? We try to create some physical focus for the Simchas Hayom with the minhag to eat milchiks and we stay up all night; I have no doubt that the development and success of these minhagim express and reflect our desire for special mitzvos. But these are just minhagim. Why is there no special Mitzva? In fact, the Shaarei Aharon in Emor brings a pirush (whose roshei teivos don't look good in English,) that the reason Chazal, as first appears in Onkelos, call Shavuos "Atzeres," (when in fact Shavuos is the only one of the three Regalim that the Torah does not call Atzeres,) is because it has no special ma'aseh mitva and is distinguished from other days only by issur melacha- atzira mi'me'lacha!

Even outside the context of the Yomtov of Shavuos, the basic commemoration of Matan Torah seems relatively minor. The Passuk in Devarim 4:9-10 say that we must never forget what Hashem has told us, Hishamer lecha pen tishkach...Yom asher amadeta lifnei Hashem Elokecha beChorev, but the Rambam does not count this as one of the Taryag. The Ramban, in his list of Mitzvos Lo Sa'aseh (#2) lists this obligation to remember Mattan Torah as one of the Mitzvos that he holds the Rambam should have included. In truth, both the Rambam and the Ramban need iyun. The Gemara in Menachos 99b says that the passuk in Devarim teaches that one who causes himself to forget any halacha has transgressed a torah prohibition, but the Gemara says nothing of the Ramban's Lahv. The Gemara in Kiddushin 30a uses the passuk to teach that if one teaches a grandchild Torah it is as if he is standing in front of Har Sinai while the Torah was given, again no mention of the Ramban's Lahv. On the other hand, the Rambam does not list any issur of forgetting divrei Torah, seemingly ignoring the Gemara in Menachos, and also leaves us wondering what to do with the words in the passuk "yom asher amadeta."

The Rambam, the Megilas Esther in Sefer Hamitzvos explains, didn't list this as a mitzvah, because it is, pardon the barbarism, a meta-mitzvah; it reinforces as a general matter the entire Torah. Although Anochi is a mitzvah, that is because Anochi requires that we learn to see God in His bri'ah. This, however, does nothing but remind us to remember and do all the mitzvos which we have already been told to remember and to do. Also, as the Rambam stresses in the Morah, he holds that the great importance of empiricism mandates that we eschew fanciful imaginings, and not imagine things that are outside of our experience of reality. We can't remember standing at Har Sinai, so we shouldn't create fanciful images of having been there. The Ramban deals there with the Gemara in Kiddushin.

So certainly according to the Rambam, who must view this passuk as a general reinforcement of the mitzvos and limud of the Torah, the national memory of Mattan Torah does not devolve into any practical zikaron requirement. Even according to the Ramban, that there is a mitzva of Zikaron, how does this mitzva compare to the mitva of Zechiras Yetzias Mitzrayim? One would think that Mattan Torah, that singular and unimaginably spiritual formative event, would be central to our tefillos. But Yetzias Mitzrayim is ubiquitous; in Tefilla, in Kiddush, it is constantly repeated. Mattan Torah is almost totally absent from our daily thoughts. Why is this so?

Reb Aharon Kotler (quoted in Kuntres Ha'inyanim Le'chag Hashavuos) writes that Mattan Torah is an ongoing event, it is the Kol Gadol Velo Yasaf-- lo passak. Zichronos, commemorations, are memorializations, and are appropriate only for an event that took place in the past and which resonates in the present. Mattan Torah, however, is a current event; bechal yom, yihyu be'einecha kechadashim. We sit at a seder primarily because we were redeemed at the time of Yetzias Mitrayim, and the time is one of possibility of Geula; we dwell in Sukkos because we dwelled in Sukkos, and the time is one of stronger Hashgacha Pratis. But to do something that recalls Mattan Torah would be wrong and false; we shouldn't be recalling Mattan Torah; we should be experiencing it in real time just as we did in Sinai three thousand years ago. One who is experiencing a current Mattan Torah doesn't need to artificially reinforce the experience, just as someone who lives in Florida and can look out the window and see the beach won't have a souvenir starfish on his living room mantle.

I don't think Reb Aharon would agree with this, but I would extrapolate on his approach. We assume that Matza and Lulav and Sukkah are ways of remembering the events of the past. This is certainly true. Also, we accept that Mitzvos are beyond human comprehension, and we do them because God commanded us to, knowing that there may be many hidden reasons, and that we do them even if we don't know the reasons. Indeed, this is clearly true, because many mitzvos were done before the reason given for them occured, such as Matza and Parah Adumah and Pidyon Haben. So let us speculate: Perhaps these mitzvos are not only ways of evoking the past, but are actually ways of recreating the past; of actualizing the potential of the past and bringing it into our time. The Geula of Mitzrayim stems from the segula of that date for geula in general. Be'Nissan nigalu, be'Nissan asidin le'hi'ga'el. By creating a tableau vivant, by sitting at the seder and seeing ourselves as if we had just left Mitzryim, by eating matza as our ancestors ate matza the night they left Mitzrayim, perhaps we recreate, we stimulate, we call up the power of Geula. It's a segula; not the cheap superstitious segulos of our times: the matza is not a juju or a fetish that we shake at our enemies; it is a real segula that the Ribono shel Olam has provided for us to summon up the power of geula. One might say that it is invocation through evocation.

Such Segula Mitzvos, however, are totally unnecessary for Shavuos and for Mattan Torah. Mattan Torah is not an event of the past that resonates in the present: it is an ongoing and universally accessible reality, and no summoning up is necessary. Just sit down, open a Gemara, perhaps learn with your grandchild (Kiddushin 30a), and you are standing at Har Sinai.
In any case, let's think about the lomdus of the Machlokes Ramban and Rambam. Why does the Rambam hold there is no chiyuv zechira while the Ramban holds there is? I say it is the same machlokes as the machlokes Rashi and Tosfos in Yevamos 49b whether we say "ee lo tafsi pak'i."
Reb Akiva holds that kiddushin cannot be executed when the partners are prohibited to marry. The Chachamim hold that even if they are transgressors, the marriage is a legally recognized marriage, although we force them to divorce. According to Reb Akiva, what if there was a non-problematic and legal marriage, and during the course of the marriage, an event occurred which prohibited this union. According to Rashi, "ee lo tafsi, paki." A prohibition which interferes with the execution of a marriage, which would prevent a marriage from being created, will equally end an existing marriage. Ee lo tafsi, paki; if it couldn't take hold, it is annulled. Tosfos argues. Tosfos holds that although if the prohibition preceded the marriage, it would prevent the marriage from taking place, it does not end an existing marriage.

Achronim have said that the essence of the machlokes Rashi and Tosfos revolves around the theoretical nature of a marriage contract. According to Tosfos, when a marriage is created, there is a change in the state of the parties, and this change of state is permanent and self-contained. According to Rashi, a marriage contract is permanent only because it is self-renewing. The contract creates a marriage for the moment of acceptance, and separately it renews itself the next moment, and so on for every moment of the parties' lives. As the Rogotchover is quoting as having said upon hearing this idea, tell Reb Chaim mazal tov, since according to him he is getting married anew every moment.

The Rambam holds like Tosfos. Mattan Torah was the Yom Simchas Libo, the eirusin, of Klal Yisrael to the Ribono shel Olam. This was a permanent change in status. We were all born; the fact we are alive is because we were born at a certain point, and we continue living. It's not a new chalos "life" every second. We get married, and we are married people, and we stay that way. The bechira of Klal Yisrael and the eirusin of Torah took place, and what we are stems from that event, which we remember on Shavuos. The Ramban holds like Rashi. The eirusin of Klal Yisrael was not a one time event; it is a forever self-renewing event. Every time we open a Gemara, every time we do a mitzvah, we are doing it because at that moment Hashem is telling us "Learn! Do Mitzvos!" and we are being mekabeil. This is why the Ramban tells us that we need to constantly renew the awareness of our kabalas hatorah, the eima, yira, reses and zei'ah that must accompany Kabalas Hatorah. We must remind ourselves of the nesina because it is recurring every second of our lives.

While there may be a machlokes rishonim whether there is a mitzvas zechira of Mattan Torah, there is absolutely no doubt about another zechira: Zechiras Maaseh Ha'Eigel. This is because what happened forty days after the Aseres Hadibros? The Chet Ha'Eigel. Unless we learn that lesson, remembering Har Sinai will be a waste of time. Forty days after the actual Mattan Torah, after Krias Yam Suf, after Yetzias Mitzrayim, an aveira was publicly done which insulted and denigrated the entire Torah and contravened Hashem's will. How can this have happened? It happened because things we get as gifts are cheap. If we don't work hard to earn the gifts we receive, we consider them worthless and lose them. Obviously, Klal Yisrael had spent the time of Sefira growing and learning what it meant to be Avdei Hashem and not slaves to mankind or to one's physical desires. It wasn't enough. After receiving the Torah, they should have worked harder to incorporate its lessons. They didn't, and the Matana of Torah remained a Matanah, not something they earned, and it never penetrated their souls. What you don't work hard for is very difficult to keep. A thrilling Mattan Torah, hearing and seeing and smelling the fragrance of the Aseres Hadibros, all that was not enough. It was ephemeral and superficial and ultimately fell by the wayside as they found that other religious options could be much more exciting.

Here's an East Side story; no names, but it's a maaseh she'haya that really did happen.
In the thirties and forties, being a shomer shabbos was extremely difficult for working men. This man, as many others, came home most Fridays with a pink slip and his last day's salary. But he came in with enthusiasm, and said "It's erev Shabbos! Ba Shabbos ba menucha! Baruch Hashem we have Shabbos, and next week I'll find another and a better job." Over time, he was able to make his own business, and slowly accumulated some money, and finally he bought a little house. Come Sukkos, after all the years of eating in community sukkos, for the first time he built his own sukkah in the tiny back yard. He and the kids went out to decorate it, and as they stood there wondering what to use, he said "Wait! I have the perfect decoration!" He ran into the house, and came back with a shoe box, and took out hundreds of pink slips. "This", he said, "is the perfect decoration. Every soldier has ribbons and medals he gets for the wars he fought and the wounds he got, and these are my medals and ribbons for Shemiras Shabbos and Kavod Shabbos." And he covered one whole wall with the pink slips. This is a man who earned Shemiras Shabbos. For many, Shabbas remains as it was given, a Matanah Tova. For this man, it was both a Matanah Tovah and earned.

Ne'ilas Hachag does not mean that the last man out of the building closes the lights and locks the doors. Ne'ilas hachag is the locking of Gan na'ul achosi kallah. Klal Yisrael and the Torah are the Chasan and the Kallah, and the Ne'ilah is how we lock in the his'orerus of the Yomtov, the aliyah ruchnis of Mattan Torah, and how we enrich our life-long work of earning the Matana Tova of Mattan Torah.
(For an extended discussion on how a Ne'ilas Hachag strengthens the hisorerus of Yomtov, see Ohr Gedalyahu on Pesach, which I heard about after writing this.)
~

Shavuos and Shaltenoses

Does anyone recognize the word Shaltenoses? (shal-tih-nuh'-sess) Perhaps there is some Litvak out there for whom the word rings a bell. I think this could be a definitive test for Litvish-keit.  Do you know what Shaltenosses are, or not?  Since around 98% of the Jews living in Lithuania in the forties were murdered, there aren't very many of us real Lithuanians around.

For the rest of you, it's kind of a cold noodle and cottage cheese mixture, but the noodles are like a thick shreds of blintzeh dough, sans sugar, sans salt, sans shmeteneh, although you are allowed to add these things on your individual plate-- maybe, even, cinammon. I've seen some who define it as cold blintzes. Rav Micha Berger, in a comment, says it is a variant of the blintze, cooked instead of fried, servable cold. In my mesora, it's more like cold thick blintzeh dough cooked instead of fried, mixed with clumps of unsweetened cottage cheese, and then sent through a freezing wood-chipper.  If shaltenosses are like blintzes, then matza is like dough-nuts.

Forgive the mixture of the banal and the divine, but for me, this occupies the same plateau of yomtov memories as Matza on Pesach and Lulav on Sukkos. For one thing, this writer eats Shaltenoses only out of ethnic loyalty, and also because any other time of the year, Shaltenoses would be seen as utterly out of place. They are a chok, not a mitzvah sichlis.

See also OC 494:3, and Magen Avraham there, and the Kitzur 103:7.

Post Shavuos notes:
1. No, it's not pronounced Shalteh-nauseous.
2. Although for some reason I remember it served most often cold, it is in fact served hot as often as cold.

Shavu'os

Harav Yakov Moshe Katz, of Mir Yerushalayim, once speculated why it is that now, to be considered a talmid chacham, you need to know a perek here, a perek there, general information, the famous Reb Chaims and Ketzoses, while in Europe, every yeshiva bochur knew most of Nashim and Nezikin and was expected to know a good deal of the Ketzos. Why have the standards fallen so low?

One might answer that hasmada has decreased. He said that he doesn't believe that's true. He sees plenty of masmidim, and in his years in Mir alone, he belives that hasmada has increased, not decreased. So what is the problem?

Before Moshe Rabbeinu threw down the luchos, Chazal tell us that the letters flew off into the air, and only then did Moshe cast down the blank stones. Why did the letters fly off before the stones were cast down? Reb Yakov Moshe said that it was the exposure to the vile and depraved behavior of Eigel worship that drove away the letters on the luchos. Torah cannot co-exist with tum'ah.

He said that as he walks the streets of Yerushalayim, he sees Bnei Torah leaking; their Torah is leaking out of their heads as they walk. They learn in the Beis Medrash, but as soon as they walk into the streets, and are exposed to the pritzus and hedonism and leitzanus, their learning just runs out of their heads. when they come back into the Beis Medrash, the tosfos they learned the day before is like a new experience; their kedushas hatorah, all they accomplished with their ameilus of yesterday, lies in a puddle in the street.

So, dear reader, Ben Torah though you are, it might be a good idea to remember the lesson of the broken luchos; velo yei'ra'eh becha ervas davar, and vehayah machanecha kadosh. Perhaps then we will be zocheh to retain more of what we work so hard to learn in the first place.

Eating Dairy Foods- Milchiks- on Shavu’os.

The Rama in Orach Chaim 494:3 says that the minhag to have a meal that begins milchik and ends fleishik is a commemoration of the Shtei Halechem, the korban brought on Shavu’os. Since that korban involved two loaves of bread, we have a dual type of meal, beginning with dairy food and ending with meat.

The Mishna Berura in 494:12 says that he heard that another explanation: when Klal Yisroel heard the Aseres Hadibros, they were given all 613 mitzvos, and so they became aware that neveila is assur. Their kitchens were all treif. When they came home, they had nothing kosher to eat other than milchiks, because making fleishik takes a long time, from the shechita through the cooking, and so they ate milchiks, and we make a zaicher for this.

Ovi Mori (shlita, may Hashem give him a speedy and complete recovery bi'soch sh'or cholei Yisroel) Zatzal, a talmid of Slabodkeh in Lithuania, asked a very interesting question. The Gemora in Shabbos 86b says that everyone agrees that the aseres hadibros were given on Shabbos. So what are they talking about when they say that shechita and all the melochos required long preparation— they couldn’t do any of that on that day at all! They couldn't even start to do anything involving fleishiks until after Yomtov, which was Shabbos that year, was over!

I said a teretz on this kashe in Summer, 2000: since bein hashmoshos, Friday night, it was still before matan Torah, and the tzivui of Shabbos only took place in the morning, the dinim of Shabbos could not be operative (chall) that day. For Shabbos Breishis to be chall, it has to be chall in the beginning of the day, at Tzais, not in the morning. That is why the Chazal were kovei’a that the dinim of Shabbos (such as shvisa for techumim and hachana regarding muktzah) are determined according to their status Bein Hashmoshos.  (See important update at end of post.)

Harav Dr. Avremi Isenberg immediately asked, but Shabbos was given in Marah, or at the latest with the mahn, long before Mattan Torah, so they knew of and kept Shabbos long before the Aseres Hadibros were given! I answered with the shittas haRambam in Pirush Hamishnayos in the end of the seventh perek of Chullin, that all the mitzvos we do today are only because of the commandment on Sinai, and not, e.g., in the case of eiver min hachai, because of the earlier tzivui to the bnei Noach, or, in the cases of Millah and Gid Hanasheh, because of the commandment to Avraham and Yaakov. (The Mishneh Limelech in Melochim 10:7, almost at the end, brings this Rambam, and mentions the Yefei Toar that explains that the Rambam just means that we should do them because of the tzivui of Sinai which is more choshuv, but not that the earlier tzivui is boteil, but he argues with the Yefai Toar, and holds that they are completely boteil.) And the Gur Aryeh in Beshalach (Shemos 15:25) says clearly that the mitzvos of Marah cannot be Torah, because it is not possible that Torah Shebal Peh should precede Torah Shebichsav, and that the mitzvos of Marah are exactly the same as "mila to Avrohom, and Gid Hanoshe to Yaakov, and the seven mitzvos of the bnei Noach". So, if the earlier tzivui was boteil at the time of Matan Torah, the mitzvos of Marah are also boteil. At the moment of Mattan Torah, the Shabbos of Marah was supplanted by the new mitzvah of Shabbos. This new Shabbos could not begin in middle of the day. So the dinim of Shabbos were not chal until the next week.

Furthermore, there is a great deal of discussion as to whether the mitzvah of Shabbos which they received at Marah was complete or binding even when they received it.

1. See Oneg Yomtov Introduction #22, who says that they only received the Mitzvoh of Zochor es yom hashabbos, not the din of Shomor, which means that none of the prohibitions were given until Mattan Torah.

2. The Netziv in his Teshuvos says that it would have been impossible for Hashem to just drop a bomb on the nation and command them to keep Shabbos without time to learn what keeping Shabbos entails. So the tzivui of Marah was only to learn the dinim.

3. There is a machlokes Rovo and Rav Acha bar Yakov in Maseches Shabbos 87 as to whether they were given the din of Techumim in Marah. Tosfos there says that according to Rovo they were also not given the law of carrying from one reshus to another. The Ritva adds that they were not given the law of mechameir achar b’hemto.

4. The only reason Hashem was angered when people went out to gather the Mahn on Shabbos in Marah was because it was a mitzvah connected to the rules of the Mahn, not necessarily because of the din of Shabbos.

5. Rashi avoids dealing with this issue by saying that the Shabbos commandment of Marah was "parshiyos le’his’aseik bohem," not necessarily that they were mandatory, rather that they were instructed to learn about Shabbos. As Harav Dovid Zupnik, a talmid of Mir in Europe, (a tzadik and a great talmid chacham, whose Levayah is, unfortunately, today, May 22, 2007- Erev Shavu'os '67-- Boruch Dayon Ho'emes), said, from Rashi in Shemos 16:22 it is clear that Moshe had only given them the most general idea of what Shabbos entailed. First of all, Rashi says they were given "parshiyos le'his'aseik bohem," not "Mitzvos le'his'aseik bohem," as Rashi had said in the context of Korbon Pesach in Mitzrayim. Second, if he had taught them more about the dinim, Dosson and Avirom could not have gone out to gather Mohn on Shabbos, because the grandparents of the people on Bar Ilan would have been there yelling "Shabbes! Shabbes!"

Thus, we are justified in saying that the Shabbos of Marah was qualitatively different from the Shabbos of Mattan Torah. And even if there was a complete tzivui of Shabbes in Marah, as indicated according to Rav Acha bar Yaakov, it was supplanted by the tzivui of Mattan Torah.

Update, Pesach 'ayin beis:

1.  It turns out that this question, whether Shabbos can begin after Shkiah/Tzeis have passed already, or it has to begin in the beginning or not at all, is a machlokes the Rosh and his rebbi, the Maharam mei'Ruttenberg.  See Rosh Moed Kattan perek 3 number 96, especially with the Bach's girsa there.  Amazing.  I also saw that Reb Elchonon talks about it at length in Beitza 17, and it's really worth seeing it inside.

2.  Another testament to the spread of Torah in our generation:  Rabbi Etan Schnall directed me to a sefer entirely devoted to the topic of Shabbos between Mara and Mattan Torah, called Mitzvas Hashabbos by Rabbi Elchonon Adler, 2008.  To save you time, the table of contents is located on page 13 of the Hebrewbooks pagination.

3,  Etan directed me to this paragraph, from the new Dirshu edition of the Mishna Berura:

It's annoying that it keeps appearing sideways, but I can't get it to sit straight.  The gist is that the Chafetz Chayim in his first print of Likutei Halachos, but not in the later editions, says that the reason for the minhag of milchiks on Shavuos being treif pots is not true if you hold it the Tora was given on Shabbos, so it must be going according to a PDR'E that it was given before Shabbos.