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The Gift

What is this Book we are Celebrating?

On Shavuot we celebrate the Giving of the Torah. Why? What is so special about the gift G-d gave us? A selection of articles give many answers to this question.

Meditation on an Embrace
Marriage at Mount Sinai
If God embraces us with mitzvahs, how does He kiss?
His Torah or Our Torah?
What is it that He wants? Obedience or self-initiative? Compliance or creativity?
What is it that He wants? Obedience or self-initiative? Compliance or creativity?
8 Torah Scrolls as Amazing and Diverse as the Jewish People
These scrolls, chosen for their unique history or appearance, are as diverse as the Jewish people they represent.
What Is Torah?
Judaism's sacred scroll and teachings
Torah refers to the Five Books of Moses, the entire Hebrew Bible, and the entire corpus of religious Jewish knowledge. Torah is how the Creator shares the purpose, intent, and desire behind all that exists.
A Love Letter from G-d
You open the letter carefully, you start to read your beloved’s words and you actually begin to hear her voice. And then you feel her presence.
Rules
While the excited atoms in your flashlight bulb each emit light independently of each other, a laser device stimulates a great number of atoms to emit their light in a single frequency and in step with each other.
If Torah Is Divine Wisdom, Why Is It So Petty?
The Torah and Its Clothes
Torah, you say, is divine wisdom. So why is it full of animals' hooves and fish's scales, goring oxen and adulterous human beings?
Torah Eternal
Shavuot, the day of the giving of the Torah by G-d, is also called the day of the receiving of the Ten Commandments by Israel. And it would seem to be a natural pairing of concepts. Nevertheless, each has its own particular meaning.
How Do We Know the Torah Is Real?
The Bedrock of Belief
I could believe the world was real. But was it possible to know it? What had to be added to that belief in order to convert it into knowledge?
How and When Was the Torah Written?
To explain that, I would need a long conversation with you about what is G-d and how G-d talks to people and why....
The Mathematics of Marriage
Marriage comes in three varieties: the singular marriage, the twosome marriage and the three-dimensional marriage.
Reality and Its Shadow
One might reasonably suppose that since oxen and pits are facts of life, the Torah must implement laws to govern their many possible interactions. In fact, the situation is just the reverse . . .
How Do We Know that We Heard G-d at Sinai?
The greatest conspiracy theory of all time is materialism. The second greatest conspiracy theory is that the Jews invented the Torah...
How to Have
How do you measure the things you own? By the degree of your investment in them? By the intensity of your desire for them? By how possible it is to get rid of them?
Newness and Temptation
Why would G‑d want to give His treasure specifically to those that are tempted to misuse it?
Is The Torah Relevant to My Life?
Make a list of the areas of greatest concern in your life, and for each item on the list, ask yourself the following simple question: Do I look to the Torah as the principal source of guidance in this area of my life?
On Which Day of the Week Was the Torah Given?
It is only appropriate that the Torah, which brings peace and harmony to its adherents—and by extension, to the entire world—was given on the Day of Rest.
Seeing the Sounds
What if you could see with your ears?
Avot 1:1 Five Steps to Sinai
Ethics 1:1
Humility. Devotion. Toil. Divine assistance. Practicality. The five steps necessary for anyone who wishes to approach the Torah.
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