Big Tent Judaism

Shavuot: The Holiday That Honors Those Who Stand With Us At Sinai

I believe in the historical memory of the Jewish people and its inherent sacred power to lift us and our earthly experiences heavenward. While this is a rather abstract metaphysical idea, put quite simply: I stood at Sinai.

So I carry the memory of Sinai with me as part of the collective memory of the Jewish people wherever I go. I am regularly reminded of it in the covenantal relationship that I seek daily with Gd through ritual and prayer, what the philosopher Martin Buber referred to as the “I-Thou” relationship. And it is affirmed for me regularly when the Torah is read aloud in public. For me, I savor the experience of this ongoing relationship through the embracing of a religious life. Its rituals, especially when they are “work,” help to bring me closer to the Divine.

But that memory includes the recognition that I was not alone in that ancient desert experience.

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