There is an urgency in the two Torah commandments whose obligation is constant and ever-present: to learn Torah and to repent. The Torah is clear about this urgency in the Shema: “These words, which I command you this day, make them as a sign upon your heart and between your eyes ”
Our Sages comment that the word hayom, “this day,” means “the Torah should be ever fresh in your mind, as though you received the Torah today.” As for the duty to repent, Rambam teaches, “A man should always regard himself as if his death were imminent and he might die this very hour, while still in a state of sin. He should therefore repent of his sins immediately and not say, ‘When I grow old I shall repent,’ for he may die before he becomes old.”
This matter of days and Torah is fresh in our minds as we conclude Sefirat Ha’Omer and anticipate the coming of Shavuot, for what more concrete example of the importance of Torah and the power of days than the counting down from the end of Pesach to the Chag Mattan Torah?
Yet despite our celebration of the revelation at Sinai, the chag is not named in the Torah. How can we not be intrigued by this omission of the name of the day toward which we ultimately count – Chag Shavuot – or better yet Chag Mattan Torah, the holiday of the giving of the Torah?
“And you shall count for yourselves from the morrow of the Sabbath, from the day-you brought the sheaf of wave-offering, seven complete Sabbaths: Even unto the morrow of theseventh Sabbath You shall count fifty days . . .”
Why not simply inform us to count toward the significant date of Mattan Torah? Why doesn’t the Torah find it important to communicate that this counting is not merely related to Pesach, but rather that this day on which we received the Torah is worthy in its own right?
The Talmud considers Shavuot to be the culmination of Pesach, not a chag in its own right. Does this diminish the power of that day at Sinai? Not at all. It is simply that the commemoration of the giving of the Torah must not be limited to a particular time. It applies at all times. This day is each and every day. As it is written, “This day the Lord thy God hath commanded thee to do these statutes and judgments.”
Every day is Yom Mattan Torah. Every day the excitement, enthusiasm, and vigor of being a committed and learned Jew must be renewed and reinforced. It is with this understanding that the Keli Yakar found significance in the Torah’s use of the phrase Vehikravtem mincha chadasha – “and you shall offer a new offering” – in regard to Shavuot. Each and every day the Torah must be received anew, just as if it were received from Sinai each and every day.
The joy and satisfaction of Torah study must not be limited to special days or occasions. It is to be ongoing, continually renewed and continually renewing. Torah study must always spiritually excite and emotionally uplift. It is for this reason the Keli Yakar says the same enthusiasm and ecstasy that occurred at the Revelation at Sinai must be searched for and found every day.
The Keli Yakar posits the same rationale for the Torah’s omission of the name Rosh Hashanah and its direct association with din and repentance. Should a man sin all year round and think of repenting only as he comes closer to Yom Hadin, when God sits in judgment? No. Rather, he should imagine that God sits in judgment recording his deeds every day. If he can think this way, he will continually engage in repentance.
Analysis, reflection, and introspection must be an everyday experience. For the thoughtful Jew every day is a Yom Mattan Torah and Yom Hadin. Such an attitude might also help us understand Lag B’Omer, the thirty-third day of the counting of the Omer when, according to the Talmud, the plague that caused the death of 24,000 disciples of Rabbi Akiva ended.
Some 24,000 brilliant young scholars – lost! Our Sages ask why so many died. According to Talmudic and midrashic sources, they died because they did not sufficiently respect one another. Their scholarship, Torah learning, and erudition were taken for granted. For them, Torah learning was pursued as any other knowledge, without an excitement, enthusiasm, and fire resulting in new insights, renewed motivation, and novel ideas. They reveled in their Torah brilliance rather than the brilliance of Torah.