Ascending: Moving Towards Sinai
Shavuot - May 19 2026
What was the last long trip, or journey, you experienced? What were the highs? The lows? Each journey is full of both valleys and peaks, and both teach us profound lessons that build our character. It is also the plains between the two that formulate our present. Now, these journeys can be the great experiences of recreation and travel, and they can be the seemingly ‘regular’ parts of life, including education, parenting, friendship, and community. However, as we view the journeys in our lives, each has a beginning and an end, and each is filled with peaks, valleys, and plains.
Thursday evening, we begin the holiday of Shavuot. Probably the highest peak during our people’s desert journey. According to our tradition, it is not the highest by elevation, for Mt. Sinai was not the biggest mountain, nor the smallest. It celebrates that moment at Sinai of Revelation, what we call Matan Torah, the Giving of Torah. There is no doubt that this forty-year journey was filled with plenty of highs, lows, and just regular ol’ days. Yet, it is these formative years, this story contained in Exodus through Deuteronomy that form Am Israel - the People of Israel. Among the rituals that help us celebrate this high point are the reading of the Scroll of Ruth, reciting the Ten Commandments, eating dairy, decorating with greenery, and a night of study. It is the first and last in this list that strike me as crucial components of our journey as Jews. Exploring the text of Ruth, her story, and certainly her kindness—what we call chesed, as well as engaging in study, envelops us in the Jewish experience. When we recognize the power of Ruth’s story, one of kindness, of lacking materially but wealthy spiritually we can embrace so much of what life brings our way.
On this Shavuot and as we stand again at Sinai, may each of us find the peaks, the valleys, and embrace the plains of our Jewish journeys and life’s journeys. Make sure to check the Temple calendar for access and registration for the national virtual Tikkun Leil Shavuot. Join rabbis and teachers from around North America to learn as we explore revelation and continue our Jewish journey.
Shavua Tov,
Rabbi Evon
