Sivan, the magic seven, finding the path.

The Month of Sivan

Sivan is the third of the twelve months of the Jewish calendar. The month of the giving of the Torah to Israel.

Letter: zayin.

Sivan is the third month of the year. 3 is a powerful number. It is a number representing balance, for to make something stand we need 3 points on the ground (a tripod). G gave the tripod of Torah, Neviem, and Ketuvim to a tripod of tribes, Kohanim, Leviim and Yisraelim in the third month, Sivan by three leaders Moshe, Aharon, and Miriam." And yet the number most associated with Sivan, because it is the most found in Torah is the number 7 or Zayin.

The Torah was given on Shabbat, the seventh day of the week. According to Rabbi Yosi, the Torah was given on the seventh day of Sivan. Zivebulun, the tribe of Sivan, begins with the letter zayin.

There are many traditional identifications with zayin. The sages identify the zayin with the word zeh (‘this’), signifying "the transparent plane", that unique level of prophesy given to Moshe, as it says, Moshe saw G “face to face!” (Deut. 34:10) My translation would be that “Moshe got a hit of G’s essence.” Oh and by the way, according to tradition, Moshe was born and passed away on the seventh of Adar which is the 12th month of the year. Zayin + Hey (the word ‘Zeh’, ‘this’) = 12.

The Torah-portions of the month of Sivan are from the beginning of the Book of BaMidbar (Numbers) which means “In the wilderness.” In the third Parsha or portion of BaMidbar, B’Ha'alotcha, there is a very strange occurrence. There are 2 verses which is separated from the Torah text that precedes it and that follows it by two "upside-down nuns" (Bamidbar 10:35, 36). Our sages taught that the purpose of the Nuns (the letter not the women in black habits) was to divide the Torah into seven books, instead of five. The proof text used is from Proverbs, regarding wisdom: "She carved her pillars seven." (Proverbs 9:1). If we take the 7 of this drash and 5 for the normally counted books of Torah we find zayin (7) and hei (5) which spell zeh, that unique level of prophesy that Moshe attained.

Even the shape has power for us. The shape of the letter zayin is a vav with a crown on top. This could play out as 6 days of creation for the vav and the crown being Shabbat. Or, to play the Gematria game, the number of letters in the Asert HaDibrot (called The Ten Commandments) is 620 which = keter, "crown."

Mazal: teomim (Gemini--twins).

The twins refer to the “Two table of the covenant" as we sing in Seders, referring again to the Asert HaDibrot (Ten commandments).

That moment at Sinai when we accepted the covenant is a symbolic wedding between the Jewish people and G. The giving of the Torah to Israel like the Ketubah, the wedding contract. In the Song of Songs (5:2), the highest level of marriage is referred to as bride and groom being identical twins (tamati, which our sages read teomati).

The archetypal twins of the Torah are, Jacob and Esau. These twins opposites, the Yin and Yang of brothers. Jacob represents the Yetzer HaTov the creative positive while Esau represents the Yetzer HaRah the creative negative. We are commanded to love G-d "with all of your heart" and the word heart is written with 2 vets instead of one. The Rabbis interpreted that to mean with both creative aspects of our heart. In the two tables of the covenant, one side addresses the relationship between the human and G and the other relates to societal laws, again the Yin and Yang of life.

Tribe: Zevulun.

Zevulun is commonly pictured as the "worldly one," who supports the Torah study of his scholarly brother, Isaachar. In Kabbalah cause is said to have a higher power than effect. The Arizal explains therefore, that the origin of the soul of Zevulun is in Keter (the highest emanation or above the emanations), and the soul of Isaachar, is in Hochmah below it.

Sense: walking (progress, dynamic).

Here, "walking" means the sense of continuous, ongoing progress. The word Halacha is usually translated as law but in reality it comes from the word for walking and means “the path,” or “the way to go.” Our sages interpret the verse: "the walkings of the world are to Him" (Habakuk 6:4), that he who studies halacha daily will surely merit the world to come. We might put it differently, the person who carefully examines his path will find that it leads to the heights in the world to come.


Controller: left foot.

With regard to any pair of "right" and "left," according to Jewish tradition, the "right" is relatively "spiritual" while the "left" is relatively "physical." In the words of the Lubavither Rebbe in a work called Bati L’Gani (the title comes from a quote from Song of Songs: (I entered my garden”) "He stretched out His right hand and created the heavens and stretched out His left hand and created the earth." So the left foot refers to the physical act of feet which is walking.

The Book of Ruth & The Yahrzeit / Yizkor Candle

The Book of Ruth
The book of Ruth is read at this time. Again, there are varying reasons given for this custom, and none seems to be definitive. Ruth is the story of a Moabite woman who converted to Judaism and who eventually married a judge of Israel, Boaz . Traditional Torah commentators offer two major theses to explain the custom: that Ruth was the model of Torah acceptance, and that without her Jewish history could not continue.



The Yahrzeit / Yizkor Candle
There are 4 times a year when Jews light a special candle, called a Yahrzeit Candle, in memory of loved ones who have died. Yizkor is a memorial service which is recited on Yom Kippur as well as the last days of Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot. Yizkor, which is the Hebrew word for "remember", asks G to remember those we mourn and to grant them proper rest.

A Yahrzeit Candle is lit at sundown on...
1. The night of Yom Kippur
2. The night of Shemini Atzeret (the 8th night of Sukkot)
3. The second night of Shavuot
4. The last night of Passover
The Yizkor service takes place the following day.

Shavuot and the Ten Commandments

Shavuot and the Ten Commandments
Shavuot is also known as Zeman Matan Toratenu, the Season of the Giving of Our Law, which commemorates the receiving of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai.

After Moses and the Israelites fled the slavery of Egypt, they wandered the desert. G provided the travelers with food to eat (manna) and water to drink. After long months Moses brought his followers to the foot of a mountain called Sinai. Though the desert was dry and bare, the mountain was lush and green, covered with grass, flowers and trees. Moses and the Israelites set up camp at the base of the mountain.
On the third day of the Hebrew month of Sivan, Moses was commanded by G to prepare the Jewish people for G's decent and visit. The Israelites washed and purified their clothes and their bodies. Three days later, on the sixth day of Sivan, the people were awaken by thunder and lightning. Thick, dark clouds hung over the mountain. The sounds of the Shofar, the ram's horn, were heard echoing across the desert. The earth began to tremble and shake. Then the Israelites heard a voice, G's voice, as he spoke to them from out of the clouds. And G gave them the Ten Statements (Aseret HaDibrot) which are referred to as the Ten Commandments. In reality there are many more than ten commandments given in the Torah. Tradition counts them at 613.

1) "I am the Lord your G, Who has taken you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery"
2) "You shall have no other gods but me"
3) "You shall not take the name of your Lord in vain"
4) "You shall remember and keep the Sabbath day holy"
5) "Honor your father and mother"
6) "You shall not murder"
7) "You shall not commit adultery"
8) "You shall not steal"
9)"You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor"
10) "You shall not covet your neighbor's goods. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his bull, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s."

Moses went up the mountain and returned with the Tablets that contained the Ten Commandments.

Through the centuries the Jewish people have celebrated this important event. It was at Mount Sinai that this band of worn and weary travelers would become the nation known as Israel.

Celebrating the Day of the First Fruits

Celebrating the Day of the First Fruits
The farmers of Israel would begin their spring harvests with the barley crop at Passover. The harvest continued for seven weeks as the other crops and fruits began to ripen. As each fruit ripened, the first of each type would not be eaten but instead the farmer would tie a ribbon around the branch. This ribbon signified that these fruits were Bikkurim, or the first fruits.
At Shavuot the farmers would gather the Bikkurim into baskets and bring them to the city of Jerusalem where they would be eaten in the holy city. The farmers living close to Jerusalem would bring fresh fruits, while those who had to travel a long distance carried dried raisins and figs. This joyful occasion was celebrated with the music of fifes, timbres, and drums. As the pilgrims approached the city walls they were greeted by the inhabitants of the city. Sometimes the King himself would join the procession to the Temple Mount. The Bikkurim ritual is no longer practiced in present day Israel.


The Legends and Customs of Shavuot
Many of the traditions and customs of Shavuot have evolved from the legends and stories describing the experiences of the Israelites at Mount Sinai. According to tradition the Israelites actually overslept on the morning of G's visit. To compensate for this negligence, Jews hold a vigil on the eve of Shavuot. They stay awake from dusk to dawn, keeping themselves busy with the readings of the Torah and the Talmud. A digest of readings has evolved called Tikkun Leil Shavuot, the "Restoration of Shavuot Eve," which includes selections from the Torah, the Prophets, the Talmud, and the Zohar.

Another Shavuot custom is the eating of dairy foods. One explanation states that this comes from a passage in the Torah which reads: "And He gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey". Another explanation comes from a legend stating that before the visit from G the Jews did not keep kosher or follow the Kashrut (dietary) laws. It was on this first Shavuot that they found out that their utensils were non-kosher and thus unfit for use. So finding themselves without kosher meats or utensils the Israelites were forced to eat only dairy foods. Today Jews celebrate Shavuot by eating blintzes, cheesecake, and other dairy dishes.

Another legend tells the story of the Israelites finding Mount Sinai blooming and lush with greenery and flowers. From this legend grew the custom to decorate the Jewish home and synagogue with tree branches and flowers. Some temples decorate the Torah scrolls with wreaths of roses.