Chag Sameach

Shavuot is called the holiday of the giving of the Torah. G-d gives and it up to us to receive. This receiving is to happen daily, not once a year alone.

Shavuot represents the culmination of Pesach in the receiving of the Torah and the story of Ruth represents the lessons of Yetziat Mitzrayim and Matan Torah in action. As the book is read it is worthwhile to notice the many examples of active living of Torah. Whenever the Torah uses the expression "on the way when you were going out of Egypt" (according to Rabbi Yitzchak Twersky)(which is only several times) it uses it in the context of learning lessons of compassion from experience and emulating G-d in the realm of kindness.

This is an extremely important concept - that the lesson of our Egypt experience is to be sensitive to "the other." The command to be kind to strangers is repeated more than any other command in the Torah for a reason. We should be so blessed as to take this concept to heart.

There is much to ponder on Shavuot. May we be blessed to contemplate and learn.