This week, JFX was blessed to hear from Charlie Harary
- an incredible motivational speaker and much more. Charlie talked,
passionately and beautifully, about the strange period of time we're in
right now. These 49 days between Passover and Shavuot are... weird.
Why didn't the Jews just leave Egypt and get the Torah, stat? Why the
7-week wait? He went on to explain that growth does not come from
flashes of miraculous inspiration, but rather from the in-between
moments of non-glamorous drudgery that no one sees and no one seems to
notice. That's what these 49 days are for: to bring ourselves up, by
dint of hard work and behind-the-scenes self-improvement, to the level
we need to be at in order to receive the Torah at Shavuot.
There's a lot of talk these days about "unplugging." My friend Nina Badzin is blogging about her iphone diet, and Charlie Harary was interviewed
about the subject on US News and World Report. One of the things that
interests me here, and that Nina references, is the Shabbos factor. Sure, I tell myself, I unplug regularly. It's called Shabbos. And I love being unplugged on Shabbos, so obviously I'm not addicted. Right?
Wrong.
See,
it's the daily self-work that defines you. Once a week, it's Shabbos!
In a celebration of splendor and finery, we light candles, drink wine,
unplug, talk about spiritual things, take naps, invite friends, attend
simchos. But what about every other day? When we say the Havdalah
prayer, it's customary to have the wine fill the cup so much that it
overflows. You know why? So that the beauty, spirit, and energy of
Shabbat can overflow to the rest of the week.
Every
day, then, must have a small bit of Shabbat. It's no coincidence that
the 49 days are specifically counted as seven weeks. Shavuot, in fact,
is named after those very weeks. Wouldn't you call the holiday
"Torah-day"? Or "Holiday of Sinai"? Or something more directly
connected to what we're celebrating? No, it's called "Shavuot" which
means... weeks. It's really all about 7 weeks. 7x7 is how it's
defined. Like Shabbat on steroids. The depth of your acceptance of the
Torah depends on these weeks. What did you do with them?
And
in case you're wondering, I have made a commitment to use my "turn
mobile data off" feature on my phone for 2 hours every day - from 4:00
to 6:00 pm. I hope I can stick with it and bring that little spark of
Shabbat into every day. And may we all enjoy a beautiful holiday of
"weeks" next week, making every week holy.
