shavuos
sholem aleichem and chag shavuos sameach, friends.
it’s been a while! i had to take some time off from writing while i moved to a new city and started a new day-job.
r’ morgenstern teaches that the gematria for שחוק (laughter) is the same as that of אור אין סוף (light without end), which is the torah.
but there’s more than one kind of laughter.
there is שחוק אמת, true laughter, a genuine and instinctive response to joy and sorrow and the absurd. but there is also laughter that is twisted, that is used to belittle, degrade, and control.
and this is how some use the torah, chas v’sholem. all my life, i have heard verses of torah wielded like weapons, and the months since october 7 are no different.
but there is תורת אמת, mamash true torah. or as n’chemyah hanavi puts it, true torahs:
וְעַ֤ל הַר־סִינַי֙ יָרַ֔דְתָּ וְדַבֵּ֥ר עִמָּהֶ֖ם מִשָּׁמָ֑יִם וַתִּתֵּ֨ן לָהֶ֜ם מִשְׁפָּטִ֤ים יְשָׁרִים֙ וְתוֹר֣וֹת אֱמֶ֔ת חֻקִּ֥ים וּמִצְוֺ֖ת טוֹבִֽים
and on mount sinai you descended, and spoke with them from the heavens. and you set for them aligned laws, and true torahs, good statutes and good mitzvos
no single word or verse of the torah has the gematria of תורת אמת, because truth is found in multiplicity.
but the gematria of שחוק אמת (true laughter which is an aspect of true torah) is the same as that of התכלת (the blue strand of tzitzis).
so how do we know true torahs? when they remind us of our obligations to each other. when they call on us to braid our lives together, to rely on solidarity and hashem and not our own strength.
this shavuos, may we be filled with true torah and true laughter. and let no word or verse of torah be spoken this year to degrade, belittle, or control.
chag shavuos sameach,
ada