Torah Studies 5769 - Shavuot (The Rabbi and the Heretic)

The Rabbi and the Heretic A Dialogue of Torah’s Timeless Messages With Rabbi Ari Sollish Recorded live in Atlanta One of the most important Chassidic insights is the unique partnership of mutual giving that exists between G-d and the Jewish people. G-d does his part by giving from above, while we do our part by giving from below. But if there is one event in Jewish history that seems to contradict this principle of mutual action, it is the giving of the Torah at Sinai. To be sure, the Jewish people had to prepare themselves to receive the Torah, but the act of giving the Torah itself on Shavuot clearly seems to be a uni-directional effort, a one-way street that is embedded in the name of the event itself: Matan Torah, the giving of the Torah: G-d gave us the Torah and we received it. In this class we will explore an extraordinary revelation and insight by the Lubavitcher Rebbe: That Matan Torah was of course an act of giving, but G-d was not the only active contributor. There also was an extraordinary act of giving that we ourselves did, which helped to define what is arguably the most important day in human history. It was a rarely mentioned contribution by Moshe on behalf of the Jewish people. It was an act of human initiative at Sinai that substantially adds to the ongoing partnership that has existed ever since between the human and the Divine, between G-d and the Jewish people. This idea will be brought to light through examining the contrast in views between the Rabbis of the Talmud and the groups that don’t believe in the Divinity of the Oral Law.