Shavuot - 5783

Shavuot - 5783

Rabbi Hal Miller Although short of halachot, the holiday of Shavuot has plenty of minhagim, customs that we follow to make the day joyous. As with all other minhagim, the Shavuot ones are practiced differently in every community. In the Shulchan Aruch [494](3), Rama writes, "It is the practice to spread out grass in the synagogue and in the houses on Shavuot in remembrance of the joy at the giving of the Torah." We might ask what is behind the practice, and how is it observed today? The Mishnah in Rosh Hashanah [16a] discusses the four new year dates we observe in the year: "At four points the world is judged ... on Shavuot for the fruit of the tree". On this the Gemora says, "And why did the Torah say to bring the two loaves on Shavuot? Because Shavuot is the time for fruits of the tree. The Holy One, blessed is He, said, 'bring before Me the two loaves on Shavuot so that the fruits of the tree will be blessed for you'." This certainly gives us reasons for prayer that He will grant us a good year. Given the time of year, as the harvest is just coming in and we see how plentiful it is, we can also give thanks and praises. The two loaves, being a Torah commandment, are tied to the occasion, but they also represent the fullness of His abundance to us. Magen Avraham tells us that we decorate our homes and synagogues with tree branches as a reminder of this blessing of the fruits. But the Vilna Gaon stopped this practice because it looks like the "gentile practice to set up trees on their festival." Some today still use palm branches or other tree types, and presumably their custom was picked up from some other place. The source for the custom is a convoluted derivation, beginning with Shemot [34:3], "the sheep and the cattle should not graze". From this we understand that there was vegetation on Mount Sinai at the time of the giving of the Torah, and God warned Moshe to keep the animals from it. The fact that the mountain was "decorated" by this grass gives us reason to decorate our homes and shuls now in recreating our receipt of Torah. This would explain the grasses instead of tree branches. Rav Shmuel Pinchas Gelbard in his sefer Rite and Reason, bring the Birkei Yosef, "Haman told Achashveirosh that the children of Israel are accustomed to spreading green leaves on Shavuot." He further brings the Chazon Ish about Moshe being placed in the reeds of the Nile on the 6th of Sivan, so to commemorate these deliverances, we bring greenery now. The Mishneh Berurah comments on our Rama, explaining when the grass may be spread around the shul and when it cannot be. In his discussion he points out that it is traditional to use fragrant herbs so that we can say a bracha over them and can handle them on the holiday itself. But the paragraph of the Shulchan Aruch to which Rama is commenting seems, at first glance, completely unrelated to this topic: "It is forbidden to fast on the day following the festival of Shavuot." Rama begins his comments with: "Tachanun should not be said from the beginning of Rosh Chodesh Sivan until the eighth, after isru chag." He follows immediately with the quote in the paragraph above about grass. How are these subjects related? The law is that we must be joyous on the festivals, and Chazal have interpreted that to (in most cases) involve an elaborate scenario of eating and drinking. We know that we may not fast on a holiday, but what about the day after? Why does the halachah specify the 8th of Sivan, the day after Shavuot? We are told that God wishes for us to stay just a bit longer when we go to visit Him in Yerushalayim for the holidays, so we celebrate one extra day. But what is the connection that Rama placed his commentary on greenery here? There is an isru chag after Pesach and Sukkot where we celebrate, but then return to our homes. We do not set out grasses, branches, or other greenery on those holidays, and there is no prohibition of fasting that would be tied to this. Certainly we do not fast over those eight-day holidays, and the Shulchan Aruch here is telling us also not to fast for eight days on Shavuot as well. During the eight days of the other two festivals, we are heavily involved with the holiday itself. Not so with the one (or two outside of the land) day holiday of Shavuot. Perhaps the ban on tachanun and the spreading out of greenery here is a reminder that we do not fast during this period, even though we may be working and living our usual daily life, since we do not have the reminder of this holiday all around us as we do on the others.