by Rabbi Richard Wolpoe
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here are that of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of the Union for Traditional Judaism, unless otherwise indicated.
Many Americans have memorized the ideals put forth in the Preamble to the US Constitution: ” We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
Is there a corresponding preamble to the Torah? If yes, what is it? What implications does it have for us?
Nothing in our written Torah connects Shavuot with mattan Torah, the giving of the Torah. Yet emphatically our liturgy declares that Shavuot is “Z’man mattan torateinu“. In addition, the reading for the first day of Shavuot is clearly about mattan Torah.
I would suggest consulting a good humash or machzor and reading the passage that we read on Shavuot with focus upon that which precedes mattan Torah (Exodus, chapter 19, which is part of Parashat Yitro).
There is a lot ritual there, no doubt! But what did God expect from us? In accepting this brit, this covenant, what were we to become to God?
The answer lies in Exodus 19:5-6: “If you obey Me and observe My covenant, you shall be a segulah from amongst all nations, because the world is Mine. And you shall be a mamlechet kohanim v’goy kaddosh…”
Our charge is to obey God, to guard/observe the compact, to become a priestly government and a holy nation.
This compact is not with individuals. It is with the Nation of Israel at large.
Let us compare the passages of Parashat Yitro that are not included in the Shavuot reading with the conversion declaration of Ruth. Yitro, Moses’s father-in-law, declares God’s greatness, but he abandons Israel. His acceptance of the one true God is not a call to follow Torah, just some kind of ethical monotheism.
On the other hand, Ruth declares: “Ameich ami veilokayich elokai” – Your nation is my nation your God is my God. Note the sequence! Thus Ruth is a true convert because she joins our nation and accepts the one true God. This is critical.
Any convert can discover the Noahide covenant by emulating Avraham’s discovery of ethical monotheism. However, the leap into Judaism is when one binds with the People of Israel, the society of Believers and Servers.
Of course, you don’t need to be Jewish to relate to God. But if you want to become part of a holy nation and an ethical society, then you must seek Judaism. There are Gentile priests in this world but there is no other Priestly Nation! This is unique.
This is our preamble: to produce a holy and ethical society.
Chag Same’ach!
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Rabbi Richard Wolpoe is a longtime board member of the Union for Traditional Judaism and faculty of the Institute for Traditional Judaism. Rabbi Wolpoe graduated Yeshiva of Hartford and then attended both Yeshivat Ner Yisrael in Baltimore and in Toronto, before graduating Yeshiva College, with a major in History, in 1973.
He continued his studies, receiving semikha (rabbinic ordination) from Yeshiva University’s Yeshivat Rabbeinu Yitzchak Elchanan (RIETS). He previously served as Rabbi at Congregation Beth Jacob of Astoria and Congregation Ohav Sholaum of Washington Heights-Inwood.
Rabbi Wolpoe is also a mashgiach in Bergen County and a contributor to Nishma.org.
Born in Hartford, Conn., Rabbi Wolpoe now lives in Teaneck with his wife Ramona and two children, Chana Yocheved and Zvi.