Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Shavuos, the less one claims Torah, the more he has of it.

Shavuos marks our personal relationship to Torah. In his wild quest to locate who stole the Torah, Satan turns to Moshe (Shabbos 89a) and asks where it is. Moshe responds to the Satan: Who am I that God would give me the Torah.

Ultimately, Satan accuses Moshe of lying. Moshe responds: True, I have the Torah – but it is not mine, for how can I possibly own God’s Torah? Hashem corrects Moshe: precisely because you diminish yourself, you now become its proprietor.

In effect, Hashem is saying that to acquire Torah, humility is the requisite trait. The great paradox of owning Torah now becomes: the less one claims Torah, the more he has of it.

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