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A Thought For The Holiday of Shavuot
“Rabbi Pinchas says in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish: The Torah that the Holy One, blessed be He, gave to Moses was white fire inscribed by black fire.”
-The Jerusalem Talmud
Tuesday night begins the holiday of Shavuot, the day we mark the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai.
The older I get, the more questions I have about what actually happened at Mt. Sinai and what was even given on that mountain.
But the image of “white fire inscribed by black fire” reminds me why the words of Torah continue to inspire me.
Black and white are generally not considered colors.
Black is the absence of color; it exists without light.
White is light seen by the human eye when wavelengths of the visible spectrum combine. Light passing a prism creates a rainbow.
Mount Sinai was more than dry ink on dead parchment.
Mt. Sinai was black and white fire passing through Holy light.
Divine words passing through white fire and allowing us to see more fully the spectrum of human existence.
Holy words written with black fire that help us see even in the absence of light.
Through Torah, one still sees hope in the darkness, even when no light is reflected.
And when light is reflected, those same sacred words open our souls to see a world in all its glory.
-Rabbi Victor Urecki
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