שיוער שבועות, מחשבות על הפרש של השם ״חג עצרת״ לחג השבועות

בס״ד

סיון, תשע״ד

There are four names given for Chag Shavuot and one of them, which is what Chazal used most commonly in the Talmud, is "Atzeret" - עצרת

The basic meaning of the Hebrew word, atzeret is "assembly" or "convocation", connoting kingly references. Yet is it also connection to the root ATZaR - עצר meaning, "stopping" or "closing"

What is the connection between the meaning of the name Atzeret and Chag Shavuot?

Lets explore a more soulful path...

On Pesach we eat only matza and eliminate all chametz from out lives whereas it is permissable on Shavuot to eat chametz.

"Matzah is passive, it is not allowed to rise and ferment, whereas chametz is self-fulfillment."

(Rav Greenberg)

-->     On Pesach we are celebrating our Redemption from slavery in Egypt; a process which requires an unrisen ego, a release from the grasping mochin d'katnut (narrow mind). This is a spiritual metaphor for matza.

-->     On Shavuot we are celebrating the giving/recieving on the Torah at Mt. Sinai; a conlusory moment to the fulfillment of Redemption. Also, Gd had brought us "up" to a spiritual level where our consciouness' was expansive enough to even recieve the Torah.  It is important to note that this sort of "rising", is not likened to the ego, as previously drawn from the matza metaphor. This is a spiritual metaphor for chametz.

Matza and chametz are brought together in the Korban-Todah (Thanksgiving Offering) which is comprised of one animal, thirty matzot and ten regular loaves of bread. The Korban-Todah is the offering prescribed for Shavuot in sefer Vayikra. Thus, it is in todah, Thanksgiving, that we close, עצר our  spiritual process of Redemption.

"Chazal called the Festival of Shavuot by the name, Atzeret, to teach us that the Festival of Shavuot does not stand by itself" (Rav Greenberg)

This idea indicates that Pesach does not end in 8 days.  Rather,

The spiritual process we begin on Pesach is continued, via the tradition of counting the omer until the conclusion of Shavuot

     The Kabbalistic tradition even instituted a cyclical chart of sefirot [Divine Attributes] combinations to associate with every day of the omer, each combination placing a unique spiritual focus for that day of the omer.

             -->     For example, tonight is "Malchut b'Malchut which can be connected back to our key word עצרת and it's kingly association. Literally ״לשון מלכות״ as several of the meforshim describe it.

Lets Process...

1. Sforno writes about the meaning of Atzeret: "To stand for some time in the holy places, to serve G-d in those places with Torah or prayer or [sacrificial] service."

עצרת היא - ענין העצירה הוא לא בלבד לשבות ממלאכת הדיוט, אבל היא עם זה אזהרת עמידה איזה זמן במקומות הקודש לעבוד במקומות ההם את הא-ל ית' בתורה או בתפלה או בעבודה, כענין "ושם איש מעבדי שאול נעצר לפני ה' ביום ההוא", והוא אומרו "קדשו צום קראו עצרה"... אמר אם כן שזה היום אחר חג הסכות אשר בו שלמו כל שמחות הרגלים הוא קודש להיות יום עצרת שיעצרו במקומות הקדש, ותהיה שמחתו שמחה של תורה ומעשים טובים... ספורנו, ויקרא כג:לו)

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel refers to time as a sanctuary: "Judaism teaches us to be attached to holiness in time, to be attached to sacred events, to learn how to consecrate sanctuaries that emerge from the magnificent stream of a year."

Theses two texts combine both meanings of the word עצרת (kingly "assembly" and "stopping"). Have you ever experienced the act of Atzeret as holy? How might you relate to the grande finale event of Matan Torah as a stopping in time?

2. The Sfas Emes writes: "On the matter that Chag haShavuot is called Atzeret, in the words of the Sages, it is written that the Torah was commanded to us by Moshe, etc., to Kehilat Yaakov (the Jewish People), and therefor it is in the days of the sefira[t haomer] that the Community of Israel will do [these commandments] as one [people], they will earn thereafter to Torah on Shavuot."

בענין מה שנקרא חג השבועות עצרת בדברי חכמים, דכתיב תורה צוה לנו משה וגו' קהלת יעקב, וכך הוא בימי הספירה נעשין בני ישראל קהלה אחת וזוכין אחר כך לתורה בשבועות...

שפת אמת, שבועות תרנ"ב

Chag Atzeret is known for it's quality of achdut (oneness), as it is the only time in the Torah that the Am Israel are referred to as one, singular entity by God. How does the quality of achdut aid the spiritual process of Redemption? Why might that quality, over others, be the one that earns Am Yisrael the Torah.

sources:

haRav Mordechai Greenberg, Yeshivat Kerem b'Yavneh

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, exerpt from The Sabbath: Its Meaning for Modern Man

Sforno perush on the Chumash

Sfas Emes perush on the Chumash