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Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, the great Kabbalist of Safed, emphasized
the idea that every holiday is not just a commemoration of past events but a
reliving of these events, as we say in the prayers, "in those days, in our
times". Shavuot, when we celebrate the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai, we
receive the Torah anew each year. Symbolically, it is also the annual "wedding"
of the Jewish people with G-d, as the verse says, "On the day of His wedding, on
the day of the joy of His heart" (Songs 3:11); Rashi explains that this
refers to the giving of the Torah, when the Jewish people crowned G-d as our
King and accepted His rule.  | | " The escort of the King is Moses, and the escort of the Queen is Aaron..." | | |
The Zohar speaks at great length about the male and female
attendants (typically the parents) who accompany the groom and the bride to the
wedding canopy. A groom and bride are likened to a King and a Queen, and the
custom to have escorts comes from the fact that G-d and the Jewish people are
the spiritual counterparts for the groom and the bride here below. The escort of
the King is Moses, and the escort of the Queen is Aaron.
As demonstrated in his life, Moses' role was to draw down
divinity into This World from above; this is akin to the groom's escort, who
brings the groom to the bride. The purpose of Aaron, on the other hand, is to
elevate the Jewish people from This World to a higher plane, just as the bride's
escort brings the bride to the groom. The reason the escorts are crucial for the
union of the Jewish people with G-d is because of the enormous descent of the
souls of the Jewish people, from the heavenly heights to the depths and
concealment of This World. Because of the great expanse, there is some feeling
of shame and awe on the part of Jewish people at the time of the "marriage"
because of the contrast to the greatness of the Almighty. Similarly, in This
World, the bride needs an escort to draw her close, and the groom needs an
escort to facilitate his approach to the bride. | | " Great joy is present when something totally new is experienced..." | | |
The joy of the wedding is specifically associated with this
concept of the escorts. Great joy is present when something totally new is
experienced. The whole idea of a wedding is the joining of two opposite poles -
a man and a woman - who are really halves of the same soul. The escorts
facilitate this union, and, therefore, specifically through them emerges great
joy.
Something similar happens on a spiritual plane. The radical
descent of the soul from its original proximity with G-dliness causes the
perceived separation and distance from its spiritual source. When the Jewish
people below re-attach themselves to G-d through their connection and annual
recommitment to the Torah and its commandments (and especially their use of the
physical world for spiritual purposes), this creates and incredible joy on High.
This is what happens on Shavuot and why the Torah compares it to a wedding. It
is also the reason why most of our wedding customs are derived from events at
the giving of the Torah.
This is also the reason why Shavuot, the holiday of the
receiving of the Torah, is connected specifically to "the joy of G-d's heart".
Before the Torah was given, spiritual and physical could not unite. But from the
time of Mt. Sinai, the "wedding canopy" of G-d and the Jewish people, physical
and spiritual could join. G-d and the Jewish people, as they are below were
united, and through this union also the entire physical world could become
imbued with G-dliness. This is the true inner sense of "the joy of G-d's heart".
Shabbat Shalom, Shaul
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