זמן מתן תורתנו Celebrating OUR Acceptance of the Torah It is customary on Shavuot to read Megilat Rut , which tells the famous story of Rut, a woman from the nation of Moav who decided to join the Jewish Nation. There is a certain irony in the fact that on this day, when we celebrate Matan Torah , we focus our attention on the story of somebody whose ancestors were not present at that event. Why would we do this? If this day is all about the commemoration of our receiving the Torah at Sinai, then why would we read the story of Rut, a convert, whose forebears did not stand at Sinai? The answer is that this question is based on a faulty assumption. Surprising as it may sound, and contrary to popular belief, Shavuot does NOT, in fact, commemorate our ancestors’ receiving the Torah at Sinai. In our tefilah , we refer to Shavuot as זמן מתן תורתנו – “the time when our Torah was given.” This holiday is not about the giving of the Torah , but rather the receiving of our Torah. Meaning, we celebrate our acceptance of the Torah, our commitment, the decision we’ve made to lovingly embrace the Torah, its laws, its values, and the lifestyle it requires. We celebrate on Shavuot our recognition and appreciation of just how wonderful and precious the Torah and Torah life are, such that it is worth making every one of the sacrifices that the Torah demands. Yes, the Torah requires us to sacrifice certain things, but it is so worth it. We sacrifice to observe Shabbat, but there is nothing that compares to the joy and serenity that Shabbat gives us. And the same is true of all the mitzvot . Nobody exemplifies this appreciation of the preciousness of Torah life more than Rut. She was a princess, the daughter of the king of Moav, and grew up in his palace. She married a Jewish man who had come to live in Moav with his family, and he died, leaving her no children. His brother and father also died. The most natural decision for her to make at that point was to return to her father’s palace. But instead, she chose to join her penniless mother-in-law back to the Land of Israel, and become part of Am Yisrael . In order to survive, she needed to go into other people’s fields, and pick stalks of grain one at a time. What’s more, she did not expect to be able to remarry, because the Torah forbids marrying someone from the nation of Moav. Only later was it determined that this prohibition applies only to the men of Moav, but not to the women. Rut sacrificed everything for the sake of joining the Jewish Nation, because she – more than anybody else – recognized the unparalleled beauty of Torah life. The story ends by showing us that ultimately, Rut was blessed and rewarded for her willingness to sacrifice for the sake of Torah. She married a wealthy man – Boaz – and became the great-grandmother of King David, the matriarch of the royal family and of Mashiah . We read the story of Rut on Shavuot precisely because we are celebrating מתן תורתנו , our acceptance of the Torah, regarding which Rut is our most inspirational role model. A famous Mishnah in Pirkeh Avot (6:4) teaches: כך היא דרכה של תורה, פת במלח תאכל ומים במשורה תשתה ועל הארץ תישן וחיי צער תחיה ובתורה אתה עמל. This is the path of Torah: You eat [only] bread with salt, you drink water in rations, you sleep on the ground, and you live a life of discomfort – and yet you toil in Torah. The Rabbis explain that the Mishnah here does not require living in poverty. Self-deprivation is not at all a prerequisite for living a Torah life. But the Mishnah is telling us that even if this were what we needed to do in order to learn and observe the Torah, we must do it. Torah is that important, and that valuable. It is worth sacrificing all the world’s comforts and delights in order to live a Torah life – and nobody shows us this more clearly than Rut. Let us all reinforce not only our commitment to Torah, but our appreciation of Torah, our recognition of how blessed and fortunate we are to be able to live a Torah life, and we will then be readily prepared to make the sacrifices necessary for Torah, understanding that each and every sacrifice is worth it.