Shavuot is the holiday where we celebrate receiving the Torah – in Hebrew, Shavuot is also often called Zeman Matan Torah, the Time of the Giving of Torah. It may seem obvious who does the “giving” and “receiving” in this dynamic: The role of “giving” goes to God, receiving to the Jewish people, and Torah seems like a whole/complete event evoking an image of the Jewish people huddled at the foot of Mount Sinai while the Torah descends from on High, ready to be embraced and treasured by the Jewish people.  

But this isn’t the whole picture of “Torah”: it undersells the magic of this moment, as well as the active role that the people of Israel play in creating the Torah we all know and love. There’s a story in the Zohar, as told by Rabbi Howard Schwartz in his book, “Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism” that redraws the dynamics of this holiday of “Giving Torah”:  

Whenever a new interpretation of the Torah is uttered, the saying rises up, is adorned with a crown, and then stands before God. And God guards that saying and keeps it hidden, and shelters the person who said it, to prevent the angels from envying him, until a new heaven and a new earth are created from that saying. Thus, every word that receives a new interpretation by one who delves into the study of Torah creates a new heaven and a new earth, as it says, ‘that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth’ (Isaiah 51:16)  

In this story, while the Torah may have descended to us from the heavens, we also send Torah upward, back to the Heavens, to create and recreate worlds with our interpretation. While we receive the Torah, we receive it with the mandate to learn it and reshape it with our questions, insights, and creativity. Sometimes the words of Torah can feel far away, ancient, fossilized into specific shapes and interpretations, or guarded by those we perceive as more learned, more “Jewish”, more religious. But each and every one of us – every Jew that ever has been and ever will be – is understood to have been at Mt. Sinai, to have received the Torah directly. Which means that each of us has the power to ask questions, share ideas, and value our insights – each of our insights gets its own little crown and has the power to create whole worlds.  

This Shavuot, may we all merit the confidence to encounter Torah and all of Jewish tradition as ours – delivered into our hands to be molded and shaped by our engagement with us. And may we remember that this time of Giving Torah is not just the heavens sending Torah down to humanity, but us – humanity – sending our wisdom back up to be received by the Heavens.