TORAH WELLSPRING By Rabbi Ezra Friedman
The Gift of Connection
Living life to the full, and being rewarded for it too
In these exalted days, we prepare to celebrate the historic milestone of kabbalas haTorah. On that day, we—and essentially all of mankind—received the greatest, most precious gift in the world. Even the bombastic miracle of Pesach, says Sefer Hachinuch, when we went from slavery to freedom, does not compare to our excitement on this day due to the sheer value of this incredible present. 26
WELLSPRING / MAY 2021
For this reason, explains the Chinuch, Shavuos is the only Yom Tov we count toward. In his words, we count down “to show how excited our nefesh is for the day on which we received the Torah.” After all, this was the entire purpose of our exodus from Mitzrayim, the entire purpose of Creation. Just as we count the days in joyous anticipation of a happy occasion, we do likewise in our great excitement of receiving the Torah. Of course, the Torah was already given to
