Did Chronicles reinvent the Holiday of Shavuot?

History or Myth? Fact or fiction?

It’s incredible to realize that we are living parallel lives with vastly different narratives about what’s going on right now.

It’s about our politics - conservative or liberal, news we watch, echo chambers and the convictions sometimes feel more firm than the earth our feet step on.

600+ unbearable days after October 7 an unbelievable amount of sorrow, soaring deaths leave us with a widening cap not only about our feelings but also about the facts.

How did we get to such far flung narratives? Was this always the case but just now we are paying more attention?

When it comes to the big stories about how we Jews got here - the Jewish story - it’s a bit of both.. fact meets fiction, history and myth, and several narratives struggle for dominion —and keep evolving.

Here’s one big example, relevant to where we are on the calendar, as it meets our reality and this biblical journey.

Revelation of the Torah at Sinai - history or myth? And why is it celebrated next week on the holiday of Shavuot if there’s no date for this big event in the actual Torah..

Well.. it is most likely more fiction than fact, but how the story became a norm is fascinating and worth a couple minutes of exploration.

Shavuot as the holiday of revelation is connected to the Book of Chronicles - Divrei HaYamim - the FINAL book of the Hebrew Bible!

Our 3 ½ journey to read through every one of the 24 books is nearing its end. And it feels auspicious that we begin reading this final book of history - just days before the Jewish world celebrates Shavuot - the Holiday on which, we are told, the Torah was given to us on Mount Sinai.

It’s also the holiday of dairy foods but that’s a whole other delicious story.

There is no real date or history to this mythic moment when Moses climbs up to the mountain and comes back with the 10 Commandments- only that it happened in the third month after leaving Egypt. The first book to mention something that is MAYBE connected to this date and holiday - that’s right - the Book of Chronicles.

Which means it is a pretty old tradition - from the 2nd century BCE - but not as original and ancient as the oldest layers of the bible.

Chronicles was likely written around the 2nd century BCE in Jerusalem, according to scholars and has a political agenda that promotes the House of David and Judean ideology at the expense of other narratives and perspectives, whether it’s Jews in the diaspora or the remnants of the Northern Kingdom of Israel.

Earlier in the Bible, the prophet Ezekiel mentions all the Jewish holidays celebrated in the Babylonian exile - he’s got the big ones like Passover and Succot.

But does not list the holiday of harvest and firstborn fruit - Shavuot - why not? Most scholars think that it’s because unlike the other holidays - Shavuot had no historical story - it was just about the produce of the land and the offering to the temple in Jerusalem - but once Ezekiel and the other Judeans are exiled to Babylon - and there is no more temple -- the agricultural holidays like Shavuot became a memory and were not celebrated anymore.

Fast forward a century later - by the 5th century BCE the Judeans come back to Zion. We just read through the Books of Ezra-Nehemiah that tell that story.

And they rebuild the temple, and reclaim the holidays - and give the holiday of Shavuot a new backstory that will work EVEN if they will be exiled again.

That’s how somebody figures out that the third month is Sivan, when the Torah was given - and the holiday of firstfruit and wheat harvest - 50 nights after Passover - evolves and becomes the official holiday of when Torah was handed at Sinai.

In Chronicles 2 there’s a story about King Asa of Judah who realized that loyalty to God was in decline - and she he calls a communal gathering to realign around the national story and faith -- it happens on the 3rd month, with trumpets - and some believe that this is the first time that Shavuot is connected to the moment of revealing and reclaiming the Torah.

Nobody knows for sure.

But 2,000+ years later, history or myth - the story took hold, and the vast majority of us - even in Israel - no longer offer our first fruits or harvest wheat on this summer holiday but we do open the books to revisit revelation, renew our vows to our tradition, and revel in the myth and mystery, holy history, and opportunity to open the books and talk back to the text and debate our values, walk our talk of justice and peace, humility and hope that is the core of this tradition - even when it feels so out of sync with how too many Jewish people interpret our sacred texts right now --

Chronicles repeats and reviews many of the stories in the bible we’ve already seen - but with a perspective and agenda that helps us understand the evolution of our stories and traditions - such as Shavuot.

The bedrock of Jewish Law is Torah from Sinai, but that we now know is a story in itself that keeps evolving like our laws and like our lives.

Revelation keeps happening again and again and again.

That is one of the gifts of access to layers and layers of accumulated wisdom, scholarship and footnotes - between the lines.

I’m curious to find out what else we will learn here - we’ve got until the end of August to travel with this book and wrap up this biblical journey, one chapter and its revelation at a time.

I wish you a holiday of helpful meaning making, and revelations, renewed commitment to care and compassion, healing and peace - for all, everywhere. Our Torah demands of us to be there for each other with justice, and love.

May it be delicious too and may we do all that we can to reduce hunger and increase responsible justice and love. May this bloody war end and may we celebrate the sacred days with ease and optimism - together. May peace prevail.

Thank you for joining me below the bible belt.

Shabbat Shalom