When I was young, I heard a witticism about a child who asks a professional athlete for directions:
“How do I get to the ballpark?” the kid asks.
The sports star responds: “Practice!”
Mount Sinai.
It’s where G-d gave us the Torah.
But it’s more than a spot in the wilderness.
It’s a concept.
Mount Sinai represents our interface with the Divine, and our embrace of humanity’s challenge to live truly meaningful lives.
Mount Sinai is a big deal.
That makes tomorrow, Friday, a big day.
It will be the 3322nd anniversary of the Jews’ arrival at Sinai, just over six weeks after they left their slavery in Egypt.
They’d made it.
But it wasn’t easy “getting to the ballpark”.
In anticipation of Sinai, the Jews had spent weeks searching themselves and their behaviors, finding their best selves and reshaping their perspectives on life.
But, as they approached that sacred ground, they needed the strength for a step beyond the intellectual, emotional and spiritual exercises they’d undergone.
They needed to ACT, delivering – in real life - on their commitments.
Introspection is strenuous, and it’s not easy to acknowledge one’s weaknesses. But the real challenge lies in making concrete changes.
Contemplation is great, but we find life’s greatest meaning in action.
The Torah tells us that the Jews left Egypt, and then travelled from place to place in the desert. Ultimately they came to ‘Refidim” and, upon leaving there, they arrived at Sinai.
Jewish tradition tells us that the word “Refidim” is a linguistic hint at the fact that the Jews’ “hands were weak in Torah matters”.
In other words: they had a “weak hands” syndrome. Once they got past it, they were ready for the Sinai Experience.
The Rebbe once observed the oddity of describing a spiritual deficiency as having “weak hands”.
The Rebbe explained that the Torah is pointing to the fact that the Jews’ spiritual commitment stalled in the world of theory. Their spiritual attitude wasn’t being expressed in their “hands”.
So, after six weeks of internal search and refinement, the Jews had to cross that great chasm that lies between theory and action.
That passage – leaving Refidim – made them ready for the Experience that awaited them.
Every year, we relive Sinai with the Holiday of Shavuot.
But in order to properly celebrate Shavuot, one first needs to arrive at Sinai.
And in order to get to Sinai, we need to practice.