SHAVUOT – A TIME FOR NEW BEGINNINGS…

I grew up in the small community of Sudbury surrounded by the mountainous rock known as the Canadian Shield.  Winters were cold and snowy, summers were filled with Northern Ontario’s long, sunny days.  Sudburarians boast about having their own lake in the centre of town, Killarney Provincial Park at their doorstep, and countless smaller lakes ideal for cottagers.  Being a northerner, one would think that I am an avid outdoorsman, an expert skater, and play hockey like Bobby Orr.  But truth be told, I attended my first and last hockey practice at the age of six.  My dear brother laced up my skates on the wrong feet, and I spent the entire morning on my tush.  After the practice, my mother concluded that hockey was not for Jewish kids.  So much for northern winters!  My father sold the family cottage when I was two years old.  So much for long, sunny days at the cottage!

Today, as I stare out my window at an April ice storm, I am determined to make up for lost time.  Despite our esteemed Rabbi’s many attempts, I am not about to go and play hockey with him – sorry Rabbi!  However, I am determined to make the most of our Canadian summers.  As the Hazzan of a large shul, weekends are very busy, leaving no time for a cottage.  I need a lakeside retreat 20 minutes from home – and such a place I have found. 

Beth Sholom was founded in the 1950’s by a dedicated group of individuals who had the vision and commitment to build our great synagogue.  At the same time, another group of equally committed people were building an institution Toronto did not yet have.  It is called the Island Yacht Club – a Jewish yacht club on Lake Ontario.  Sure, Toronto had other yacht clubs, but in those days, gentile clubs shut their doors to members of the Jewish community.  This was the ‘silent anti-Semitism’ of the 1950’s.  And so twelve dedicated chalutzim leased a piece of land from the city of Toronto called Muggs Island.  It was nothing more than swamp land and wild bush.  From nothing they built a club on a beautiful island.

When I first visited the IYC last summer, a number of things caught my eye.  I debarked the tender which took me across Toronto Harbour from the foot of Spadina and was greeted by a tall Israeli flag standing proudly above the clubhouse.  In the ‘sailor’s lounge’ I found trophies and awards given to members who represented Canada at the Maccabee games in Israel.  There were also banners and pennants from Beit Halochem, the Israeli War Veterans, who are invited to the club yearly.  I would have expected this sort of memorabilia at a Jewish Community Centre, not a yacht club on Lake Ontario.  As I strolled along the docks I noted some of the names of the boats – Kinneret, Masada, Naches, Shirat Hayam (Song of the Sea) and Chicken Soup – to name a few.  A Jewish yacht club in my own backyard – I can only imagine what Jackie Mason would say about this!  If I only knew how to sail…
In two weeks time we will celebrate the festival of Shavuot.  I often think of Shavuot as the ‘forgotten holiday’.  Pesach is only seven weeks earlier and everyone gets excited about matza pizza, family Seders, and kosher lePesach treats.  Sukkot is during the ‘High Holiday period’ – shul is the in-place to be, the lulav, etrog, and building of a succah create a magical feeling.  So what happened to Shavuot?  Let’s face it, Shavuot is just before the summer, immediately after Pesach, and blintzes are not everyone’s favourite food. 

To understand the significance of Shavuot we must refer to its many names.  Shavuot is known as Z’man Matan Torateinu, the time of receiving the Torah, Chag HaKatzir, the season of the grain harvest, and Yom HaBikkurim, the day when the first fruits were brought to the temple to celebrate the bounty of the land of Israel.  Shavuot is about beginnings, and the drama of doing something new can be incredibly exciting.  When celebrating Shavuot, we should celebrate G-d’s giving of the Torah at Sinai as if we are receiving it for the first time.  We should feel the palpable intensity when hearing the Ten Commandments read in shul on Shavuot morning. 

Since Shavuot is about beginnings, let this Shavuot mark the start of something new.  Become a part of something exciting and different.  Let it be about asking a new question, studying a new text, exploring a new possibility, or perhaps… learning how to sail.

Chag Sameach