Tonight, Jews worldwide will begin to celebrate Shavuot, the holiday that commemorates the receiving of the Torah on Mount Sinai. Throughout the Jewish world, synagogues and study halls will be filled with texts, debates, and learning across an incredible mosaic of topics, in keeping with the traditional night of Torah study.

On the one hand, Shavuot speaks to the idea that learning in Judaism is a virtually boundless endeavour marked by rich diversity of thought. On the other hand, Shavuot suggests that the menu of nightlong (and lifelong) learning is unlike any other education we will experience—because it rests on a foundation of commitment and covenant.

That feels especially relevant in our time. We live in an era in which our children have access to a world of ideas and possibilities unlike any their parents or grandparents could have imagined, delivered right to their smartphone.

And yet, psychological research shows the downside of overwhelming choice. Dr. Barry Schwartz, author of The Paradox of Choice, notes that "the culture of abundance robs us of satisfaction." Too many options can bring analysis paralysis, diminished happiness with one’s choices, and decreased accountability.

It suggests to me that any perception of Torah and Judaism as a narrow, confining set of rules is misplaced. To be sure, a rules-based society is the very essence of our civilization, and the benefits to human happiness and prosperity are obvious. But to think that the revelation at Sinai was only about the transmission of transactional rules is to misread the meaning of covenant.

Rabbi Irving Greenberg paints a powerful picture of how covenant isn’t a matter of behaviour, but identity. As he writes:

“Like love, it has proven to be a limitless commitment. Why is this so? As Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik has explained, the Torah is a covenant of being, not of doing. The goal is the completion of being, the full realization of humanness. It is not a utilitarian contract designed for useful ends so that if the advantage is lost, the agreement is dropped. The covenant is a commitment on the part of each partner to be the only one, to be unique to the other. It is a turning of the whole person to the other.”*

Every parent reading this will know that healthy boundaries are key to childhood development. But boundaries are not simply about ensuring our kids are healthy, safe, and good to others. They are about fostering a self-definition that shapes one for their whole life—and creates a future adult who will not only act but relate to themselves and others in healthy, safe, and good ways. Paradoxically, self-restriction is the path to liberation.

If the psychologists are correct, covenantal responsibility isn’t a weight that pulls us beneath the waves. It’s an anchor that enables us to stay above them in an increasingly confusing and turbulent era.

When we provide our children with a Jewish identity rooted in purpose, we don’t close minds. We open the door to a life of profound meaning, discovery, and self-worth—a precious and often rare gift today.

And that’s how we will create a generation of Jews who will continue the chain of transmission that began on Mount Sinai, while engaging and elevating the world around us.

Chag Shavuot Sameach,

Adam Minsky
President & CEO

UJA Federation of Greater Toronto

* Source: “The Jewish Way: Living the Holidays” by Rabbi Irving Greenberg