Shavuot: Night-time Simcha and Study
Wednesday, 01 July 2009
West London Synagogue member Oliver Walton reflects on staying up all night.This year’s Tikkun Leyl Shavuot was jointly hosted by the Liberal Jewish Synagogue in St. John’s Wood and West London Synagogue. The evening kicked off with a delicious fish and chip supper in the Stern Hall accompanied by a witty re-enactment of the Megillat Ruth before we boarded the coach and headed to the magnificent Liberal Jewish Synagogue. Within minutes we had been ushered into their beautiful sanctuary for the first of many challenging and exciting sessions: the trial of the Ten Commandments, (a.k.a., Mr. Aseret ha-Dibrot). Rabbi Helen Freeman, leading counsel for the prosecution, charged Mr ha-Dibrot with over simplification of Judaism and arbitrariness, while Junior Counsel Terry Etherton, suggested a lack of relevance to the modern world. Leaping to the defence of the Ten Commandments, Michael Shire and Edward Cross rebutted such suggestions and argued that Mr. ha-Dibrot was the foundation on which all moral and ethical laws are derived. Despite the overwhelming view of the jury, the eminent Judge, Rabbi Malcolm Cohen, remained unswayed and found in favour of the prosecution!
After the excitement of the trial, I made my way to the Den of Disarray for a study session with Rabbi Alexandra Wright and a tour through a rich variety of mystical texts on sleep accompanied by discussion on the Shekinah, symbolised by the Tree of Death. Others made their way to film sessions, a seminar on human rights, while in the Tohu Va’Vohu hall a variety of musical and dramatic artists thrilled their audience with music, song and comedy. At the stroke of midnight, we all gathered in the Tohu Va’Vohu hall, and clustered in groups around rabbis and Biblical texts to pour over the question of ‘What Happened at Midnight?’, and just what was midnight anyway? Like a true study session the hall was filled by voices reading and debating the meaning behind concepts of midnight, voices making connections with the midnights of our own lives and with the Jewish people. As one person memorably put it, our own Shavuot study proves that light will shine after the darkness of midnight.
For those staying the course, the final hours offered a chance to fulfil a mitzvah by signing up for organ donation or packing a food box for the city’s homeless, to watch Etz Limon (the Lemon Tree) a cinematic reworking of the story of King Ahab and Naboth, or to participate in a study session on Jewish responses to Charles Darwin’s theory of Evolution. As these final study sessions came to a close and the night sky started to dilute into a purple-coloured dawn, we gathered in the sanctuary for an intimate Shacharit Morning Service; helping to hoist a chuppah over the lectern on which the Torah was read, I gave thanks for having made it this far and for the ongoing reward of receiving the Torah.
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