Shavuot: The Gift of Life

Shavuot represents a spiritual apex in Judaism - the day that the Almighty gives the Torah to the Jewish people, a day when a covenant between God and the Jews defines their reciprocal relationship as described in Exodus 19:5. “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice, and keep My covenant, you shall be My own treasure from among all peoples, for all the earth is Mine.” 

Unconditional Surrender to the Almighty

The Israelites accept this arrangement after completing a 49 day pilgrimage from Egypt to Mt. Sinai. During that journey, they are freed from the bondage of pagan ideology and made aware of the One God through the miracles of the Exodus and the sustaining gifts provided to them in the desert. They are ready to receive the moral blueprint for living that will distinguish the Jews as,"a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.”

Awed and convinced, the Israelites consent to the covenantal agreement, “All that God has spoken, we will do.” But the Almighty knows the fickle human heart, and demands a guarantor of His Torah. He accepts only children as His reliable, long term emissaries, and accentuates the importance of this guarantee by instructing Moses to speak first to the women about the Torah, as they will be the ones to teach the law to their children.

A Covenant of Life

In the Torah reading for Shavuot, Shemot Exodus 19:1 - 20:23, God recites the 10 Commandments to the Israelites. 

God then spoke all these words saying,

• “I am God, your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slaves. 
• You must not possess any idols of other peoples’ deities as long as I exist. 
• You must not make yourself a sculpted image or any other type of likeness of anything that is in heaven above, on earth below, or in the water lower than the earth. 
• You must neither prostrate yourself before them nor worship them, for I, God, your God, am a zealous God in this regard. For those who hate Me and worship idols, I am a God who remembers the premeditated sins of the fathers, adding their demerits to those of their descendants, up to the third and fourth generation. 
• But, in contrast, I am a God who shows kindness for at least 2000 generations to the descendants of those who love Me and of those who observe My commandments. 
• You must not swear by the Name of God, your God, in vain, for God will not absolve anyone who swears by His Name in vain.
  
• Remember the Sabbath day, keeping it holy.
• Six days must you labor and do all your work.
• The seventh day is a sabbath dedicated to God, your God. You must not do any work—neither you nor your son, your daughter, your bondman, your bondwoman, your animal, or the resident alien, who is permitted to live within your gates—
• for in six days God made heaven, the earth, the sea, and all that is within them, and He rested on the seventh day. God therefore blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it.
• Honor your father and your mother, so that your days be lengthened in the land that God, your God, is giving you.
• You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal people, i.e., kidnap. You must not bear false witness against your fellow.
• You must not desire your fellow’s house. You must not desire your fellow’s wife, bondman, bondwoman, work-bull, donkey, or anything else belonging to your fellow.” 

Deicide Violates the Covenant

Our sages explain that the first commandment, “I am the Lord your God,” and the sixth commandment, “Do not murder,” highlight the life affirming essence of Judaism. To kill an innocent human being is to kill God Himself because human life is made in His image. This explains the moral degradation of killing innocent unborn human life. One must destroy the very idea of God in order to justify this evil.

Devotion to God and commitment to protecting and defending innocent human life endures as a Jewish principle.. The Almighty blesses all the descendants of those who abide by this law. He also recognizes those who destroy His image, and so egregious is this crime of deicide, that He holds accountable up to four generations those who commit it. Thank God for His mercy because repentance through a life of Teshuvah mitigates this family legacy and sets free innocent sons and daughters. 

Why would anyone want to actuate a tragic family future in this way? Self interest, ambition, ignorance, intellectual pride, secular sophistication, and peer pressure conspire to make this possible.

It is no coincidence that these elements characterize the abortion business, a death industry driven by profit, selfishness, and eugenics.  Abortion providers profit from the sacrifice of human capital, in which innocent children are sacrificed to avoid consequences of adult irresponsible and criminal behavior. They promote a eugenics agenda dressed up as healthcare, equality, and civil rights. 

We read the Book of Ruth on Shavuot because King David was born and died on Shavuot. His messianic lineage was created through Ruth’s conversion to Judaism. The book of Ruth relates a story of lovingkindness and redemption, in which Boaz comes to the aid of a widowed woman with no means of support. He marries Ruth, buys back her family’s land and produces a child, whose descendent will ultimately redeem the world.

Yizkor services are said on the second day of Shavuot to merit the dead and honor the memory of our loved ones. We pray Yizkor for children who died from abortion, knowing that HaShem loves each of these innocent human beings. Each one deserves the dignity of remembrance after their lives and their futures were denied and stolen.

We support pregnancy care and adoption services as a way to express the lovingkindness and charity required of every Jew in the spirit of life affirming love of God. We offer Teshuvah healing after abortion. We pray these commitments help renew the Jewish people as a holy nation and promote the coming of the Messianic redemption.

Please share this post on your social media to amplify our message in this troubled world. Thank you.

Cecily Routman

Cecily Routman is the founder and president of the Jewish Pro-Life Foundation. She opposes abortion homicide in general and among Jews in particular and laments secular policy making in Israel that results in loss of Jewish life and delays the messianic redemption. Cecily envisions a Torah based holy Land of Israel and a world that respects the life of every human being from conception.

Please visit our Hebrew blog on our Israel website.