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The last major holiday of this Jewish calendar year, Shavuot, begins this evening (Thursday) at sundown.  Shavuot celebrates the seminal moment in the history of our people, namely the giving of Torah. Thus, one way we traditionally observe the Festival is by reading the Ten Commandments during our morning service (Friday, 10:00 am).  

However, for all of the ways we affirm the centrality of the 10 Commandments in Jewish life, a more thorough and literal read of the Torah verses will illuminate several difficulties regarding our ability to actually fulfill them. Personally, I believe that the ability to find continued relevance and meaning in our people’s formative revelatory moment at Sinai is informed by an acceptance and recognition that revelation was not a one-time event - truth continues to manifest itself in our lives and in every generation.

Shavuot is but one instance during the year when I gratefully recall theology lessons that first introduced me to the concept of “Progressive Revelation.”  First expressed by Jewish philosopher Hermann Cohen (19th/20th c), Progressive Revelation affirms that, far from a one-time event at Mt Sinai, revelation continues today. “Revelation” occurs each time we use our God-given reason and interpretive abilities to apply and seeks to live the words of our sacred text in changing intellectual and religious contexts.

Rabbi Dr. Aaron Panken, z”l, expressed this important theological premise in this way: “For me, the Torah was, is and will always be true, but it may not always be True.”  Written with a capital T, he explains, “Truth” means there is one, singular, irrefutable truth that can never be changed or adapted despite what history might bring to bear. When written in the lower case, though, “truth” represents the laws, practices, ethics and norms that have evolved and transformed – and continue to do so -- through the millennia, from generation to generation, as time and context have demanded.  The “truth” of Torah remains central to our lives, as long as the Jewish understandings built upon it receive thoughtful and necessary adjustment over time and space. At Shavuot and throughout the year that follows, let us celebrate the fact that the creation of Torah has not ceased and that continued Jewish creativity in our time is adding to the chain of tradition!