23 May EIGHT ANSWERS FOR SHAVUOS

Every holiday has
its unique practices
and spirit… and its
own question. Rav
Yerachmiel Zelcer
became famous for his
Sefer Ner Le-Me’ah on
Chanukah, in which he
offered 100 answers to what is commonly
known as the Beis Yosef‘s question: Why
are there eight days of Chanukah when the
miracle was only seven days? He followed
up with a 1981 volume of Ner Le-Me’ah
on Shavuos offering 100 answers to
what is known as the Magen Avraham’s
question: Why is Shavuos (the sixth of
Sivan and the fiftieth day of the Omer)
considered the holiday of Matan Torah
when the Torah was actually given on the
next day (the seventh of Sivan and the fifty
first day of the Omer)?
The Gemara (Rosh Hashanah 6b) says
that sometimes Shavuos fall on the
fifth of Sivan, sometimes this sixth and
sometimes the seventh. It depends on
whether Nissan and Iyar are 29 or 30
days long. Nowadays, Nissan is always
30 days and Iyar is always 29 days so

that Shavuos falls out on the sixth of
Sivan. However, in the past, before there
was a set calendar, Shavuos could vary
year to year. The Gemara (Shabbos 86b)
says that according to the rabbis, the Ten
Commandments were given on the sixth
of Sivan, while according to R. Yossi they
were given on the seventh. The Shulchan
Aruch (Yoreh De’ah 196:11) rules like R.
Yossi on the underlying issue regarding
purity. Therefore, according to the
Shulchan Aruch, the Ten Commandments
were given on the seventh of Sivan. If so,
how can we say in our prayer that Shavuos
is the “time of the giving of our Torah”
(zeman matan Toraseinu), which was on
the sixth of Sivan? How is Shavuos the
holiday of Matan Torah?
What follows is a short selection of the
answers that Rav Zelcer collected from
other authors (75 of the answers) and
offered himself (25 of the answers).
1) Rav Yitzchak of Dampierre (Ri Ba’al
Ha-Tosafos; 12th cen.; Hadar Zekeinim,
Lev. 23:16) asked this question about four
centuries before the Magen Avraham.
Ri explains simply that one day doesn’t
make a difference. Even if we celebrate

Shavuos on the day before the Torah was
given, it is still an appropriate time of
commemoration.
2) Rav Yitzchak Ben Sheshes (Rivash;
15th cen., Algeria; Responsa, no. 96)
says that Shavuos does not have to fall
out exactly on the date of Matan Torah.
Apparently he is not concerned with
the exact matching of dates in order for
Shavuos to be called the time of Matan
Torah. We can add that in the prayers we
do not say “the day of Matan Torah.” We
say the “time” rather than “day.” Perhaps
this allows for a little deviation from the
exact day.
3) Rav Aryeh Leib Ginzberg (18th cen.,
Lithuania; Turei Even 31a, s.v. ve-haidna)
explains the Gemara’s conclusion to be
that Matan Torah was on the sixth of Sivan.
Even though in ancient time Shavuos
could have been on the fifth, sixth or
seventh, since most years Shavuos fell on
the sixth we follow the majority and refer
to Shavuos as the time of Matan Torah.
4) Rav Avraham Gombiner (17th cen.,
Poland; Magen Avraham 996) suggests
that really we rule like the rabbis and
not R. Yossi. However, as a matter of
strictness, in practice we follow R.
Yossi. Therefore, we really follow the
view that the Torah was given on the
sixth of Sivan.
5) Rav Shmuel Eidels (Maharsha; 17th
cen., Poland; Commentary to Avodah
Zarah 3b, s.v. yom) explains that when
the Jews left Egypt, they needed to
purify themselves for 50 days. On the
fiftieth day, the sixth of Sivan, they
achieved the necessary level of purity
and were ready to receive the Torah,
which took place on the next day. We
celebrate on the sixth of Sivan because
that is when we became ready to receive
the Torah.
6) Rav Menachem Azariah (Rama
of Fano; 17th cen., Italy; Asarah
Ma’amaros, Chikur Ha-Din 2:15)
points out that the Jews received the
Torah at Mt. Sinai, which is outside the
biblical land of Israel. It turns out the
the Torah was given in the diaspora on
what we celebrate today in the diaspora
as the second day of Shavuos. Rama of
Fano suggests that this shows the divine
pleasure with our creating times of
holiness. Indeed, according to R. Yossi,
Moshe added a day of preparation for
Matan Torah, which pushed it to the
seventh of Sivan. This all happened due
to human initiative for sanctity.

7) Rav Yehudah Loewe (Maharal; 16th
cen., Czech; Tiferes Yisrael, ch. 27) says
that from our perspective, Matan Torah
was on the seventh of Sivan because that
is when we received it. However, from the
divine perspective the Torah was given on
the sixth of Sivan because that is when it
was ready to be given. However, it did not
reach its recipients until the seventh.
8) Rav Yechezkel Landau (18th cen.,
Czech; Tzelach, Pesachim 68b, s.v. ha-kol)
explains that Matan Torah was a three-day
process. According to Rashi (Ex. 24:4),
the Jews said “Na’aseh ve-nishma, we will
do and we will hear” on the fifth of Sivan.
This was the beginning of the receiving
of Torah, which continued until the end
of the giving of the Ten Commandments
on the seventh of Sivan. This is all called
Matan Torah. On the fifth day of Sivan, we
accepted the Torah. On the sixth, the Torah
was supposed to be given (except that
Moshe added a day of preparation). On the
seventh of Sivan, the Torah was actually
given.
Perhaps we can even suggest that Matan
Torah lasted for seven days. On Rosh
Chodesh Sivan, the Jews arrived at Mt.
Sinai (Ex. 19:1). Moshe went up the
mountain on the second of Sivan (Rashi,
Ex. 19:2) and thus began a multi-day
process of Moshe going up and down
the mountain culminating in the Ten
Commandments. Perhaps this entire
process is considered Matan Torah.