Freedom in Space, Time and Spirituality

And the entire Mount Sinai smoked because the Lord had descended upon it in fire, and its smoke ascended like the smoke of the kiln…

Exodus 19:18

The Holiday of Shavuot is thought to be a culmination of the Passover. Just as Shmini Atzeret is a culmination of the Holiday of Sukkot and comes after seven days of Sukkot, Shavuot is also called Atzeret and comes after the Holiday of Pesach, albeit separated from it by forty-nine days of Omer.

On Shavuot, we read a Torah portion from Chapter 19 of the Book of Shemot (Exodus). We already discussed verse 18, “Mount Sinai smoked,” in the previous post. Mount Sinai smoked because the Lord had descended upon it. Here, I’d like to focus on the word “smoked” from a different perspective. It hints at a deep significance of the sequence Pesach-Omer-Shavuot.

In the original Hebrew, the word “smoked” is “Oshan.” As Rabbi Dovber, the Mittler Rebbe (the Second Rebbe of Chabad-Lubavitch), points out in the ma’amar Drushei Hag HaShavuot, this word, OShaN, can be seen as the acronym for three words—Olam (“world”), Shana (“year”), and Nefesh (“soul”). These three words appear in the oldest book of Kabbalah, Sefer Yetzira, as the code words for the three domains of existence—space, time, and spirituality.

The Holiday of Pesach is called Zman Heruteinu—Time of our Freedom—hinting at the very essence of this Holiday. If Shavuot is a culmination of Pesach, it must have to do with freedom as well. But what about time in between—the forty-nine days of counting of the Omer?

It seems to me that with the word Oshan (smoke), the Torah teaches us that we must achieve freedom in all three dimensions of our reality—in space, in time, and in spirituality. Indeed, the Passover celebrates Exodus from Egypt, when Jewish people achieved their freedom in space. Immediately thereafter, they are given their first commandment—to count the new moon, Rosh Chodesh—to bring holiness and freedom into the dimension of time. The process of achieving freedom in time continues with the commandment of counting forty-nine days of Omer. Forty-nine days is the square of the number seven, which is viewed as the number associated with time—seven days in a week, seven years of Shmita (“Sabbatical Year”), and seven Shmitot in Yovel (“Jubilee”). To achieve freedom in time, we must make every day count. And, at last, on Shavuot, by giving us the Torah and its commandments, G‑d gave meaning to the dimension of spirituality, completing our freedom in all three dimensions of reality—space, time, and spirituality.

About the Author: Alexander Poltorak

Alexander Poltorak was trained as a theoretical physicist in Russia. A physicist and brain researcher, he held academic positions at various colleges and universities serving as an Assistant Professor of Biomathematics at Cornell University Medical College, as an Assistant Professor of Physics at Touro College, as an Adjunct Professor of Physics at the City College of New York. He guest-lectured at Columbia University School of Engineering and Business School. Presently, he is the Founder & President of NeuroLight, Inc. and a Research Fellow at the Institute for Ultrafast Spectroscopy and Lasers. Alex Poltorak authored several books, research papers, and many articles. He blogs about physics, kabbalah and Jewish philosophy.

Freedom in Space, Time and Spirituality