Shavuos - Preparing with Purity | Rabbi Zev Smith

Put yourself back 100 years ago. You’re living in America when Yiddishkeit was at a crisis level and you heard the great news. The Chofetz Chaim consented to travel to America, to strengthen American Jewry. How excited we would be, how we desperately needed that. And yet it didn't happen. Someone told the Chofetz Chaim: Eh, it's not so important. What a devastation that would be. How do you deprive Yidden of so much spiritual encouragement? And it sounds strange, but something similar happened thousands of years ago. The Ribono shel Olam said: I'm ready to give the Torah in two days. And Moshe said: No, we need three days to prepare. How could Moshe do that and deprive Klal Yisroel from the 613 Mitzvos, from learning, from davening, from Torah? Evidently, Moshe understood there’s something that has to precede Torah, and that's purity. To enjoy the delight of learning, to experience ‘Praiseworthy is one who is filled with Torah’, there has to be a receptacle. There has to be a ‘Create for me a pure heart, Hashem.’ There has to be a holiness. A mind that's polluted with impurity, eyes that have been tainted by sights that are not appropriate, is not conducive to ‘In my heart I will build a sanctuary.’ You see, that's really ‘We will do, and we will hear’. Before the ‘We will hear’, before the learning, there has to be the ‘We will do.’ Protect this most precious commodity that’s called the Ribono shel Olam’s holy Torah. Someone showed me a full-page ad and it said in big letters at the top, At the bottom it said, But let me tell you, the right description is Shavuos is not just about ‘We will hear’, it's about ‘We will do.’ It’s about maintaining this holiness that's the prerequisite of enjoying Torah, of enjoying ‘As for me, closeness to Hashem is good for me.’ It's not coincidental that the summer always follows Shavuos. Perhaps Shavuos is the preparation for the summer. If I could humbly suggest to my precious Vayimaen family around the world, Let us all, as one person with one heart, make one Kabbalah in these days of Shavuos. A Kabbalah means something specific, not general, something doable, something that we could monitor, and most importantly, something that's practical. Whether it's at home, at work, when we travel, where we travel, where we vacation, what enters our home, there has to be a ‘We will do and we will hear’ 2026. And I must remind you that as Rashi points out, This extra day Moshe added to purity was to include the women, because they have their sacred role as the homemaker, as the guardian of the Jewish home, they, too, have to realize that the future of Torah and Klal Yisroel are in their hands. Let us realize the greatness of a Kabbalah. Rashi tells us in Parshas Bo on the Pasuk So Bnei Yisroel went and did as Hashem commanded Moshe, so they did. And Rashi's puzzled. They didn't do it yet. This was two weeks before Pesach. Says Rashi, When someone is committed, makes a Kabbalah to do it, it's as if he did it. It's not a lie. It's the truth. That is the power of ‘We will do and we will hear.’ The one who comes to purify himself is guaranteed Heavenly assistance. Let us be this ‘one who comes to purify himself’ in these holy days and we will merit the blessing of ‘he will be assisted from Heaven.’