YOSEMITE AND SINAI

In 1976, we stayed in Yosemite National Park. We were leading a group of 43 Jewish teens, traveling across the USA and having a blast.

In Yosemite, we were put in tent/cabins. That is to say, you walk up steps to get to your tent room. The room had a wooden floor, electricity and a bowl of water for washing. Sanitary facilities were located a short distance away in a separate building.

To cut to the chase, on the morning we were there, we were awakened by tremendous bolts of lightening followed by the percussion of thunder. Because the park is in a valley surrounded by mountains, the clap of thunder was immediately echoed off of each of the surrounding mountains so that we were treated to a symphony of moving boom sounds.

Eventually, all 43 kids were standing outside of their tent/cabins looking at the sky and listening to the boom/boom/boom of the thunder.

Later on, at minyan, we told the kids that what we had experienced that morning was like a little taste of maamad har sinai (the revelation at Sinai). “And all the nation saw the lights and thunder…”

According to our rabbis, the revelation at Sinai is an ongoing revelation, one that is as true today as it was then. May our shavuot observance bring us back to Sinai where we will stand before God and His Torah.

Chag sameach.