 | Where does our "belly barometer" come from? How do we know what is just and right? This week, the Torah cycle suspends for Shavuot, our festival anniversary of the revelation at Sinai, and our collective communion with the One we call God. Though our community opted not to schedule a Shavuot celebration this year due to Memorial Day weekend (we'll have a mini-Yizkor online), it's still an important important chance to consider our source of revelation, justice and rightness. |
By Rabbi David Evan Markus
Shavuot 5786 (2026)
How do we know what is just and right?
Our human gyroscope draws its stabilizing spin from family, teachers, community, culture and law. All of these shape our "belly barometer" – our conscience, our Jiminy Cricket to Pinocchio. And there's something more that exceeds the sum of its parts, something beyond us.
Tradition holds that the Mount Sinai revelation of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-14) was a singular event. The earth shook. The mountain smoked and glowed. Yet even amidst tremble and fire, there was total silence: not even a bird moved.
From this piercing silence emerged the Voice. Infinity spoke. Silence became speech. Speech became ethics. Senses scrambled: "They saw the thunder" (Exodus 20:15).
Never again would humanity tune only to outer senses to tell us what is right, just and real.
Shavuot is our anniversary of that singular event. Western civilization's most enduring code of morality and law is one reason why Shavuot is a festival equal to Passover and Sukkot on the Jewish calendar.
Yet many liberal Jews – myself included – grew up without Shavuot. Maybe we never heard of it, or we imagine that Shavuot is for the Orthodox only, or we associate(d) Shavuot mainly with cheesecake (for the "milk and honey" of the kind of learning that most transforms us).
Across the breadth of Judaism, Shavuot stands for our people's unity, when we all stood together at Sinai and together heard the Voice, one Voice, the One. (This "all of us" is one reason we honor Yizkor at Shavuot. Our congregational Yizkor will be online at 7:30pm on Saturday, May 23.)
And Shavuot stands for something more. Shavuot stands for the Voice itself. Some say that while the Revelation at Mount Sinai was a singular event, even so the Voice continues to sound. Midrash holds that every day the Voice calls out. A bat kol (angelic voice) comes forth from Sinai with continuing resonance and continuing revelation.
Perhaps this bat kol is what powers our conscience, belly barometer, our Jiminy Cricket, our sense of rightness in the world. Sometimes it sounds loudly, sometimes more faintly.
Tune in, and happy Shavuot. See you at Sinai.
Shavuot will begin at sundown on Thursday, May 21. Our congregational Yizkor (online) will begin at 7:30pm on Saturday, May 23. Please click here to register. You may wish to have a Yizkor candle, wine or juice, and photos of beloveds.
Shavuot 5786 (2026)
How do we know what is just and right?
Our human gyroscope draws its stabilizing spin from family, teachers, community, culture and law. All of these shape our "belly barometer" – our conscience, our Jiminy Cricket to Pinocchio. And there's something more that exceeds the sum of its parts, something beyond us.
Tradition holds that the Mount Sinai revelation of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-14) was a singular event. The earth shook. The mountain smoked and glowed. Yet even amidst tremble and fire, there was total silence: not even a bird moved.
From this piercing silence emerged the Voice. Infinity spoke. Silence became speech. Speech became ethics. Senses scrambled: "They saw the thunder" (Exodus 20:15).
Never again would humanity tune only to outer senses to tell us what is right, just and real.
Shavuot is our anniversary of that singular event. Western civilization's most enduring code of morality and law is one reason why Shavuot is a festival equal to Passover and Sukkot on the Jewish calendar.
Yet many liberal Jews – myself included – grew up without Shavuot. Maybe we never heard of it, or we imagine that Shavuot is for the Orthodox only, or we associate(d) Shavuot mainly with cheesecake (for the "milk and honey" of the kind of learning that most transforms us).
Across the breadth of Judaism, Shavuot stands for our people's unity, when we all stood together at Sinai and together heard the Voice, one Voice, the One. (This "all of us" is one reason we honor Yizkor at Shavuot. Our congregational Yizkor will be online at 7:30pm on Saturday, May 23.)
And Shavuot stands for something more. Shavuot stands for the Voice itself. Some say that while the Revelation at Mount Sinai was a singular event, even so the Voice continues to sound. Midrash holds that every day the Voice calls out. A bat kol (angelic voice) comes forth from Sinai with continuing resonance and continuing revelation.
Perhaps this bat kol is what powers our conscience, belly barometer, our Jiminy Cricket, our sense of rightness in the world. Sometimes it sounds loudly, sometimes more faintly.
Tune in, and happy Shavuot. See you at Sinai.
Shavuot will begin at sundown on Thursday, May 21. Our congregational Yizkor (online) will begin at 7:30pm on Saturday, May 23. Please click here to register. You may wish to have a Yizkor candle, wine or juice, and photos of beloveds.
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