By Nadav Cohen
Peak times at a Chabad house are holidays, of course. The same is true for Ascent in Tzfas. Every holiday, dozens and even hundreds of people come to celebrate.
On Sukkos, you feel the unity at the farbrengens in the sukka and of course the joy in the dancing at the Simchas Beis HaShoeiva. On Chanuka, miracles are illuminated through the menorah’s lights and Purim is notable for the joy of “ad d’lo yada.” Pesach attracts many people to a public seder which lasts until morning. But I think Shavuos has something that no other holiday has. There is tension in the air on Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur and the atmosphere is not serene. Sukkos unifies and is joyous, but there is a lot of work and many holiday related tasks. Shavuos however we receive the Torah with joy and p’nimius. There is no tension, no pressure. We sit and learn Torah all night.
That was the case two years ago on Shavuos at Ascent. About 120 people from all over the country and the world came to Ascent to spend Yom Tov. There was a couple from the Golan Heights who had started getting interested in Judaism, a young Yerushalmi fellow who had returned from touring India, girls from Tel Aviv who had gotten a recommendation from a friend, and a traditional family that comes every year. In addition there were young guys from Connecticut who are spending a year studying in Eretz Yisroel, tourists from Argentina, a student from Mexico, students from England, and others.
One of the guests who came was an 85 year old American woman who came to Eretz Yisroel for three weeks under the auspices of an IDF program called Sar-El. It’s a project that enables people from around the world who love the Jewish people and the IDF to come and volunteer in the army. Quite often the volunteers are older people and the IDF does not actually need them. So they spend time cleaning pots. But they feel they have contributed toward Israel and they strengthen their ties to the Jewish people.
This woman, whose name was Ruth, was in Eretz Yisroel for three weeks and had been advised to spend Yom Tov at Ascent. She had grown up in America without any Jewish education and had never known or met religious Jews. But the air in Tzfas did something to her neshama. She came to a shiur that I gave the evening of Shavuos and through her questions, it was easy to see that she knew nothing about Judaism, and that she now had a great desire to know more.
After the shiur and a special Yom Tov davening, the guests dispersed to meals with local families and reconvened for Tikkun Leil Shavuos which was spiced with shiurim, singing and lots of simcha.
In the morning, there was an uplifting davening with the guests and the reading of the Aseres HaDibros and accompanying explanations. Ruth, like everyone else, came to the davening.
At the end of the davening, she came over to me with tears in her eyes and said, “All my life I lived among gentiles. I learned nothing about Judaism and hardly met any Jews. Now, for the first time in my life, I understand that I am Jewish. I still don’t know what that signifies but I want to know more.”
She was on the verge of tears, but she continued, “The one thing I remember is that I once went to synagogue to kiss the Torah but what is a Torah? Can you explain to me what it contains, what is written there?”
In an instant, you could see how everything you learn in Chassidus about the Jewish neshama was apparent in this woman. She knew nothing about Judaism but on Shavuos 5772, in the holy city of Tzfas, her neshama woke up and she felt that she loves the Torah.
She did not know what was written in it, but she felt that it was the most important thing in the world. She wanted the Torah and wanted to know what was written in it.