A Congregation of Messianic Jews (and Gentiles) that believe Yeshua (Jesus)
is the promised Messiah of the Hebrew Scriptures.
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ShavuotBy Cantor Lyle Leibovitz
Our custom is to stand as the Ten Words, Ten Commandments, are chanted on Shavuot. We do this as reenactment with the Children of Israel, with that generation who had come out of Egypt seven weeks before in order to receive the Torah at Horev, Mount Sinai. Though the Bible does not associate this harvest holiday with the giving of the Ten Commandments, it has been our Jewish tradition to associate the end of the Fiftieth day from the second day of Passover to the receiving of the Torah. As is customary for Shavuot, we stand before God during the Shavuot reading of the Ten Words. Also referred to as the Decalogue, the first generation at Mount Sinai received it on stone tablets on the 6th of Sivan, seven weeks from the second night of Passover. We came to Horev at Mount Sinai where Moses received the Torah to instruct our people in the commandments of God.On Shavuot during the synagogue service, the cantor chants the Ten Words from the holiday reading. The Ten Words are customarily chanted from parshat Yitro as well as parshat Vaethanan. The Ten Words are mentioned in Exodus 20 as well as in Deuteronomy 5. The cantor applies the special cantillation marks on Shavuot when singing the Ten Words. These special markings are referred to as ta'am elyon, upper cantilliation. On Shabbat Yitro and Vaethanan the cantor sings with ta'am tachton, lower cantillation. As scribal tradition, no sentence breaks appear in the Torah Scroll, only paragraph divisions. For the holiday of Shavuot the first two Commandments, though broken, must be chanted in a unified utterance--connected, which is customary on the holiday. Instead of chanting four broken sentences, one long sentence is chanted from--zachor through kabed et avicha with reference to honoring the Shabbat. Also on this Jewish holiday, the last five Commandments (using ta'am elyon) the baal koreh chants distinct sentences in place of one continual sentence. Another uniqueness of the Shavuot chant is the nekudot (vowels).With respect to the Ten Words on Shavuot, Rabbi Meir ben Isaac Nahorai of Worms, Germany composed the piyyut (liturgical poem) which he called Akdamut Milin, also pronounced Akdamus in the late 11th c. sometime after the First Crusade of 1096. Translated into English we get, "An introduction to the Words..." from the word Akdamut. Rabbi Meir based this poem on the Ten Commandments. As the cantor, Rabbi Meir wrote the poem with 90 stanzas, which allude to the exaltation of God, Israel, and the Torah. The Akdamut is formed from a double acrostic, doubling all 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet until the last letter, which is tav.The Hebrew alphabet contains 22 letters. This consistency of the poem forms the first 44 lines, doubled 22 letters. The remaining 46 lines are set in acrostic as well that spell out: "Meir son of R. Yitzchak, may he grow in Torah and in good deeds, Amen; be strong and of good courage."Each stanza of the Akdamut ends with the letters tav, alef, which witness to the Torah scroll's unending cycle. These two letters of the Hebrew alphabet, though reversed, signify that God is the First and the Last. The piyyut is composed in Aramaic, recognizable to Jews familiar with the language of Talmud. Some Ashkenazic communities chant the Akdamut prior to reading the holiday portion from the Torah on the Day of Shavuot. The cantor ascends the bimah, chants the piyyut, blesses G-d for giving the Torah, and then chants from the Torah scroll Exodus 19:1-20:26.The content of the Akdamut speaks to us about the greatness of G-d as well as faith and obedience to the Torah in the midst of adversity. Some other themes contained in Rabbi Meir's piyyut include angels, the Torah's greatness, and reward for keeping Torah. The poem tells about the heavens, the oceans, the world, and all of its inhabitants. We are moved by the composers reference to spirit beings in G-d's creation. The Akdamut speaks about the seraphim and the cherubim with their praise of holiness to G-d, "They chant the blessing, 'Blessed is His glory'--in every spoken tongue." Quite a substantial amount of text in the piyyut refers to spirit beings. Rabbi Meir remembers Israel, "The magnitude of Israel, reciters of the Shema; this praise of the Master of the universe is a pure statement." G-d's enemies are alluded to in the piyyut, "The wicked come and gather appearing like sea waves." Those of us who chant or recite the Akdamut will discover references to Jerusalem and the Shechinah sheltering Israel in the holy city. "A banquet for the righteous will He prepare, and feast." Some have seen a messianic theme in this poem. Also mentioned in the Akdamut is G-d's righteous remnant. The last three stanzas in the Aramaic which form an acrostic to ameytz, courage, Rabbi Meir beckons us, "If you listen to His Words that emanate in majesty. He is exalted--G-d--in the beginning and when all is done, He desired and selected us, and He gave us the Torah!"We must keep in mind the wonderful history of the Day of Shavuot. Historically, this was a revelatory experience.What historical significance does Shavuot and the liturgy for the Jewish holiday have for us today? Firstly, the Ten Commandments as well as the piyyut Akdamut testify to G-d's living presence not only historically with the children of Israel who came to Sinai, but the living presence of G-d is much alive today among us. According to the Holy Scriptures, Moses ascended for 40 days after which the Torah was revealed. Another ascension occurred with Yehsua the Messiah after which the Holy Spirit was revealed. Clearly, there was a similar waiting period in G-d's economy first with Moses and then with our Messiah Yeshua before any powerful manifestation could occur. Secondly, in our lives as a believing messianic community there is definitely going to a be a waiting period in G-d's economy so that we can be prepared by our Craftsman for service. Shavuot clearly is the holiday of revelatory experience. It is the Jewish holiday of eyewitness testimony to the heavenly manifestations of G-d. Two historical experiences occurred. One at the foot of Mount Sinai where G-d manifested Himself to Moses and Israel revealing His Instruction in holy living in Exodus 19-20 and one in the city of Jerusalem where G-d manifested Himself sending the Holy Spirit to believers in the presence of many who had come up to Jerusalem on pilgrimage for Shavuot according to Acts 2.Additional liturgy for the occasion of Shavuot includes the Hallel psalms (Psalms 113-118). For Sephardic Jewish communities in place of Akdamut, Azharot, "exhortations" ( warnings) is chanted. This liturgical poem emphasizes the meaning of the 613 Commandments as Azharot = 613 in Hebrew. The poem was written in the Gaonic era and includes the composers Saadyah and Solomon Ibn Gabirol."Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it they trembled and stood afar off. When the Day of Pentecost (Shavuot) had fully come they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance." (Exodus 20:18; Acts 2:1-4)