The Month of Sivan

The month of Sivan is the third month of the Jewish Calendar. This is the month of the giving of the Torah to the Jewish people, which we celebrate on the Holy Day of Shavuot.

The zodiac sign of Sivan is Teomim (Gemini, the twins). The twins symbolize the greatest level of unity — between the Jewish people themselves, and between the Jewish people and G-d. The giving of the Torah is viewed as a wedding between G-d and Israel, the groom and the bride, the highest level of relationship being described as identical twins — Israel reflecting G-d on earth. The twins also represent the reconciliation between the good and evil inclinations in man, and Moses and Aharon, the two brothers who took the children of Israel out of Egypt and led them to Mount Sinai.

Shavuot means "weeks," referring to the seven weeks counted between Passover and Shavuot in preparation for the Giving of the Torah. These seven weeks correspond to the seven clean days in Jewish law; the consummation of the marriage between G-d and the Jewish people will take place in the final redemption, when the world will be totally transformed and G-dly.

The Hebrew letter crowned in Sivan is Zayin, the seventh letter — the Torah was given on the Sabbath, the seventh day; Moses was the seventh leader from Abraham. Zayin means "weapon": one of the names of Mount Sinai is Mount Chorev, the mountain of the sword, for it is only with the power of the Torah that we can battle the evil forces within and around us and prevail. According to the Book of Yetzirah, Sivan is associated with the left foot and the power of walking; having rectified the right foot through Nissan and the work of Iyar, in Sivan we can walk steadily with both feet — growing from level to level in an orderly fashion.

The number three is prominent this month: Sivan is the third month; the Torah is composed of three parts — Torah, Neviim, and Kesuvim; it was given by Moses, the third child, to a three-part nation — Kohanim, Leviim, and Israelites. The number three represents the higher power that reconciles two opposites. Torah was given to make peace: between G-d and man, between the G-dly and the mundane, between evil and good, between heaven and earth.

There is a custom to stay awake the first night of Shavuot and learn Torah, rectifying the mistake of the Jewish people who chose to sleep before receiving the Torah. The Torah was given to help us refine and elevate the physical so it can become a receptacle for the spiritual. This was reflected in the wonder that, though G-d's thundering voice was heard throughout the world uttering the Ten Commandments, there was no echo — the message was totally absorbed in the physical. Jewish souls of all generations were present at Mount Sinai; every year on the sixth of Sivan our soul re-experiences that revelation, and the entire family, even tiny babies, should come to hear the reading of the Ten Commandments. The significance of Mount Sinai, a low mountain, is the proper attitude for receiving Torah: to be proud of our heritage, yet low and humble — fitting vessels for Divine truth.