Shavuos is the “forgotten” holiday, the Jewish festival that is not only uncelebrated by less observant Jews, but almost entirely forgotten by them!
Why?
Might the reason be connected to what Shavuos signifies?
Shavuos is given to us as Hag ha-Katzir, “Feast of the Harvest”, and Hag ha-Bikkurim “Feast of the First-Fruits.” And our sages associate Shavuos with the receiving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai.
Is the connection between all of these that Shavuos is a day of thanksgiving for our physical and spiritual blessings?
We know that children (and people) do not instinctively say “thank you” – this is behavior that has to be taught and modeled. And we know why: saying “thank you” is difficult for most people. It is especially difficult for Jews, who have a hard time being happy with what we have. The harvest? It could have been more full. The fruits? The ones we had when I was a child were much tastier! We even employ superstition, warding off the evil eye, to keep us from saying how good things are.
So perhaps we instinctively resist Shavuos, when we are supposed to triumphantly thank Hashem for our blessings?
The problem gets worse when we consider the Torah. After all, most Jews in the world have a deeply ambivalent approach to the Torah. Ask any non-orthodox Jew, and he or she will share their “problems” with the Torah – all of the stringent commandments, the simplistic-sounding story of creation, the “dated” or “irrelevant” treatment of slavery, homosexuality, or sacrifices. We are Jews, which means that our love of disagreement ironically runs roughshod over even the living document that records our earliest contrary thoughts and actions.
And to top it all off, there tends to be an underlying sense of guilt, of disconnection from thousands of years of observant Jewish ancestors, perhaps looking down at us from the spiritual plane. It is embarassing, especially if we have not been faithful to our traditions, to consider our great-grandparents, and how they would see us today.
In other words, the Torah and our mesorah is, to many Jews, a source of embarrassment – at least when it is brought up at all.
Does this explain why Jews who have wandered from the Torah abandon Shavuos first?