Dear Family,

I hope that Pesach was a joyful time for all. As I'm sure you all noticed, already in the beginning of Pesach we prepare ourselves for Shavuot with the count of the Omer.

No other holiday has so much anticipation put into it as the holiday of Shavuot. Seven weeks before, we make the "countdown" to the day the Torah was given at Mount Sinai. What is the insight we can derive from this.

The Torah tells us in Deuteronomy (chapter 33 verse 4), "Torah was commanded to us from Moshe, an inheritance for the congregation of Jacob." The rabbis point out that the word, "inheritance" has a double reading it can also be as read, "betrothed."

There are many reasons for this dual connotation. A concept which can relate to us that an inheritance can sometimes become an old relic in our eyes but the Torah must remain fresh and new just as we relate to our betrothed waiting for the wedding day. The way to have such a perspective is to see the relevance of Torah in our daily lives. To give an example of this let us take a verse from the weekly portion. We are commanded to eat only specific living animals (chapter 11 verses 1-23 ). The Torah tells us that the reason for this is because we are likened to a ailing person who can't eat whatever he wants but rather must retain a strict diet to recover. We learn from here that if someone wants to grow spiritually he has to worry about his physical side also because the two go hand in hand.

So it is no wonder that we have a countdown to the day we receive our, "bride." To remind ourselves that she is just as pertinent to us in our day and age as she was 3300 years ago.

All the best

Michael