Why is Shavuot Called “Z’man Matan Torateinu”?

Shavuot as "Z'man Matan Torateinu" "on one foot":

The holiday of Shavuot is sometimes called "Z'man Matan Torateinu", "the time of the giving of the Torah". This source sheet looks at reasons for that.

Context: This is from the Shulchan Aruch, Rabbi Joseph Caro’s 1563 compendium of Jewish law. The Shulchan Aruch has 4 sections; this is from the first one, Orach Chayim, which is about synagogue matters (among other things). This text lays out some of the rules of what we read and pray specifically on Shavuot.

Why would Shavuot be called “The Time of Giving Our Torah” and not “The Time of Receiving Our Torah”?

Rabbi Louis Finkelstein

When I pray, I speak to G-d. When I study, G-d speaks to me.

Context: This quote is attributed to Rabbi Louis Finkelstein (1895-1991). He was the chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary.

What does this have to do with Revelation in our own time?

Context: This is from the very beginning of Pirkei Avot, a collection of Rabbinic quotes in the Mishnah. The rabbis spanned from 200 BCE to 200 CE, and Pirkei Avot is the only tractate of the Mishnah which solely focuses on ethical living.

As time goes by and we get further away from Sinai, is that bad because the tradition is weakening, or better because we can see further by standing on the shoulders of the ones who came before us?

Context: This text is from the the Biblical Book of Deuteronomy. It is near the end, when Moses is finishing up his last speech to the Israelites.

If G-d is making the covenant with both Jews who were alive then and who were not there, what does that say about ongoing revelation?

Appendix: General Background on How the Festivals Developed

During the Babylonian Exile, in Babylonia the people had become accustomed to rest from work on the Sabbath, and on such holidays as Passover, Sukkot, and Shavuot. In Judea they had refrained from working on these days because their religion forbade them. In Babylonia, many of them supposed that they no longer needed to observe their religion. Nevertheless, most of them continued to rest on such occasions. They probably argued that they were doing this in memory of the old days when their nation was free and independent. Besides the feasts and the days of rest, they also began to observe days of fasting. All of them mourned on the anniversary of the day when the walls of Jerusalem began to crumble under the attacks of the Babylonians, and on the day when the city fell. For these reasons, the 10th of Tevet, the 17th of Tammuz, and the 9th of Av were observed as fast days. Such days of rejoicing and of mourning were almost enough to keep the Jews separate from the Babylonians, and to unit them in common memories.

The Jews lived in groups. It was therefore natural for those living near one another to meet on the days when they decided not to do any work in their fields or in their shops. On Sabbaths, feast days, and fast days they would gather together and recall the glories of the past. They could not perform the sacrifices which the priests used to offer up on such occasions, but they could sing the songs which accompanied the sacrifices, and which the scribes had succeeded in collecting. It was most likely on such occasions that the prophets addressed the people and told them not to give up hope, and taught them how much worthier the God of Israel was than the gods whom the Babylonians worshipped. A prophet or scribe who was present read to the assembly a portion of the Torah or the written work of a prophet who had lived long before and who had urged the Judeans or the Israelites to be a godly people. These meetings thus provided the real means for the preservation of the Jews.

- A History of the Jews, by Solomon Grayzel, p. 32-33