Thoughts on “Tikkun Leil Shavuot”: Tradition, Kabbalah and Philosophy

We are once again approaching the Shavuot festival. As every year, anticipation of the "tikkun," the cheesecakes, and festive dishes, is growing. But the highlight of Shavuot is the communal learning throughout the night. In the following words, I would like to explore the nature of this night, its origins, and some thoughts about it.

In Judaism, there are three nights on which we customarily stay awake all night—one according to Halacha (Jewish law), the second according to Kabbalah, and the third simply by custom. Interestingly, the order of their practical acceptance is exactly the opposite of their traditional significance:

• Seder night: According to halacha, one should not sleep on Seder night, or more precisely, one should recount the Exodus from Egypt "until sleep overtakes one." Nevertheless, most people go to sleep as usual.

• Hoshana Rabbah night: Many people customarily stay awake, and the origins of this custom lie in Kabbalah. In practice, this custom has become established in many communities.

• Shavuot Night: The custom of studying all night has been adopted in all Jewish communities, perhaps because it is primarily a custom as opposed to an obligation.

  
  

The origin of the custom

The origin of the custom of studying all night on Shavuot can be found in the Midrash. It tells us that the Israelites were sleeping and didn't wake up in time to receive the Torah, and God had to awaken them with thunder and lightning. To atone for our initial lack of enthusiasm, we usually study all night in preparation for receiving the Torah. This custom has developed in various forms throughout all Jewish communities—some read specific texts ("tikkun"), while others study Torah all night.

While searching for earlier sources for this custom, I found a text by Philo of Alexandria (20 BC–45 AD) that describes a ritual of a Jewish sect called the “Therapeutae,” which celebrated the festival of Shavuot in a unique way.

Shavuot at the Therapeutae according to Philo of Alexandria

For Jews unable to celebrate the festival in Jerusalem, Shavuot was often a modest celebration. There wasn't much preparation like Passover, which involves baking and eating matzo, or Sukkot, which involves building a sukkah. Yet the festival—fifty days after the Omer count—was particularly appealing to philosophically inclined Jews. Philo, a Jewish thinker of the Hellenistic period who was heavily influenced by Pythagorean numerology, describes how the Therapeutae, ascetic Jews living in Egypt who devoted their lives to study and contemplation, celebrated Shavuot differently.

On the night of Shavuot, “after seven cycles of seven days,” on the eve of “the main festival, which makes fifty for it,” Philo describes:

"They gather, dressed in white, their faces expressing serenity mixed with great seriousness. But before they eat, at a signal from one of the members of the 'rota'—the common name for those who perform the rituals—they stand in orderly row, their eyes and hands raised to heaven: their eyes because they are accustomed to looking at what is worthy of contemplation, and their hands as a symbol that they are clean from all personal gain or commercial impurities. Thus they stand and pray that the meal may be acceptable and take place according to the will of God. The meal is also shared by women, most of them elderly virgins who maintained their purity not out of compulsion, as was customary among certain Greek priestesses, but of their own free will and because of their desire for wisdom. Because of this desire, they chose wisdom as their life partner and rejected physical pleasures, desiring no mortal offspring.

Afterwards, they enjoy a modest vegetarian meal, with water instead of wine. During the meal, they listen in silence to a leader who slowly teaches from the scriptures, interpreting them allegorically. Afterwards, they sing hymns—first individually and then all together, in harmony or antiphonally.

Philo even specifically emphasizes that women play an equal role in the assembly, both in seeking wisdom and in participating in the choir, writing how “the soprano of the women blends with the bass of the men, creating the best possible harmony.”

The ceremony lasted all night

"Thus they continue until dawn, intoxicated by a state of mind that brings no shame. Not sluggish or with closed eyes, but more alert and sharper than when they arrived for the meal. And then, with their faces and bodies turned toward the east, and seeing the sun rise, they raise their hands to heaven and pray for enlightened days, for knowledge of the truth, and for renewed power of thought. And afterward, each returns to his private sanctuary to resume his pursuits and cultivate his field of philosophy." (On the Contemplative Life)

This ritual, which perhaps describes an early "Tikkun Leil Shavuot," gives us insight into the spirituality of this evening, as well as into relatively egalitarian communities in early Judaism. Today, we see how customs and traditions maintain their place and relevance, even in the face of changing fashions.

I wish for all of us that, amidst all the joy, celebration, and late sleeping, we also use this evening for deep self-reflection and contemplation of the universe, and that we emerge from this “Tikkun” purified, better, and “repaired.”

זַכָּאִין כַּד שְׁמַעְתּוּן, שְׁבַח דָּא שִׁירָתָא:

קְבִיעִין כֵּן תֶּהֱווּן, בְּהַנְהוּ חֲבוּרָתָא:

Chag Samech!