May 1, 2026
Each year, I look forward to Beth Tikvah’s Shavuot celebration. For years, we have called it Torahthon because, much like a telethon that goes on for hours on TV, the night of Shavuot is traditionally observed with hours of study lasting into the wee hours of the morning. Our study does not go that long, but we do take time to immerse ourselves in Jewish learning. The traditional name for this evening of study is Tikkun Leil Shavuot. The word tikkun, as we know, indicates healing or repair. Why would a night of learning bring us a sense of healing or repair? Or perhaps, why is a night of learning itself an act of healing or repair?
To answer those questions, we turn to the collective voices of our tradition. Bracha Seri, a Yemenite-Israeli poet, writes:
“With great awe I listen to my ancestors, reading, suckling from healthy roots, soaking in, tinkling through my soul—till the words ferment within—emerging, seeping through my heart, my life source.”
As links in the generations-long chain of Jewish tradition, we stand like trees with firm trunks and leaves stretching wide, providing shade. Flowers turn to fruit, to be picked by those who crave nourishment for a hungry soul. All of this is nourished from below by roots stretching deeper and deeper into the ground, drawing in water from pools lying far beyond our sight, and from above by the sun’s warmth as it converts light into energy.
Why is Torah likened to water, the rabbis once asked?
A midrash teaches that we read Torah on Mondays, Thursdays, and Shabbat because, just as a human being cannot go more than three days without life-sustaining water, so too a human being cannot go more than three days without life-sustaining Torah. While three days without Torah may not be detrimental to our physical health as three days without water would be, it is certainly detrimental to our spiritual health. The study of Torah is an invitation to immerse ourselves in the life-sustaining and guiding values Jewish tradition has to offer. However, it is not solely the words of Torah that guide us, but also the voices of our ancestors who taught and interpreted Torah as a guide for their own lives. Torah provides healing because its words nurture every aspect of our being.
Why is Torah likened to light, the rabbis once asked? The Book of Proverbs, the Jewish Bible’s collection of ancient wisdom, teaches us: “The mitzvah is a lamp, and Torah is light” (Proverbs 6:23). Just as the sun provides light to help a tree grow, so too the Torah provides light, sustaining our own Jewish growth. The rabbis of the midrash (Genesis Rabbah 3:6) teach that God took the light from the first day of creation and hid it away for future generations of the righteous to uncover. It is left to us, in every generation, to immerse ourselves in Torah study so that we may discover that light. Yet we know that we do not take that light in solely for ourselves. We use it to create fruit—mitzvot, our actions—which become a light to all those touched by what helps us grow.
Why is Torah study an act of tikkun? Because it raises up wisdom from generations past, brings us light that guides us on our path, and helps us reflect that light into the darkest places we encounter.
Written by Rabbi Rick Kellner