In the Midrash Pirkei Avot 3:17, we learn “ein kemach, ein Torah; ein Torah, ein kemach”— “If there is no flour, there is no Torah; if there is no Torah, there is no flour.” Flour and bread, as is Torah, are foundational.
This seemingly simple sentence encapsulates so much of what it is to be Jewish, to unpack it would take a lifetime of experience and wisdom. Flour is the fruit of agricultural labor and an object of gratitude for the fragility of food production. Flour is calories, it is the insurance policy that another generation will have enough to hopefully produce another generation—l’olam va’ed.
If we remind ourselves of the story of the Garden of Eden, there were two trees from which Adam and Eve were forbidden to eat: the Tree of Discernment and the Tree of Life. Adam and Eve managed to eat the fruit of the Tree of Discernment and were thrust from the safety of the garden to toil and create food and offspring for themselves, thus forbidden from eating of the fruit from the Tree of Life… That was until God understood that we, the Jewish people, were ready l’kabel Torah—to receive the Torah.
Torah is wisdom; “it is a Tree of Life to all that hold fast to it.” When we bless the Torah, after leining, we thank God for choosing us to receive this precious gift, but we also say: “v’chaeyi olam nata b’tocheinu”—“And within us, You have instilled life eternal.” When we received Torah at Mount Sinai, not just for the generation of the desert, but for all time, we received life eternal; not for us, but for our children and our children’s children. By passing the Torah, your Torah, from generation to generation, we sustain this: the unbroken chain.
Chag Shavuot Sameach.