Why couldn't the sages simply refer to the Torah to resolve the dispute by confirming the correct date? Remarkably, the Torah omits the specific date of Shavuot, unlike other holidays like Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Passover, which have clearly defined dates in the Jewish calendar. Shavuot, marking the covenant between God and Israel at Sinai, is unique in that its precise date is not recorded in the Torah. What, then, does the Torah provide?

The Torah states that the giving occurred "in the third month after the children of Israel left Egypt," meaning Sivan, but it offers no specific day. The only guidance is to "count fifty days" from the day following the first day of Passover. However, because Hebrew months can be either full (30 days) or short (29 days), the lengths of Iyar and Nisan that year could result in multiple possible dates.

Both months might have been short, both full, or one of each, meaning the Torah could have been given on the 5th, 6th, or 7th of Sivan. Further complicating matters, the Torah does not confirm that the Torah was given on the fiftieth day, only that this day is a "holy convocation" when "no work shall be done." Thus, it's a day for rest and celebration – but of what exactly? The Torah remains silent.

The debate over Shavuot's precise and official date might seem like a technical matter of calendar calculations, but it holds a deeper significance. The lack of clarity may reflect a deliberate intent to prevent the Jewish people from tying the Torah to a single day. The Torah is a timeless guide, eternally relevant, and Jews are meant to embrace it anew daily, as expressed in the blessing "who gives the Torah" in the present tense, not "who gave the Torah" in the past.

Yet one question persists: Why didn't the Torah clarify that Shavuot is the day of the giving of the Torah? Why did it take the sages to later define it as "the time of the giving of our Torah"?

Rabbi Sacks explains that Shavuot carries an additional layer of meaning that might have been overlooked if it were solely associated with the giving of the Torah. Every mention of Shavuot in the Torah is linked to agricultural practices, such as the omer offering, roasted and fresh grain, the wave offering, and the first fruits. Additionally, in Emor portion, right after mentioning Shavuot among Israel's festivals, the Torah addresses the commandment of pe'ah – leaving a portion of the field for the poor – and leket, the gleanings for the needy. This indicates that Shavuot also celebrates the Land of Israel. Rabbi Sacks suggests that Shavuot honors two divine gifts: the Torah and the Land.

Thus, the three pilgrimage festivals reflect three phases of the Jewish people's redemption from Egypt: Passover recalls their enslavement and exodus, Sukkot commemorates the 40 years of desert wandering, and Shavuot marks their entry into the Land of Israel.

The link between the Torah and the Land of Israel is clear: the Torah's commandments are fully realized in the Land. Hence, one holiday celebrates both. Today, with the Jewish people's return to their homeland after 2,000 years of exile, during which they safeguarded the Torah's teachings worldwide, it can again be declared, "From Zion shall go forth the Torah, and the word of God from Jerusalem." The surge in Shavuot night study sessions in recent years proves this, as tens of thousands of Israelis – secular, traditional, religious, and ultra-Orthodox – engage in their own way with the Torah's timeless messages, given thousands of years ago.

Rabbi Elie Kling heads the "Atid Chemed" program at the Chemed Academic College in Sdot Negev,.

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1.

More than eight months have passed since the October 7 massacre, a relatively short period in historical terms, even more so when it comes to the history of our people. On that day, the barbarians invaded our borders and massacred, raped, and burned alive women, children, and the elderly; they wiped out entire families and destroyed whole communities – communities where many had previously worked for the welfare of Gazans. They kidnapped hundreds of Israel, alive and dead, and murdered some of the hostages in captivity. Had they been able to, they would have continued their murderous path and killed all of us.

They didn't carry out these atrocities because of the "occupation" or due to "repression" or to economic problems. Today we know, despite the enemy's propaganda and lies, that there was no siege of Gaza. Via huge tunnels crossing into Gaza from Egypt, Hamas smuggled in everything imaginable. There was no occupation of Gaza: In the summer of 2005, Israel withdrew from Gaza taking with it even its dead who had been buried there. The only repression that existed in the Strip was that imposed by the Hamas reign of terror which used its citizens as human shields, hid arms and missiles in kindergartens, schools, mosques and hospitals, and, of course, in the offices of the UNRWA aid agency.  Over the past twenty years or so, all these places served as launching grounds for the tens of thousands of rockets fired at Israeli towns and communities during that time.

Hamas's motives are discussed in detail in the Hamas Charter, the group's founding document, where it speaks of a total commitment to the destruction of Israel and the killing of Jews wherever they may be. The reason is explicit: their religious beliefs, which explains our longstanding blindness as we analyzed the motives of our enemies in terms of rational interests.

2.

The Gaza Strip was the biggest attempt at setting up an independent Palestinian state. What this attempt has shown is that territories that Israel vacates become terror fortresses and citadels of death both for Israel and for the residents of these territories. Moreover, evacuation of territory under pressure of terrorism was interpreted – and rightly so – as a display of weakness by Israel: Perhaps under pressure the Jews will abandon all the land. Compare this with Judea and Samaria where in 2002 in Operation Defensive Shield we restored security control and in the years that followed we methodically purged the territory of its terror nests and prevented the possibility that a terror entity would be established on the mountain ridge right opposite our population centers.

So little time has passed since October 7, yet already there are voices among us who call for an end to the war, for compromise, for the release of murderers from their jails and, most importantly, for the establishment of a Palestinian state. It is unbelievable how memory can fade and deceive us.

The current military campaign requires time and patience. We have to maneuver not just between terror tunnels and terrorist nests as we try not to inflict harm on the civilian population, but we also have to maneuver amidst enormous international pressure to end the war before we have achieved our goals. Even our most faithful ally pressures us with public statements against our military measures and with bureaucratic slow-downs of arms deliveries. And we must not forget that another campaign awaits us in the north, and we must also deal with the head of the octopus, Iran, which finances and supports Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as the Shi'ite militias in Iraq and Syria, the Houthis in Yemen, and other hostile elements.

3.

Sinking Europe is afraid of millions of its Muslim immigrants and is trying to gain a few more years of quiet by scapegoating Israel. The credit we received at the beginning of the war stemmed from the massacre we experienced. For a brief moment, we returned to our "traditional" role – eternal victims, crucified like Jesus. But as soon as we rose from the dust and fought back, global support began to erode: the deep antisemitic currents that are thousands of years old negatively influence how the world reacts when Jews refuse to be victims and refuse to be crucified, but instead slay their attackers. Jesus came down from the cross, wrapped himself in a prayer shawl and returned home to be a Jew in Galilee. This time he is no longer willing to be crucified; He has weapons, and he knows well how to use them.

As in the 1930s, Europeans will find themselves facing the bitter truth, and then we will see their moral standards as they fight for their lives in the streets of their cities. About one million Jews live in Europe. Why do they cling to a dream that is over? Why do they not come to Israel, what are they waiting for? Dear Jews, danger is already knocking on your door. Stop grazing in foreign fields, come home.

4.

Were someone unfamiliar with the situation to browse social networks or watch almost all the news channels, they would get the impression that the war with our external enemies is over, and in fact the real enemy is within us, in the form of a political rival, even though his sons too are fighting for the security of the people. A certain group, the same group that led the protests in the dreadful year preceding the massacre, is once again disseminating appalling messages against their brethren (even if they are political opponents), especially against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

A certain person who received a religious education, calls the prime minister "Satan," compares him to Saddam Hussein, and polishes off by saying, "We will erase the memory of Netanyahu." Shame on him. What blasphemy to quote the eternal biblical commandment [to erase the memory of Amalek] that is appropriate for the Nazis and the Hamas terrorists and apply it to those who lead the military and diplomatic campaign against our enemies and would-be murderers. Why didn't the media and the intelligentsia cry out that we must eradicate evil from our midst? And where is the Attorney General? After all, people were arrested on charges of incitement and sedition for far less than that.

5.

This Shabbat we will read about the spies that Moses sent to scout Canaan and gather intelligence ahead of its conquest. The spies returned from their mission and spoke in praise of the land, but instead of concentrating on the facts that Moses had asked for, they made themselves advisors and expressed reservations at what they had seen: "However, the people that dwell in the land are fierce, and the cities are fortified, and very great; and moreover, we saw the children of Anak there."Moreover, the land was full of might peoples, and they "spread an evil report of the land which they had spied out." The people were swayed by the spies' report, and they blamed the leadership for bringing them out of Egypt only to kill them in a war for "this land" (the land had become a hateful object). What use did they have for war and international pressure? The peoples of the region want to remove us from our land and the effort required amidst this reality to maintain a strong society with Torah and science, economy and education, cultural foundations, is enormous. We would be better off in the desert or in Germany, France or the United States, and live at the mercy of others, they say.

The people said: "Let us make a captain and let us return into Egypt." They had forgotten in little time that they had come from the House of Bondage, from the concentration and labor camps, from newborn males being thrown into the Nile, from the cruelties and the horrors they had suffered for so long. At that moment, fear dictated their thoughts. The night that the Children of Israel cried and despaired they would never enter the Promised Land has since been marked as the root of all our troubles; our sages noted the date, Tisha B'Av! (the 9^th of Av) Since then and throughout history, the sin of the spies hung as a sword over the people, disenchantment with the land our fathers yearned for, a poison chalice for the destruction of the first and second temples and for our long exile.

The great test was the atonement for this sin, returning from exile despite the dangers, and clinging to the land while settling in it and making it bloom. The test is not over. Hamas and Hezbollah, the Palestinian Authority and Iran and other enemies seek to expel us from our country. The war does not end with eradicating evil and destroying terrorists; it requires us to strengthen our hold on all parts of the Land of Israel and deepen our roots there. In the face of cries of despair, we repeat today the immortal cry of Joshua and Caleb: "The land that we traversed and scouted is an exceedingly good land."

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An ancient lead talisman has been discovered in the rubble left over from an archaeological excavation conducted in the 1980s at Mount Ebal in Samaria, which researchers believe is the location of Joshua's Altar.

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The talisman was first identified a year ago during the process of sifting the rubble from the site.

This marks the first time an artifact bearing ancient Hebrew inscriptions has been located at Joshua's Altar, and researchers have dated it to 1,200 BCE. The inscription includes the early Hebrew version of the letter "aleph" and a symbol that resembles a lotus flower, but researchers have not yet completely determined its origin.

Head of the Samaria Regional Council Yossi Dagan said that the talisman was proof of the Jewish people's deep connection to Samaria.

"The new findings unearthed at Mount Ebal prove again and again the deep and inviolable connection the Jewish people have to Samaria and the entire Land of Israel. The discovery of Joshua's Altar by the late archaeologist Professor Adam Zertal is one of the most important in the history of Land of Israel archaeology," Dagan said.

Zvi Koenigsberg, who helped Zertal with the excavations at the site in the 1980s, said, "After the excavation, we left mounds of rubble we had dug up. A group of Professor Zertal's friends moved them to a save place, where it was possible to investigate them. Years later, the appropriate tools with which to sift rubble were developed."

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Inspectors from the Antiquities Robbery Prevention Unit in the Israel Antiquities Authority have retrieved a collection of over 6,000 ancient coins that were being illegally sold.

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After scouring digital platforms to track down the coins, members of the unit pinned their suspicions on the owner of a jewelry store in Ashkelon whom they believed to be selling the coins in violation of the country's antiquities laws.

'Illegal trade in antiquities comprises a critical link in the chain that feeds off antiquities theft. Antiquities theft strikes an irreversible blow to the country's ancient sites,' says IAA's national inspector for trading Ilan Hadad

When the seller's home and business were raided, officials found thousands of coins from various eras that were intended for sale or trade. Inspectors also found metal implements and digging equipment that they suspect the seller used to steal artifacts from archaeological excavations.

The suspect was detained and questioned by inspectors from the Robberies Prevention Unit, who will then hand the case over to the Attorney General for prosecution.

The recovered coins have been sent to IAA numismatists to be identified and dated.

Ilan Hadad, national inspector for trading at the IAA, explained that "Illegal trade in antiquities comprises a critical link in the chain that feeds off antiquities theft. Antiquities theft strikes an irreversible blow to the country's ancient sites.

"The robbers, who dig at archaeological sites, destroying them out of greed, cut the antiquities off from their archaeological context and erase entire chapters of the history of the Land of Israel. These are stories that will now never be told," Hadad said.

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Evidence of farming and industrial activity dating back some 1,500 years has been unearthed at an Israel Antiquities Authority excavation in the upper middle-class Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat Hasharon.

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The project, initiated by the Ramat Hasharon Municipality in preparation for the construction of a new residential neighborhood, has thus far uncovered a large wine vat, a gold coin, and a bronze chain used to hang a lighting fixture.

"We have discovered evidence of farming and industrial activity that took place here 1,500 years ago, during the Byzantine Era," said Dr. Yoav Arbel, who is overseeing the dig on behalf of the IAA.

"Among other finds, we have unearthed a large wine vat with a mosaic bottom, plastered rooms, and the foundations of a large building that appears to have served as a storage facility and possibly a farm house," Arbel added.

According to the archaeologist, it appears that in Byzantine times, people not only worked the site, but also lived there.

"We have found remains of homes and two large ovens," he observed. Other artifacts uncovered in the excavation include intact clay pottery lamps and serving bowls – both locally made and imported. Some of the bowls feature decorations. Based on the findings, researchers believe that the site was inhabited until the 11^th century CE.

"Inside the structures we found fragments of storage jugs and cooking vessels, which appear to have been used by the people who worked the fields here. We also found grinding stones used to grind wheat and barley, and apparently also cooking and medicinal herbs. Some of the stone tools are made of basalt originating from the Golan Heights and the eastern Galilee," Arbel explained.

Video: Assaf Peretz/Israel Antiquities Authority

The excavation also turned up a gold coin that Arbel said was minted in 638 or 639 CE by the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius (Heraklion). One side of the coin features the emperor with his two sons, and the second side depicts a cross on top of Golgotha, where according to Christian tradition Jesus was crucified.

Arbel said that the coin had also been inscribed with a simple inscription in Greek letters, and possibly in Arabic. The inscription appears to have been the name of its owner, who marked it and treated it as a precious object.

Dr. Robert Cole, a numismatics expert with the IAA, said, "The coin contains various information about the end of the Byzantine rule in the Land of Israel and historical events like the Persian invasion and the advent of Islam, information about the symbolic significance of Christianity and paganism, and the local population living in the Land of Israel at that time."

Cole said that another important find was a bronze chain used to hang a lighting fixture that included glass lamps. "Fixtures like these were generally found in churches," he explained.

According to Cole, after the Muslim conquest in the seventh century CE, a glassmaking factory was built at the site, as well as a storehouse. Four large storage jugs have been found in the ruined storehouse, sunk into the floor, and appear to have been used to hold seeds and other goods and protect them from pests and weather.

Ramat Hasharon Mayor Avi Gruber said he was "thrilled" at the finds, and that the city was already working with the developers of the planned Naveh Gan residential project on ways of preserving the discoveries and integrating them into the construction.

"I want every resident to enjoy them and learn about life here in ancient times and the Middle Ages. We're working on a heritage program and this adds another huge angle to life here on this land," Gruber said.

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An archaeological survey in the northeast of the Binyamin Region conducted by the Martin Szuz Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology at Bar-Ilan University has turned up two rare coins at two adjacent sites.

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One coin, discovered at Khirbet Jabaat, dates back to the Jewish revolt against the Romans and was minted in the year 67 CE. One side of the coin bears a depiction of a grape leaf and the Hebrew inscription "Herut Zion" (Freedom for Zion), while the other side is imprinted with a cup and the inscription "Year Two." The coin is the latest Second Temple-Era find unearthed at this site, which includes mikvehs, secret tunnels, stone vessels, and burial caves.

The second coin, excavated at a site in the cliffs of Wadi Rashash, caused significant excitement among the archaeologists.

Dr. Dvir Raviv, who is directing the survey, explained that the coin was the first tangible evidence that the area in question had been under the administrative control of Bar Kochba, and might even testify to the existence of a Jewish community in the region until 134-135 CE, despite the prevailing belief that all Jewish communities to the north of Jerusalem were razed in the great revolt of the 7^th decade CE and never resurrected.

One side of the coin from Wadi Rashash, which is believed to have been minted in 134-135 CE, is imprinted with a palm frond surrounded by a wreath, which itself is surrounded by the Hebrew inscription "LeHerut Yerushalayim" (To the Liberation of Jerualem). The other side depicts musical instruments, possibly a harp, and the name "Shimon" – the first name of the leader of the revolt against the Romans, Shimon Ben Kosevah, better known as Shimon Bar Kochba.

The Binyamin Regional Council and the grassroots heritage preservation organization Shomrim al Hanetzach (Preserving Eternity) said in response to the discoveries that the area is full of archaeological remains and antiquities, which are being robbed and destroyed by local Arabs. The council and the organization called on the government to adopt a national emergency plan to save the sites.

Binyamin Regional Council chairman Yisrael Gantz said: "We have a national obligation to preserve these precious finds that tie us to this place. The Israeli government must take responsibility for its heritage and prevent ethno-religious robberies and vandalism."

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The research, which began in 2017 when the IAA conducted a salvation dig to save antiquities that were under threat, indicates that the site might have been the first in the world to use a furnace.

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Archaeologist Talia Abulafia, who led the excavation for the IAA, said that it had turned up evidence of "domestic production from the Chalcolithic period, about 6,500 years ago. The surprising finds include a small workshop for smelting copper with shards of a furnace – a small installation made of tin in which copper ore was smelted – as well as a lot of copper slag."

The Chalcolithic period (the word is made up of the Greek words for "copper" and "stone") is so named because although metalworking was already in evidence, the tools used were still made of stone. At the Neveh Noy site, an analysis of the isotopes of ore remnants in the furnace shards show that the raw ore was brought to the workshop from Wadi Faynan, located in present-day Jordan, more than 100 km. (62 miles) away.

The furnace may have been a local invention.

"At the first stage of humankind's copper production, crucibles rather than furnaces were used," said Prof. Erez Ben-Yosef of the Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near East Civilizations at TAU.

Ben-Yosef noted that the Neveh Noy dig had unearned evidence that the technology was furnace-based, which raises the possibility that the furnace was invented in this region. Howeve, he noted, it might have been invented elsewhere.

Still, he explained, there is "no doubt" that ancient Beersheba played an important role in advancing the global metal revolution and "that in the fifth millennium BCE the city was a technological powerhouse for this whole region."

"It's important to understand that the refining of copper was the high-tech of that period. There was no technology more sophisticated than that in the whole of the ancient world," Ben-Yosef explained.

"Tossing lumps of ore into a fire will get you nowhere. You need certain knowledge for building special furnaces that can reach very high temperatures while maintaining low levels of oxygen," Ben-Yosef said.

According to the researcher, the people who lived near the copper mines traded with members of the Ghassulian culture from Beersheba and sold them the ore, although they did not have the capability to process it themselves. Even among the Ghassulian settlements, copper was refined by experts in special workshops. Moreover, a chemical analysis of remnants indicates that every workshop had its own special "recipe," which it did not share with its competitors.

In addition to Ben-Yosef and Abulafia, partners in  the study include Dana Ackerfeld and Omri Yagel of the Jacob M. Alkow Department of Archeology and Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations at Tel Aviv University and Dr. Yael Abadi-Reiss, and Dmitry Yegorov of the Israel Antiquities Authority, as well as Dr. Yehudit Harlavan of the Geological Survey of Israel.

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At some point, the Egyptians abandoned the citadel, paving the way for the destruction of numerous Canaanite cities, likely at the hands of the Philistines.

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According to IAA archaeologists Saar Ganor and Itamar Weissbein the citadel unearthed measures 18 meters (59 feet) by 18 meters and had towers at its four corners that served as lookout posts.

"The citadel we discovered offers a glimpse into the geopolitical reality described in the Book of Judges, where the Canaanites, Israelites and Philistines are battling each other," Ganor and Weissbein were quoted as saying in the statement.

"At the time, the Land of Canaan was ruled by the Egyptians, and its residents were under their protection," the archaeologists said. "But then, during the 12th century BCE, two central players appeared in the area: the Israelites and the Philistines. And thus began a series of bloody territorial struggles."

This article was originally published by i24NEWS.

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The fourth day of the Hebrew month of Iyyar, and Israel is celebrating its 71^st year. It sounds official in 2018, right? But that's just it, it's not. Every year, every Independence Day, brings new wonder, something uniquely Israeli. Members of my generation, who were born into the reality of a sovereign Israel, are still moved every time: how was our generation privileged to fulfill the dream of our forefathers, the founders of the state, the dream of the return to Zion – "we were like those who dream." Why us? Wondering why assumes that our generation is better than the ones before us, because we managed to bring about what our predecessors could not. That's a mistake.

The state of Israel is the fruit of the work of many generations. One after another passed to the next the baton of the dream and the vision. It was a mission, both personal and collective. Judaism and Zionism have been running a relay race for thousands of years. An eternal initiative. My god, may it never end. Maybe herein lies the secret of our success: this is an initiative that is constantly in the making. At age 71, despite its success, the Zionist enterprise is still in its infancy. The country is still waiting for new residents, new immigrants, new babies, and new challenges. Like it was on its first Independence Day. Even 100 years from now, our great-grandchildren will still be thrilled when Israel marks its 171^st anniversary. That is how it is on Israel's Independence Day. From "we were like those who dream" we have become a people who live the dream; from the poem by Bialik to the guy who fixes the barbecue grill, we are still searching for the right balance.

2

The wonderful idea of the state of Israel contains an inherent contradiction: on one hand, the land has always been promised to us; on the other, at age 71 we are still a people in denial. This contradiction between the dream and the reality began in the time of our patriarch Abraham, the founder of the Israelite nation, who when the great promises made to him prompted him to leave everything and go into the land of Israel, was forced to exert all his strength to buy a grave for his wife at an exorbitant price. The stubborn opposition of various nations throughout history to recognize our people's national and religious idea – establishing an independent state of our own – help makes Independence Day such a delicious holiday. Think for a moment how Titus would respond to the nation-state law.

While we complain about the traffic jams and hospital beds being set up in corridors (important issues that must be addressed, certainly), it would also be appropriate to mention where we were 1,000 or 2,000 years ago. Let's travel back in time for a bit. The year is 19 C.E. Our land of Israel is no longer an independent state. In effect, since 63 BCE we have been under Roman rule. Then, there really was an occupation. Not like today.

3

Indeed, the year 19 finds our land under the first Roman prefecture. The prefect is Valerius Gratus, not a particularly nice man. The Romans were determined to clash with the Jewish population and offend our religious sensibilities, which came to a head in 70 C.E. when they destroyed the Second Temple. The year 19 proved that the problem wasn't one for Jews in their own country but rather for Jews in general: Jews in Rome were punished en masse for not wanting to wage war on their Sabbath or holidays.

A thousand years passed. In 1019, the Jews in the land of Israel were under occupation by the princes of Egypt, the Egyptian Shiite Fatimids who in 942 conquered our land. We don't miss them. A few decades later, the Crusaders arrived and in 1099 conquered Jerusalem, mercilessly slaughtering the non-Christian residents, who, of course, included the Jews. Tens of thousands of Jews were killed in their own country, which was not recognized by foreign occupiers. That Crusade, the first, which had begun three years earlier in 1096, left behind a trail of destroyed Jewish communities and thousands of murdered Jews. Our sources call these events the Rhineland massacres.

4

Since then, another 1,000 years have passed, and here we are, a free people in their own country for 71 years – albeit with traffic jams, but they are our traffic jams. Israeli traffic jams. The Israeli people understand very well the great privilege of living in these times. As early as the eighth century BCE Isaiah prophesied: "Lift up your eyes around and see; they all gather, they come to you. As I live, declares the Lord, you shall put them all on as an ornament; you shall bind them on as a bride does."

The biggest ornament our nation is honored to dorn is the ingathering of the exiles, the millions of Jews who arrived from the four corners of the earth to fulfill the dream of generations.

So yes, from time to time there are unbearable rounds of violence with our neighbors, but despite the difficulty, we have an obligation to look at the broader picture. And to remember: of all the countries in the region, Israel – the one under the biggest threat – is the most successful, thank God. Israel has been ranked eighth in the world in the Power category of the Best Countries Index, ahead of most of the world's nations. There is a reason why we are ranked No. 13 on the U.N. World Happiness Index.

5

More than 9 million Israeli citizens, including the employees of Israel Hayom – and me, as their representative – say today, and every day: Thank you. We remember the 23,741 fallen who died so we could live and gave us the fulfillment of the dream and this wonderful country. And you, our readers and all the citizens of Israel of every faith, look around and tell me – would you really want to live in any country besides our lovely little Israel, who is 71 today? Happy Independence Day!

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