Please see this post on Hag Shavuot post
Shavuot is the most important event in human history. It is the Matan Torah, "The giving of the Torah." That "giving" is still present tense, still the action of G*d giving meaning to creation.
Today, I cried on the way to work because I am an exile but even though the whole community treats me contemptuously, so I seek humility in G*d and they cannot take my faith. The irreligious mean nothing to me.
The first day's reading is Shemot 19:1-20:22 with Bamidbar 28:26-31. The Haftorah is Ezek 1:1-28; 3:12
The second Day's reading is Deut 15:19-16:17 and Hab 2:20-3:19. 14:22-15:18 are added if Day 2 is on Shabbat.
The first day's reading is Shemot 19:1-20:22
"In the third month" (19:1) after leaving Egypt the Children of Israel are encamped before "the Mount" (19:2) in the "wilderness of Sinai (19:2)
Moses is commanded by G*d to "Set before [The house of Yaakov] all the words" (19:7) Which we know to be the Torah and Law. G*d tells Moses "Hearken to my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be my treasure from among the peoples, for all the Earth is mine. You shall be unto me a kingdom of Priests and a holy nation. (19:5-6).
The jewish people answer "All that the LORD hath spoken we will do." (19:8)
Verses 19:9-25 relate a complex sequence of events. G*d commands two days of sanctification for the people. This relates in a sense to ritual purification. They are to "wash their garments" (19:10), "not come near woman" (19:15), and to be put to death if they "touch the mountain" (19:12) This "Touching" is strangely reiterated as "no hand shall touch him."
The shofar is mentioned "when the ram's horn soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount." (19:13)
Verses 14-25 are spell binding and perplexing. Amidst thunder, lightening, fire, smoke, "the voice of the horn", and earth quakes, "Moses brought for the people out of the camp to meet G*d" (19:17)
"And the LORD came down upon mount Sinai, to the top of the mount; and the LORD called Moses to the top of the mount; and Moses went up." (19:20)
Yet at this point there begins an "argument" between Moses and G*d. G*d tells Moses to " 'Go down, charge the people (also the priests), lest they break through unto the LORD to gaze, and many of them perish." (19:21-22)
But Moses replies "The people cannot come up to mount Sinai; for thou didst charge us, saying: Set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it.' (23)
G*d then commands Moses "'Go, get thee down, and thou shalt come up, thou, and Aaron with thee; but let not the priests and the people break through to come up unto the LORD, lest He break forth upon them."
One barely has time to contemplate this bizarre conversation. Yet, right before the giving of the ten commandments, it demonstrates something about the Law.
Moses, the greatest of all Teachers makes an argument based on a command G*d gave him less than a day ago. G*d though is not bound by the Law.
Understanding that is the prerequisite to accepting his sovereignty and the Torah. The whole of instruction/meaning is represented by the Decalogue which follows. Shemot 20:1-13. The first ten letters are also like sepiroth but the important issue is humans respond.
G*d has given the creation the Torah, we have to return it in the covenant.
The Ten commandments are then read. Following them, G*d gives law for burnt offerings and peace offerings (20:18-22)
A second Torah is needed to read from Bamidbar 28:26-31. These verses expand on the Decalogue to include the offering of the first fruits, sin offerings, and drink offerings. This suggest that in addition to how we are to behave there are means to rectify and remove impurity.
The Haftorah is Ezek 1:1-28; 3:12. This concerns the Navi Ezekiel's own visitation with G*d. "The word of the LORD came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi " (1:3)
The next twenty-eight verses concern a vision of celestial beings; agents of G*d. They are the medium of the prophets’ visions. These will all concern the failure of Israel to keep the covenant and the destruction of the kingdom.
This is a fitting conclusion to a remembrance that the G*d who delivered us from Egypt gave us the prophets but still gives us the law. The height of Matan Torah on Shavout is contrasted with the lightening and fire of Ezekiel's vision. A vision of the coming destruction of a debased community. They are debased because they turn away from the Torah.
Yet the answer is also added by our teachers who jump to chapter 3 verse
"Then a spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me the voice of a great rushing: 'Blessed be the glory of the LORD from His place'" (E3:12)
May the L*rd be heard and what he hath "spoken" let us live in the covenant.
The second Day's reading is Dvarim 15:19-16:17 and verses 14:22-15:18 are added if Day 2 is on Shabbat. Oddly this is also the special reading for the eighth and final day of Pesach.
I have written on theses verses on another post. Scroll to the heading for the eight day at this link Pesach Special Readings
Note that for Pesach the Haftorah is IS (10:32-12:6) but for Shavout it is Hab 2:20-3:19.
Hab 2:20-3:19 is almost the entire book of Navi Habakkuk.
I believe I have written on him but am trying to locate the draft of that essay for now I will just copy paste the following
Because the book of Habbakuk consists of five oracles about the Chaldeans (Babylonians), and the Chaldean rise to power is dated circa 612 BCE, it is assumed he was active about that time, making him an early contemporary of Jeremiah and Zephaniah. Jewish sources, however, do not group him with those two prophets, who are often placed together, so it is possible that he was slightly earlier than them.
Because the final chapter of his book is a song, it is sometimes assumed that he was a member of the tribe of Levi, which served as musicians in Solomon's Temple. - wikipedia
G*d have mercy.
