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Shavuot and the Enduring Genius of Sinai
A Torah scroll. Photo: RabbiSacks.org.
“People don’t buy what you do – they buy why you do it.” This famous observation by the self-described “unshakeable optimist” Simon Sinek has become a mantra in the corporate world.
Big-brand companies spend fortunes trying to define their “mission,” CEOs obsess over “core values,” while branding consultants build entire careers around helping organizations discover their “purpose.”
But here’s the funny thing: most people already know that purpose matters. The real problem is not discovering purpose — it’s remembering it.
Human beings forget. We forget why we started relationships. We forget why we took jobs. We forget why we moved somewhere, joined something, believed in something, fought for something. Over time, routine takes over, and purpose fades into the background like wallpaper you no longer notice.
Psychologists sometimes refer to this as “habituation.” The extraordinary becomes ordinary simply because it is repeated often enough. You get so used to something that you stop noticing it. The first time you hear a piece of music, you notice every note. By the hundredth time, it has become elevator music.
And guess what? The same thing happens with ideals. In 1973, researchers at Princeton conducted what became one of the most famous psychological experiments in modern psychology. Seminary students were asked to prepare talks on religious and ethical themes — many of them centered on kindness, compassion, and helping others.
On their way to deliver the lecture, they passed a man slumped in a doorway, coughing and clearly in distress. Astonishingly, many simply stepped over him and hurried on. Why? Because they thought they were late.
What the researchers discovered was something deeply uncomfortable about human nature: even people immersed in morality and spirituality can lose sight of their most treasured values when distracted by pressure, deadlines, and routine.
And when it comes to religion, this challenge may be hardest of all. Religious observance can become treacherously mechanical, turning into ritual without meaning and practice without passion.
That danger is especially real in Judaism because Judaism is so structured and so detailed. We pray the same prayers every day. We keep Shabbat every week. We observe the same festivals every year. The rhythm may be beautiful and give us stability, but rhythm can also turn into autopilot.
And perhaps this is precisely why the Jewish calendar contains a festival whose entire purpose is to return us to the moment when we first discovered who we were and why we exist.
Of all the Jewish festivals, Shavuot is the least understood. And that’s a shame, because Shavuot commemorates the single most transformative moment in Jewish history: the giving of the Torah by God at Mount Sinai.
It’s not about redemption, or survival, or victory – instead, it’s about purpose. At Sinai, the Jewish people discovered why they existed. Until that moment, the Israelites were essentially a refugee nation wandering through the wilderness. Yes, they had experienced miracles and escaped slavery in Egypt. But freedom alone is not enough. A people cannot survive without direction.
In fact, one of the great ironies of history is that freedom itself can become destructive when it lacks moral purpose. History is full of movements that successfully threw off oppression, only to descend into chaos because they had no shared moral framework to replace what they had destroyed.
The French Revolution began with soaring rhetoric about liberty, equality, and fraternity, but quickly spiraled into the Reign of Terror, public executions, mob violence, and eventually dictatorship under Napoleon.
In the twentieth century, many newly independent post-colonial states in Africa and Asia won liberation from European rule amid enormous optimism, only to fall victim to corruption, tribal conflict, military coups, or authoritarian strongmen.
Freedom alone was not enough. Throwing off chains is easy compared to building a society guided by responsibility, restraint, and shared values. Without those things, liberty can become unstable, self-destructive, and even violent.
Interestingly, the American experience 250 years ago was very different. The United States emerged from the revolution without collapsing into anarchy or terror, and the reason is not hard to identify.
Although the Founding Fathers insisted on the separation of church and state, they did not believe in separating morality from public life. On the contrary, the American republic was deeply tethered to biblical ethics and religious morality. The founders consistently spoke about virtue, accountability, Providence, and the moral obligations necessary for freedom to survive.
John Adams famously wrote that the Constitution was made “only for a moral and religious people,” warning that it was inadequate for any other kind of society. In other words, American liberty was never intended to mean limitless personal autonomy.
Freedom was meant to operate within a framework of responsibility, ethics, self-restraint, and belief in higher values. That biblical moral underpinning became the invisible architecture holding the republic together, even in a society committed to religious freedom and institutional secularism.
It’s an idea that feels especially urgent right now. We are living through a cultural moment in which freedom is increasingly defined as the absence of restraint, the removal of obligation, and the rejection of any authority beyond the self.
The modern Western world celebrates autonomy almost as an absolute virtue — “my truth,” “my choice,” “my reality.” But a society built entirely around individual appetite eventually begins to lose its cohesion. Shared values erode. Institutions weaken. Public discourse becomes toxic. People become simultaneously more liberated and more lost.
Which is precisely why Shavuot matters so profoundly. Because Shavuot celebrates the moment the Jewish people discovered that freedom alone is not enough. Leaving Egypt was only the beginning. At Sinai, the newly liberated Israelites learned that true freedom requires structure, responsibility, discipline, and moral purpose.
The Torah was not given to restrict human flourishing, but to enable it. Without a moral framework, liberty eventually collapses into confusion and conflict. Sinai transformed a collection of freed slaves into a covenantal nation bound together by shared obligations, shared ideals, and a shared sense of higher purpose.
Because in the end, Judaism was never meant to be a collection of empty rituals or inherited habits performed on autopilot. Shavuot comes every year to remind us that beneath every mitzvah, every tradition, every prayer, and every Jewish commitment lies a deeper question: why are we doing this in the first place?
And perhaps that is the enduring genius of Sinai. It did not merely give the Jewish people laws to obey; it gave them a reason to exist. Because ultimately, it is not what you do that matters most — it is why you do it.
The author is a rabbi in Beverly Hills, California.
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Turkey Court Ousts Opposition Leader in Latest Blow to Erdogan’s Challengers
Ozgur Ozel, leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), speaks to the media at party headquarters after a Turkish court dismissed a case seeking to remove him and annul the party’s 2023 congress, in Ankara, Turkey, Oct. 24, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Efekan Akyuz
A Turkish court effectively ousted the main opposition leader Ozgur Ozel on Thursday, annulling the 2023 party congress that elected him chairman in a ruling that dealt a blow to President Tayyip Erdogan’s challengers and hit financial markets.
The appeals court annulled the congress over irregularities and ruled that former Republican People’s Party (CHP) Chairman Kemal Kilicdaroglu – a divisive figure within the party who lost to Erdogan in an election earlier in 2023 – should replace his successor Ozel.
The case was seen as a test of Turkey‘s shaky balance between democracy and autocracy, and the ruling may throw the opposition into further disarray and possible infighting. It could also boost Erdogan’s chances of extending his more than two-decade rule of the big NATO member country and major emerging market economy.
OPPOSITION HIT BY JUDICIAL CRACKDOWN
The CHP, running roughly even with Erdogan’s ruling AK Party in polls, has separately faced an unprecedented judicial crackdown since 2024 in which hundreds of members and elected officials have been detained as part of corruption charges that the party denies.
Among those imprisoned for more than a year is Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who is seen as the main rival of Erdogan and remains the CHP’s official candidate for a presidential election set for 2028 but that could come next year.
After the court ruling, Ozel convened party leaders to discuss possible steps and members were called to the CHP headquarters building in Ankara to protest against it.
Ali Mahir Basarir, CHP deputy parliamentary group chair, told Reuters the ruling “is an attempted coup carried out through the judiciary [and] a blow against the will of 86 million people.”
The party rejected the ruling, he said, adding that those who signed off on it were “complicit in this coup attempt and will be held accountable before the courts.”
Turkey‘s main Borsa Istanbul .XU100 dropped 6% in response, triggering a market-wide circuit breaker, while Turkish government bonds slid. Sovereign bonds sold off as much as 1.2 cents, which for many was the biggest fall since late March.
The ruling by the Ankara court overturned a decision last year by a court of first instance that said the case surrounding the CHP’s 2023 congress had no substance.
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Supreme Leader Says Enriched Uranium Must Stay in Iran, Iranian Sources Say
A woman walks next to a banner with a picture of Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei in Tehran, Iran, May 8, 2026. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Iran‘s Supreme Leader has issued a directive that the country’s near-weapons-grade uranium should not be sent abroad, two senior Iranian sources said, hardening Tehran’s stance on one of the main US demands at peace talks.
Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei’s order could further frustrate US President Donald Trump and complicate talks on ending the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Trump vowed on Thursday that the United States will not allow Iran to have its stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
“We will get it. We don’t need it; we don’t want it. We’ll probably destroy it after we get it, but we’re not going to let them have it,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
Israeli officials have told Reuters that Trump has assured Israel that Iran‘s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, needed to make an atomic weapon, will be sent out of Iran and that any peace deal must include a clause on this.
Israel, the United States, and other Western states have long accused Iran of seeking nuclear weapons, including pointing to its move to enrich uranium to 60%, far higher than needed for civilian uses and closer to the 90% needed for a weapon. Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he will not consider the war over until enriched uranium is removed from Iran, Tehran ends its support for proxy militias, and its ballistic missile capabilities are eliminated.
“The Supreme Leader’s directive, and the consensus within the establishment, is that the stockpile of enriched uranium should not leave the country,” said one of the two Iranian sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
Iran‘s top officials, the sources said, believe that sending the material abroad would leave the country more vulnerable to future attacks by the United States and Israel. Khamenei has the last say on the most important state matters.
When asked for comment for this story, White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales said: “President Trump has been clear about the United States’ red lines and will only make a deal that puts the American people first.”
Iran‘s foreign ministry did not respond to request for comment.
DEEP SUSPICION AMONG TOP IRANIAN OFFICIALS
A shaky ceasefire is in place in the war that began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran on Feb. 28, after which Iran fired at Gulf states hosting US military bases and fighting broke out between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.
But there has been no big breakthrough in peace efforts, with a US blockade of Iranian ports and Tehran’s grip on the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global oil supply route, complicating negotiations mediated by Pakistan.
The two senior Iranian sources said there was deep suspicion in Iran that the pause in hostilities was a tactical deception by Washington to create a sense of security before it renews airstrikes.
Iran‘s top peace negotiator, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, said on Wednesday that “obvious and hidden moves by the enemy” showed the Americans were preparing new attacks.
Trump said on Wednesday the US was ready to proceed with further attacks on Tehran if Iran did not agree to a peace deal, but suggested Washington could wait a few days to “get the right answers.”
The two sides have started to narrow some gaps, the sources said, but deeper splits remain over Tehran’s nuclear program — including the fate of its enriched uranium stockpiles and Tehran’s demand for recognition of its right to enrichment.
IRAN HARDENS STANCE ON ENRICHED URANIUM STOCKPILE
Iranian officials have repeatedly said Tehran’s priority is to secure a permanent end to the war and credible guarantees that the US and Israel will not launch further attacks.
Only after such assurances are in place, they said, would Iran be prepared to engage in detailed negotiations over its nuclear program.
Israel is widely believed to have an atomic arsenal but has never confirmed or denied it has nuclear weapons, maintaining a so-called policy of ambiguity on the issue for decades.
Before the war, Iran signaled willingness to ship out half of its stockpile of uranium which has been enriched to 60%, a level far higher than what is needed for civilian uses.
But sources said that position changed after repeated threats from Trump to strike Iran.
Israeli officials have told Reuters it is still unclear whether Trump will decide to attack and whether he would give Israel a green light to resume operations. Tehran has vowed a crushing response if attacked.
However, the source said there were “feasible formulas” to resolve the matter.
“There are solutions like diluting the stockpile under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency,” one of the Iranian sources said.
The IAEA estimates that Iran had 440.9 kg of uranium enriched to 60% when Israel and the US attacked Iranian nuclear facilities in June 2025. How much of that has survived is unclear.
IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said in March that what remained of that stock was “mainly” stored in a tunnel complex in Iran‘s Isfahan nuclear facility, and that his agency believed slightly more than 200 kg of it was there. The IAEA also believes some is at the sprawling nuclear complex at Natanz, where Iran had two enrichment plants.
Iran says some highly enriched uranium is needed for medical purposes and for a research reactor in Tehran which runs on relatively small amounts of uranium enriched to around 20%.
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Mediator Pakistan Pushes to Get US-Iran Peace Talks on Track
People walk near an anti-US mural on a building in Tehran, Iran, May 19, 2026. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Pakistan stepped up diplomacy on Thursday to hasten US and Iran peace talks even as Tehran appeared to harden its stance over nuclear materials amid new threats of strikes from US President Donald Trump if he did not get the “right answers.”
Six weeks since a fragile ceasefire took effect, talks to end the war have made little progress, while soaring oil prices are stoking inflation and straining the global economy.
Trump also faces domestic pressure ahead of November’s midterm elections, with his approval rating near its lowest since he returned to the White House.
Pakistan‘s Army Chief Asim Munir will decide on Thursday whether to travel to Tehran for mediation, three sources familiar with the negotiations told Reuters.
Pakistan‘s interior minister was in Tehran on Wednesday.
STANCE ON ENRICHED URANIUM
“We’re speaking to all the various groups in Iran to streamline communication and so things pick up pace,” said one of the sources. “Trump’s patience running thin is a concern, but we’re working on the pace at which messages are relayed from each side.”
Iran‘s ISNA news agency said Munir would travel to Tehran on Thursday for consultations. The text being discussed in Tehran is on the general framework, and some details and confidence-building measures as guarantees, the agency said.
However, Iran appeared to have hardened its stance over a key US demand for the removal of enriched uranium from the country. Two senior Iranian sources told Reuters that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei issued a directive that near-weapons-grade uranium should not be sent abroad.
Brent crude oil climbed after Mojtaba’s remarks on Thursday, gaining almost 2% to $107 a barrel.
US READY TO ACT FAST, TRUMP SAYS
Trump said on Wednesday he was willing to wait for Tehran’s response but was also ready to resume strikes.
“Believe me, if we don’t get the right answers, it goes very quickly. We’re all ready to go,” Trump told reporters.
“It could be a few days, but it could go very quickly.”
Iran‘s Revolutionary Guards have warned that renewed attacks will trigger retaliation beyond its region.
Iran submitted its latest offer to the US this week.
Tehran’s descriptions suggest it largely repeats terms Trump previously rejected, including demands for control of the Strait of Hormuz, compensation for war damage, lifting of sanctions, release of frozen assets, and the withdrawal of US troops.
IRAN RESTATES SOVEREIGNTY OVER STRAIT
Iran’s deputy foreign minister on Thursday restated Tehran’s claims to sovereignty over the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas flows, saying aggression from the US, Israel, and some regional states had fundamentally altered security in the waterway.
In a legal commentary, Kazem Gharibabadi said Iran could adopt “practical and proportionate measures” to protect its security and maritime safety, citing international law.
With the strait now effectively closed for almost three months, increasing shortages are pushing up energy prices across the globe in what the International Energy Agency has called the world’s worst energy shock.
The IEA warned on Thursday that the peak of summer fuel demand coupled with a lack of new Middle East supply means the market could enter the “red zone” in July and August.
Some ships are managing to transit the strait, but only a trickle compared with the 125-140 daily passages before the war.
Iran‘s state TV reporter said on Thursday that around 30 vessels have requested to transit since Wednesday night. These vessels are coordinating with Iranian naval forces to pass and “will most probably do so by tonight,” the reporter added.
Iran said it aimed to reopen the strait to friendly countries that abide by its terms. That could potentially include fees for access, which Washington says would be unacceptable.
“It would make a diplomatic deal unfeasible if they were to continue to pursue that. So, it’s a threat to the world if they were trying to do that, and it’s completely illegal,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.
Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said their war aims were to curb Iran‘s support for regional militias, dismantle its nuclear program, destroy its missile capabilities, and make it easier for Iranians to topple their rulers.
But Iran has so far retained its stockpile of near-weapons-grade enriched uranium, and its ability to threaten neighbors with missiles, drones, and proxy militias.