My first “real” Shavuot free of idolatry… and I am excited

This year, a year that I have returned to Judaism and left idolatry behind like a long bad dream, has been an especially exciting one for me. It started with Yom Kippur. It was a solemn yet joyful holy day that I have spent with my wife and kids in a beautiful hotel, with services organized by a local shul where I have good friends and often daven. The feeling was indescribable. Although I was surrounded by throngs of my fellow Jews, in unison crying out to G-d, thanking Him for His never ending mercies, I felt that it was just me alone with Hashem.

Passover too was especially meaningful this year. Again, it too was highly personal. I praised Hashem over and over (I couldn’t do it enough and still can’t) for taking me out of my own personal Egypt, releasing me from my enslavement to a non-god that I endured for the last 20 years, a god who neither hears or able to save, an idolatry that separated me from both my people and my Maker. Thank you, Hashem, my true and only L-rd and Savior! May all those who still remain enslaved be released!

Come this Shavuot, the giving of the Torah to my people, the holy marriage contract between Hashem and Israel that is still very much in force, no longer will I be thanking “Yeshua” for my salvation. No longer will I think of any mortal as my “Torah”, or as my “lord and savior”. No longer will I be praying to “another god” or even be mentioning a name of any false deity. My full allegiance, my whole attention will be solely directed to the G-d of my fathers, the G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to receive His gift of Torah, the ketubah of the everlasting marriage between G-d and Israel, once again.

To all my fellow Jews and the friends who love them – Chag Shavuot Sameach!