a glimpse of the world to come

Out of the three regalim, the three festivals, Shavuot is a one-day affair. The other two are seven days long, and Sukkoth even has a special extra eighth day.

Yet there is a halachah that if someone passes away the day before Shavuot, those who must mourn them essentially do not sit shiva. What's so weird about this? Shiva is named for the fact that it is a seven-day mourning period. When Shabbath falls during the shiva, we don't observe most of the minhagim associated with shiva, because one can't mourn outwardly on Shabbath.

When this mourning period falls before Pesah or Sukkoth, it's understandable that there is no real period of mourning, we are commanded to be happy on the festivals, and these festivals each last seven days in length, which means that there is no time left in which to observe the mourning period.

But what about Shavuot? It's only one day long, so if someone passed away right before Shavuot, why wouldn't the mourners be required to sit for the five days after Shavuot? 

In order to answer this I need to share something with you about the true nature of time and the world to come. The world to come is called a day that is entirely long. What does this mean? Chazal explain in the hidden Torah that in this world, each day vies for it's time in the spotlight and since the days themselves cannot get along and work together, each day shines for twenty-four hours and then ceases, making room for another day to take over. In the world to come, the days dwell together peacefully and so they all shine at once, indefinitely.

From this perhaps we can see how Shavuot is a taste of the world to come and at the same time explain our quandry regarding the halachot of mourners after Shavuot. I would like to say that Shavuot is actually a seven-day festival just like her sister festivals. The difference is that on Shavuot all the days dwell in peace with one another, and so down here in this world, Shavuot is represented as only a single day -- yet when it comes to the laws pertaining to mourning, since Shavuot is the holiday representing the resurrection of the dead, so we count all seven days of Shavuot and negate the mourning period -- just as the ultimate resurrection will render mourning a moot point.

three tastes

Each of the three regalim, the three festivals can be understood as describing a stage of the end-times and in that sense it can give us a small taste of what each stage will be like: 

1. Pesach is about the final redemption and the coming of the Moshiah.
   
2. Shavuot is about the revival of the dead.
   
3. Sukkoth is about the world to come.
   

God willing we will delve into each one of these in the near future.

years blending into days

I had a huge connection come together during my chevruta on Likkutei Halachoth. Essentially Rebbe Natan might have been spelling it out, but it hit me all of a sudden, that you can look at the schedule of the year just as if the whole year was one big day.

We have 3 regalim each essentially parallel to the 3 daily prayers. Av is the end of the day, Elul is bein ha'Arba'im. Tishrei is the beginning of night. Sukkoth is Arvith, (Maariv) the prayer of Yaakov avinu. Heshvan and Kislev is the deep of night, Hannukah is hatzoth halailah. Just as we awaken at Hatzoth to acknowledge the first promise of light, in the context of the year we light the Hannukah candles to fulfill the exact same purpose. Tevet, Shevat, is the early early morning. Adar is zman kriath shema, when you can recognize your fellow from a few paces--hence shalach manot to one's fellow. Nisan is netz haHamah. Pesah is Shaharith, the tefillah of Avraham Avinu.  Iyar, Sivan is late morning, Shavuoth is minchah, the tefillah of Yitzhak Avinu, at minchah Gedolah. Tammuz, Av is the dwindling of the day, 17 Tammuz is minchah ketanah, and 9 Av is shkiah.

I don't know if I have it all right, but of it all I'm pretty clear on Hannukah being Hatzot ha'lailah, which is definitely hinted at in Likkutei Halachoth, Hilchoth Birkoth HaShahar.