Shavuot begins tonight, May 26, 2012, the sixth of the Jewish
month of Sivan. (The Feast of Weeks)
marks seven weeks after Passover. It is
the anniversary of God’s gift of the Torah to the Jewish people.
Just as Mount Sinai, where God chose to give the Torah, was
not the highest or most beautiful of the mountains in the world, Shavuot is not
the most exalted of holidays. Sukkot and
Passover, the other two pilgrimage festivals, last eight days each, but Shavuot
is only a two-day affair. Instead of the
large, meat-centered feasts of other Jewish holidays, Shavuot is celebrated
with dairy foods, especially sweet ones.
Blintzes and noodle puddings are special Shavuot favorites.
Shavuot is often celebrated by a Tikkun leil Shavuot, a study session which begins after the
festival evening service and lasts, for those who can take it, all night, until
the festival morning service. The study
session may consist of prescribed passages from the books of the Hebrew Bible
and medieval mystical texts, or it may be whatever a particular group decides
to study. Legend has it that at
midnight, if you cease your study and go out and look up at the evening sky,
you will see the heavens open, and be able to see God and the angels, also
studying the Torah.
So tonight, take out your bible, or some other book of Jewish
study. Read a few passages, have a
couple of blintzes with sour cream, or a piece of pie a la mode, and celebrate
the giving of Torah. And if you make it
to midnight, you can go out and look up at the starlit sky, and try to
see into heaven.
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