For The HOLIDAYS UNBEATABLE DEAL seeLARRY KAPLAN New Cars - Trucks • Used Cars - Leasing THE UNBEATABLE DEALER 28111 Telegraph Rd. & 1-696 Across from Tel-12 Mall (313) 355-1000 (313) 355-6414 SPRING TIME . _ . SAVINGS : ..1 Cr. W ..I CZ LLI = rrl LLI J M = GI = VA 2:0 —4 Ca ct r• I— cc m CC Z 0 20 , r" = m LLI = m 71 . Religious News Serv ice H - A child at Kibbutz Tel-Yosef symbolically gathers the first harvest from the fields. Shavuot begins June 2. Shavuot: Major Festival With Many Names DVORA WAYSMAN Special to the Jewish News LOOK, SHOP, GET YOUR BEST DEAL BUT DON'T BUY UNTIL YOU SEE THE UNBEATABLE DEALER! 28111 Telegraph and 12 Mile at 1-696 10 Friday, May 29, 1987 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS If you own a prayer book with English translations, your machzor will probably read Pentecost on the binding and The Feast of Weeks on the title page. But these are only two of the many names by which Shavuot is known and — like its name — it is a festival of many meanings. Shavuot is Hebrew for "weeks," from the root word for seven, signifying that it falls after the seven weeks of the Omer period, counted from Passover. The word Pentecost is taken from the Greek for 50, as it falls on the 50th day from Passover, which is 6 Sivan, cor- responding this year to June 3. At the time of the Bible, this festival was purely an agricultural one. It marked the season of the wheat harvest, hence its name Chag Habik- kurim, Festival of the First Fruits. In Jerusalem, during Temple times, a freewill offer- / ing of wheat was brought in the form of two loaves baked from fine wheat flour. Shavuot is also known by the name Zman Matan Toratanu, the Giving of our Law. The rab- bis reason that from the times mentioned in Exodus for the journeyings of the Israelites after they left Egypt, the Giv- ing of the Law must have taken place exactly fifty days after Passover. After the destruction of the Second Temple, the agricultural aspect of the festival became less significant and the religious aspect gained in pro- minence. Some synagogues, however, are adorned at Shavuot with boughs of greenery and sometimes a crown of flowers is placed atop a Torah scroll. In the Middle Ages it was the custom to scat- ter sweet-smelling herbs in the synagogue. A , further link with the agricultural aspect of the festival is the festival is that the book of Ruth is read on Shavuot, which includes many mentions of the grain harvest. The very beautiful book of Ruth, which is also a love story, records the birth of King David, her descendant, who — accor- ding to the Talmud — was born and died on Shavuot. One of the customs of the festival is that of Tikkun Leil Shavuot, when devout Jews stay up all night on the eve of Shavuot to study lbrah. A small section is read from every book of the Bible and every sec- tion of the Talmud — a symbolic study of the entire body of Jewish writings, for at mid- night it is believed, the heavens open, enabling thoughts and prayers to ascend easily to the Almighty.