HoliDaYs

28:26-31), the Torah identifies it as
Yom HaBikurim, "the Day of First
Fruits." (These are references to the
Shavuot sacrifice, which consisted of
offerings from the crop of new wheat.
Until Shavuot, all meal offerings were
made of flour from earlier crops.) The
passage also refers to the holiday as
a festival of "your weeks." For a third
time, in Parshat Reei (Deuteronomy
16:9-12), God commands the Jews
to observe the holiday, and here it is
called Shavuot.
In ancient times, when much of the
Jewish population of the Mediter-
ranean spoke Greek, Jews took to
calling Shavuot by the Greek name of
Pentecost, which is derived from the
Greek word for "50." Even today, on
many secular calendars, Shavuot is
designated as Pentecost or as the
Feast of Weeks.
Beyond the special grain and ani-
mal sacrifices, the Torah does not
speciy the reasons or rituals of
Shavuot. What we are told to do is
rejoice.
The last passage, in Parshat Reei,
also includes the somewhat unusual
statement that in celebrating Shavuot,
we must remember that once we
were slaves in Egypt.
Early on, the rabbis viewed Shavuot
as more than an agricultural festival.
Based on its linkage to Pesach, and
the commandment to remember the
days of our bondage in Egypt, the
rabbis determined that on what later
came to be known as Shavuot, God
gave us the Torah at Sinai.
So in the liturgy of Shavuot, the day
is referred to as Zman matan
Torateynu, "the Time of the Giving of
our Torah."
In commemoration of this great
event, Jewish mystics inaugurated the
custom of staying awake the entire
night on the eve of Shavuot to study
Torah. At first this was practiced only
by mystics, but over the generations,
staying awake all night has become
widespread. Nearly all Orthodox
Jews observe the custom most elderly
Jews and those of low stamina do not

5/14
1999

62 Detroit Jewish News

stay awake — and we can only
hope that small children will not stay
awake all night). Increasingly, Conser-
vative and Reform Jews also have
late-night study sessions. Synagogues
throughout the community post all-night
schedules, many of which include a
timeout for refreshments — some quite
elaborate. They then hold morning
services very early, usually around 5
a.m., after which the congregants
head straight for bed.
As in all the Jewish holidays,
Shavuot has specific prayers and
Torah readings, plus a few extras.
On the first day of Shavuot, after the
kohen has been called to the Torah
for the first aliya (Torah reading) and
before he recites the blessing, the
Torah reader or the chazan (cantor)
recites Akdamut. This is a long poem
composed by Rabbi Meir ben
Yitzhak, who lived in Worms, Ger-
many, in the 1 1 th Century. Written in
Aramaic, the 90 verses speak of the
majesty of God, the suffering of the
Jewish people and their ultimate
restoration to Jerusalem and the Land
of Israel and the glory of the messian-
ic era.
The poem conjures images famous
in Jewish tradition: If the sky were
parchment, the forests were quills, the
ocean were ink and all humans were
scribes, the glory of God could not
be described. The poem is read
responsively with the congregation, in
a distinctive melodic style.
On the second day of Shavuot,
after the reading of the first verse of
the haftorah, the Yetziv Pitgam is

chanted. This is a 15-
verse poem, also in Ara-
maic. Read responsively,
its theme is similar to that
of Akdamut. Yetziv Pitgam
was composed by Yaa-
cov, son of Rabbi Meir
Levi, whom some scholars
believe is Yaacov ben
Meir of Orleans, the
grandson of the great
Jewish scholar, Rashi.
Also on the second
day, the Book of Ruth is
read in the synagogue. Why this
book in particular? One reason is that
many of the events in Ruth occur at
the time of the harvest. Another rea-
son is that just as Ruth accepted the
Torah and became Jewish, so did the
children of Israel at Mt. Sinai; also,
King David, a descendant of Ruth,
died on Shavuot — by reading the
book, we commemorate his yahrzeit.

Traditionally, the synagogue or tem-
ple on Shavuot is decorated with
flowers and greenery. This is based
on the belief that when the Torah was
given, Mount Sinai was lush with veg-
etation. Shavuot also is thought of as
the beginning of summer, when plants

are in full bloom, serving as a
reminder of Shavuot as the holiday of
first fruits.
All Jewish holidays (except fast
days, of course) have special foods
with which they are associated.
Shavuot has its own culinary theme of
dairy cuisine. Generations of Jewish
cooks have come up with a variety of
dairy dishes to be served on the holi-
day; notably, these include cheese
blintzes, cheese kreplach, and all
sorts of desserts, especially cheese-
cake and ice cream.
Aside from the traditional dishes,
Jewish cooks today often prepare
dairy meals with an Italian flair —
such as lasagna, manicotti and other
pasta. With a growing variety of
kosher cheeses from which to choose,
the Shavuot menu can incorporate the
latest trends in cooking — such as
Mediterranean, which calls for feta
cheese.
Now you might be won-
dering exactly what cheese
has to do with this important
holiday.
The reason for dairy foods
on Shavuot is a mystery.
Some believe that until God
gave the commandments
concerning which animals
were kosher and laws
regarding the slaughtering
and koshering of meat,
aside from Temple sacrifices,
the Jewish people had to be
satisfied with dairy foods.
Others point out the prox-
imity of the Torah verses dis-
cussing the first fruits with the
commandment to separate
meat and dairy in the kosher
diet.
A tradition states that the
Jews waited so long for the
Torah that they were positively
exhausted afterward, and when they
returned to their tents they fixed the
simplest food possible.
In the Song of Songs, the Torah is
likened to honey and milk.
Some ancient rabbis disapproved