EQuestion of the Week: What famous poem is included in
the collection Dawn, published in 1884?

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Shavuot-At-A-Glance

ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM
AppleTree Editor

When It Occurs: 50 clays after Pesach (Passover), on the sixth day of Sivan (also
the seventh outside of Israel). This year, it coincides with sundown, Sunday, May
27, until sundown, Tuesday, May 29 (the Reform movement observes one day
only).

What The 1. ,:ame Means: In Hebrew, Shavuot means "weeks," and it refers to
the seven weeks between the holiday and Pesach.

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Why We Celebrate: The Torah, in Leviticus 23:15, commands us to count seven
weeks after the first day of Pesach.

What The Holiday Commemorates: Principally, the giving of the Torah at
Mount Sinai. Also, it is the festival marking the end of the barley harvest and the
beginning of the wheat harvest.

How We Celebrate: Shavuot has no specific rituals, but it does include special
prayers. Along with Pesach and Sukkot, it is one of the three "pilgrim" festivals,
when Jews in the time of the Temple were required to worship in Jerusalem. At
the present, we recite the Hallel prayer (joyful psalms) and add the festival
Amidah.(silent) prayer during the Musaf (mid-afternoon) service.

On the first day, the Torah portion is Exodus 19:1-20, 26, the experience at
Mount Sinai, which includes the Ten Commandments. The reading is preceded
by the recitation of Akdamut, an 11 th-century hymn, written in Aramaic, prais-
ing Israel's faithfulness to Torah.
We also read the Book of Ruth. Three main reasons for this are given: the cen-
tral events in the story occurred at harvest time; Ruth was the ancestor of King
David, who died on Shavuot; Ruth's conversion to Judaism is emblematic of the
Jewish people's "conversion" at Sinai to followers of Torah.
On the second day, the haftorah is preceded by Yetziv Pitgam, an Aramaic
hymn, written in 12th-century France, in praise of the Torah.

Customs And Traditions: Many people stay awake the entire first night to study
Torah or listen to scholarly lectures. The Shavuot menu centers on dairy foods.
Traditionally, these include cheese blintzes, cheese kreplach (dumplings) and
cheese kugel.
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In our multicultural society, Jewish cooks also prepare lasagna, manicotti and
any other ethnic dairy cuisine. Cheesecake is a customary desert, and given the
warm weather, ice cream is also a favorite. We adorn the synagogue with flowers
and greenery because tradition has it that the ordinarily barren Mount Sinai was
covered in foliage when the Torah was given. Further, in the Talmud, Shavuot is
the judgment day for trees. In the Middle Ages, children in many communities
were introduced to Hebrew learning on Shavuot. Most Reform congregations
hold confirmation ceremonies on Shavuot.

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Shavuot and

flo wer power.

p €
say
and
"potalito," but
chances are good
we're of a like mind when it
comes to most Jewish holi-
days.
I say "Pesach" and you'll say
"matzah." I say "Rosh
Hashanah" and you say
c,
apples and honey." But

families kn
or if they do, th
ing to think up fun, new ways
to observe the day. (Unlike
Pesach, Shavuot is not filled
with a great deal - of ritual
except the ubiquitous eating
of the cheesecake).
Still, Shavuot can be a
decidedly fun holiday. If

oiftr: Combine the
oWers for Shavuot with

the understanding of our obli-
o z,)ation to fultill mitzvot (corn-
mandments) by making every-
one in your family into a daisy.
First, color photocopy a picture
of each family member's face.
Cut into a circle (this is the

5/25

2001