the florence melton adult mini-school of metro detroit A Project of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Torah Portion r is starting its second year... Will you be a part of it? We l give you 5,000 years. * Expand your Jewish horizons in just two years x:z Geared to the adult learner — no prerequisites, grades or exams * Classes meet weekly; Tuesday evenings or Thursday mornings beginning the week of September 10, 2002 The pluralistic curriculum is ,one of the main innovations of the Florence Melton Adult Mini-School. It integrates text into the study of Jewish history, religion, ritual, language, ethics, philosophy, literature, theology and contemporary Jewish life. Join us for a "Taste of Melton" informational meeting. Study in the Melton style and learn what Melton is all about: *Tuesday, May 21, 10:00 AM, Jewish Community Center in West Bloomfield z:g Tuesday, May 28, 10:00 AM, Borders Books in Farmington Hills x:x Wednesday, May 29, 7:00 PM, Max M. Fisher Building in Bloomfield Hills For further information, or to attend a "Taste of Melton" informational meeting, call the Mini-School office at (248) 661-1894 FederarioAk 74, for J h ance euish E4hamtion CC (enor,IfOur CowemuniztorZyr.rs je,a vri n to education Co-Sponsored by the Agency for Jewish Education, Federation's Alliance for Jewish Education and the Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit visit "Virtual" Ben Yehuda Mall Jewelry, T-cfbirtd, Art Work, Cocimettc. ALL Icfrael! Profits will be sent directly to the merchants in Israel. Celebrate a succeddfi school year by dhopping for Ill-ael Sunda , Ma r 19, 2002 10:00am-4:00 I m West Bloomfield Iliah School Dr. Nagler's Brainwashing Weight Reduction Seminar Doctor Nagler's Brainwashing Weight Reduction Seminars have helped thousands of people lose weight and keep it off. Brainwashing implants a new thin belief system in your mind. In just 12 hours, you can change your eating habits forever. ji 5/17 2002 68 Sunday, June 9, 2002. Cost $300. Pre-Registration required Call 734.422.8040 www.dietresults.com The Oral-Rabbinic Tradition Influenced Timing Of Shavuot until Shavuot should begin and end on Mochorat HaShabbat, which the Sadducees interpreted as the "day after Saturday," meaning that Shavuot must fall on a Sunday. The Pharisees interpret the verse as meaning that the count was to begin on the "day after the holiday (first day of Passover)" and thus could fall on any day of the week. This dispute raditionally, the holiday of seemed to be so critical and con- tentious that the rabbis declared a Shavuot is celebrated as special annual commemoration on the ZMan Matan Torateinu (the the day that they prevailed in the dispute (Minochos Time of the Giving of Our Torah). 65A) . This seems somewhat a This dispute as to the misnomer as there is a dis- authority of the rabbinic pute in the Talmud (Gittin tradition was not limited 60A) whether the Torah to this specific practice, was given and-or written nor was it limited to that particular time. piece-by-piece during the 40-year trek in the wilder- Throughout Jewish his- ness or given complete at tory, there have arisen RABBI the end of the 40 years. those within the Jewish ELIEZER What the day is identi- people who have, either as COHEN fied with is, rather, the day individuals or as move- Special to the of the pronouncement of ments, rejected the tradi- Jewish News the so-called Ten tional interpretations of, Commandments by God at and the very authority of, the rabbis. Sinai. But even this identifi- It is the celebration of Shavuot on cation is also somewhat problematic, the day determined by this tradition for the date of the revelation at Sinai that becomes, then, the celebration is not given clearly in the Torah. of the "Giving of Our Torah." The Further, the date of the celebra- celebration encompasses not only tion of Shavuot is not given in the the giving of the written Torah — Torah, either. In fact, the celebration the Five Books of Moses — but also does not depend on a calendar date the celebration and acknowledge- altogether. As the verses clearly state ment by the Jewish people of the (Leviticus 23:15 21; Deuteronomy 16:9-10), the celebration of the holi- authenticity and authority of the rabbinic tradition without which our day of Shavuot is determined by the religion would not be Judaism as we counting of the seven weeks (49 know it. ❑ days) of the Omer. Before the estab- lishment of the set calendar, the date could fluctuate. In fact, the determination of the day of Shavuot was subject of a dis- pute in the pre-talmudic times. The Talmud (Minochos 65A-66A) brings this dispute between those who accepted the oral-rabbinic tradition Can the Torah laws be applied (the so-called Pharisees), from whom practically based solely on the our own traditional Judaism derives, literal written word without and those who refused to accept the some interpretive tradition? oral-rabbinic authority (the How have the rabbinic tradi- Boethusians and so-called tion and its interpretations Sadducees) and supposedly based made Torah relevant in every their law on the literal written Torah generation? What would the itself. Judaism of the Sadducees be The Torah (Leviticus 23 :1 5-16) like? Why is it a truism that says that the counting of the days the written Torah and the oral- rabbinic tradition are indivisi- ble? Eliezer Cohen is rabbi of Shabbat Second Day Shavuot: Deuteronomy 14:22-16.17; Numbers 28:26-31; Habakuk 2 :20-3 : 19. T - Conversations Congregation Or Chadash.