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editorial
Lesser Known Yet Pivotal Jewish Holiday
S
havuot is not widely celebrated,
but it’s one of the most significant
holidays on the Jewish calendar.
On Shavuot, Jews celebrate their birth-
day as a people.
What better way to celebrate our
peoplehood than by commemorating
our receiving of Torah, Judaism’s most
sacred text as well as our lodestar for
how to live morally and ethically in a
free society.
Shavuot is a holiday showcasing the
human spirit as inspired by God.
On the two-day holiday, this year
beginning the evening of May 30, the
sixth of Sivan, God swears eternal devo-
tion to Am Yisrael, the Jewish people,
and we as a people promise undying
faithfulness in return — a kind of mutu-
al recommitment.
It’s on Shavuot we as a people affirm
to God we’re on board by recommitting
and reconnecting to Torah.
The Jewish state’s longing for safe,
secure borders and enduring peace
harkens to the hardship associated with
clinging to God’s teachings in a region
of volatility, theocracy, anti-Zionism and
outright terror.
At Mount Sinai 3,300 years ago, God
gave Torah to Moses, amid ministering
angels, on behalf of the Israelites who
sought strength and refuge in Divine
direction following Egyptian bondage.
These Hebrews lit the everlasting light
for God’s chosen people, illuminating
God’s ethics as laid out in Torah.
Our sages remind us that the moment
of giving, and the human-Divine bond
that sprang forth, represented the
SCENE SETTING
Nature colors Shavuot as well as the
other Jewish festivals of Passover and
Sukkot. Shavuot means “weeks” and sig-
nals the first barley harvest seven weeks
after Passover. It was on Shavuot two
loaves of bread, made from freshly har-
vested wheat, were brought to the bibli-
cal Temple in Jerusalem to be sacrificed
along with the first fruits in deference to
God’s giving of Torah.
We enjoy dairy foods such as cheese-
cake on Shavuot. That commemorates
Moses nursing only on the milk of his
Hebrew mother after being pulled from
the Nile as well as Jews only eating such
foods until they could kasher their dish-
es as commanded in Torah.
On Shavuot, we reflect on Ruth the
Moabite and her struggle to overcome
affliction and poverty as she became a
Jew. Inherent is the notion that Torah is
best learned via a mindset of kavanah —
of humble intention.
We read the Book of Ruth on Shavuot
as a reminder of King David, who died
on the holiday and who was a descen-
dant of Ruth. In the book, we are told
how we live defines who we really are.
Torah takes us to the next level — guid-
ing, nurturing, elevating.
F. Kevin Browett
Chief Operating Officer
kbrowett@renmedia.us
| Editorial
Shavuot is a holiday
showcasing the
human spirit as
inspired by God.
God expects the chosen to be righteous;
Jews seek Torah to find the way.
This relationship plays out in the
Shavuot custom of all-night study (tik-
kun leyl Shavuot) of Torah, Talmud and
other sacred writings. Shavuot sanctu-
ary services typically set Torah readings
in the firmament of first fruits and natu-
ral greens.
Shavuot never stops reminding us just
how essential our pairing with God is
— and thus just how strong our connec-
tions to Torah and to the Jewish nation-
state are.
Ultimately, Shavuot provides the
opportunity for we Jews to outwardly
and inwardly remember Torah’s unique
role in our being God’s chosen people. •
LASTING BONDS
The relationship between God and the
Jewish people is unshakable. We furnish
seed and labor; God supplies soil and
rain. God sets the law; Jews accept it.
Contributing Writers:
Joshua Lewis Berg, Ruthan Brodsky, Suzanne
Chessler, Annabel Cohen, Don Cohen, Shari S.
Cohen, Shelli Liebman Dorfman, Adam Finkel,
Stacy Gittleman, Stacy Goldberg, Judy
Greenwald, Ronelle Grier, Esther Allweiss
Ingber, Allison Jacobs, Barbara Lewis, Jennifer
Lovy, Rabbi Jason Miller, Alan Muskovitz,
David Sachs, Karen Schwartz, Robin Schwartz,
Steve Stein
Arthur M. Horwitz
Publisher / Executive Editor
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Contributing Editor: Robert Sklar
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instant when the Hebrews became the
Jews.
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