spirituality

All-Night
Studying

Tikkun Leil Shavuot
has evolved over the
last decades as a
holiday ritual.

LOUIS FINKELMAN
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

48

May 17 • 2018

jn

S

ince Jews stopped bringing sacri-
fices, the festival of Shavuot has
looked like a generic Yom Tov,
without distinctive rituals. Shavuot
had an unusual sacrifice (Leviticus
23:17-20), but now another ritual has
emerged.
The prayer book identifies Shavuot
as “the season of the giving of the
Torah.” The Torah itself does not iden-
tify an exact date for the revelation
at Sinai, but it also does not identify
the date of Shavuot. According to

the Bible, we count seven complete
weeks after the beginning of the bar-
ley harvest (Deuteronomy 16:9-11) and
then celebrate the Festival of Weeks,
Shavuot, on the 50th day. Another
verse gives the starting date for the
count as “after the Shabbat,” which
our tradition identifies as the day
after the beginning of the festival of
Passover (Leviticus 23:15-17), when
the barley offering is brought.
The Torah reading on Shavuot
(Exodus 19:1-20:23) describes the rev-
elation at Sinai and presents the text
of the Ten Commandments.
If we re-enact receiving the Torah
on Shavuot in the daytime, then per-
haps we should re-enact the night
before receiving the Torah on Shavuot
at night. In the middle of the 16th
century, mystics in Safed began stay-
ing up all night, studying Torah, to
show eagerness to receive the Torah
again.
Finally, Shavuot had a distinctive
ritual, called Tikkun Leil Shavuot.
I first experienced Tikkun Leil
Shavuot in the early 1960s in the
Bronx. In the local Orthodox syna-
gogues, the most fervently observant
men studied alone or in groups of two
or three — and a pack of male teenag-
ers joined them, trying to study, but
also competing to see who could stay
up all the way though morning servic-
es at dawn. Refreshments, if I remem-
ber right, consisted of watermelon.
A little later, when I got to Yeshiva
University, on Shavuot night young men
and some of their teachers filled the
study hall, still all male, and sponsored
by an Orthodox institution.
Still later, with young children at
home, my wife and I would host a few
friends at our home — sometimes
another couple with or without chil-
dren. Now we were men and women
learning together, no longer sponsored
by an institution; we had fruit and
home-baked goods, too.
We were not alone. Tikkun Leil
Shavuot had started to change and
grow. Men and women took part, with
the support of other Jewish institutions.
In a few decades, Tikkun Leil Shavuot
has transformed from the esoteric
practice of some Orthodox men to a
celebration shared by men and women
of all Jewish movements.
In Berkeley, Calif., in the middle
1990s, I encountered a new phase of
Tikkun Leil Shavuot. The entire com-
munity met at the Jewish Community
Center for a full schedule of hour-long
sessions from midnight to dawn; teach-
ers came from every Jewish institu-
tion in town, including the Reform
Congregation Beth El, the Orthodox
Congregation Beth Israel, the University
of California Hillel, the adult education
Lehrhaus and many others.
Two or three sessions competed in
the same time slot, so everyone could

chose to stay in the comfort zone or
deliberately exit that zone. Hundreds
of people socialized during the short
breaks between sessions, eating pas-
tries, drinking coffee and meeting
friends from across the spectrum of
Jewish observance.
Rabbi David Wolkenfeld reports
that in the Lakeview neighborhood
in Chicago, four synagogues combine
for the Tikkun Leil Shavuot: Anshe
Sholom B’nai Israel (Orthodox),
Anshe Emet (Conservative), Temple
Sholom (Reform) and Mishkan (non-
denominational liberal).
Another model for the expanded
observance of Shavuot night took
place in our community until last
year: Dr. Jeffrey Devries and his wife,
Debbie Kirschner, held an open-house
Tikkun Leil Shavuot at their home
in Huntington Woods. The event did
not belong to any institution, and
attracted male and female participants
from many parts of the community.
Scholars led different sessions from
midnight to dawn.
This year, Vera Wexler and Jordana
Wolfson are planning the community-
wide open house Tikkun Leil Shavuot in
Jordana’s home in Huntington Woods
(May 19 at 11:45 p.m.). Among the ses-
sions, I plan to teach “The History of
Tikkun Leil Shavuot;” Deb Kovsky, “#Me
Too: The Women of Megillat Esther and
Megillat Ruth;” Rabbi Stephen Belsky,
“Jethro Null: The Perseverance and
Disappearance of Moses’ Father-in-
Law;” Dr. Matt Vandherhoek, “Joseph
and his Brothers At It Again: Two
Classic Approaches to Exile;” Rabbi Avi
Spodek, “The Tree of Life;” and Vera
Wexler, “Heroes and Villains . . . Or Did
They?”
If you would like to attend, or for
information about the program, call
Vera Wexler at (248) 350-0916.
Wexler explains some of the good
points of all-night study on Shavuot in
a private home.
“It opens doors,” she said. “People
who might not feel comfortable show-
ing up for a formal class might feel
attracted to an informal meeting;
people who might feel intimidated
about teaching in a synagogue might
have the courage to teach in the mid-
dle of the night at someone’s home.
And Shavuot is open-ended, too. It is
the season of the giving of the Torah,
so anything in Torah is relevant to
Shavuot.” •

Tikkun Leil Shavuot all-night study sessions
will also be held at 7 p.m. Friday, May 19, at
B’nai Israel in West Bloomfield. The Isaac Agree
Downtown Synagogue will host its fifth annual
Tikkun Leil Shabbat at 9:30 p.m. Friday, May
19, at the Woodbridge home of Rabbi Ariana
Silverman and Justin Long. Address given with
RSVP to (313) 962-4047 or
downtownsynagogue@gmail.com. Check your
synagogue for other options.