18 | MAY 25 • 2023
APPLE TREE EXTRA
KAREN SCHWARTZ CONTRIBUTING WRITER
S
o back during Passover,
God took the Jewish people
out of Egypt. We told the
story around our seder tables and
started counting the days until
Shavuot. Well, it’s here. After 49 days
of counting, we welcome Shavuot,
which begins Thursday evening,
May 25, and runs through Saturday
night, May 27.
It’s the holiday that celebrates
God giving the Torah to the Jewish
people at Mount Sinai. On Shavuot,
Jewish people around the world
gather in synagogues for the reading
of the Ten Commandments. It’s like
we are standing at Mount Sinai all
over again.
On Shavuot, people stay up and
study Torah until late into the night
— in fact, some stay up to study all
night long! It’s also customary to eat
dairy, so it’s a good day to ask your
grownups for some ice cream treats.
FAMILY TRADITIONS
Shavuot is a special time for
Zeev, Lihi and Hilla Maine of
West Bloomfield. Their grandma
decorates the table, with Moses
coming down from the mountain
to the Jewish people gathered below.
The kids put out plates covered in
pasta, which they shape to look like
sheaths of wheat.
“It’s very pretty,
” says Lihi, 11.
“We do traditions from my great-
grandmother, and my family has
other traditions that we set for the
future.
”
Her favorite food to eat on
Shavuot is kahi, a recipe their great-
grandmother passed down. “It’s
dough with sugar on top, and it’s
really good,
” she says.
The family studies Torah together
on the holiday after they eat dinner.
“The Torah you can study over
and over again multiple times, you
can find so many lessons out of
it that you can keep doing it over
and over again and it’s perfectly
fine,
” Lihi says. “My favorite part
of Shavuot is the aspect of learning
with my family and talking it out
A toy Moses
comes down the
mountain on the
Maine family
Shavuot table.
Shavuot!
Some extra fun for kids for the holiday.
Some extra fun for kids for the holiday.