Zeev, Lihi 
and Hilla 
Maine

Dive On In!

Looking to connect with this holiday? Aish 
Detroit’s Ayala Kohn offers a few things to try …
• Read through the story of Ruth and 
talk with friends and family about the 
lessons you can learn from it.
• Pick out some items at the store and donate 
to your local food pantry.
• Focus on treating others with love, acceptance and respect. 
• Commit to something new — Ruth shows a lot of 
commitment (read about it in the Book of Ruth!), and you 
can, too. Come up with a fun family challenge and make 
a competition for staying the course. Eating healthy 
or exercising daily for a few weeks, keeping your 
room clean, turning off your tablet, calling your 
grandparents once a week — pick a value you 
want to be more committed to and see if 
you can stick with it! 

MAY 25 • 2023 | 19

Shavuot is one of Judaism’s three 
major pilgrimage festivals. The other 
two are Passover in the spring and 
Sukkot in the fall. In ancient times, it 
was one of the occasions when our 
ancestors would gather at the Holy 
Temple in Israel.

There are five names for the holiday, and four of them have to 
do with harvesting and food. Only one of them has to do with 
receiving the Torah. 
 Chag Shavuot — Festival of Shavuot 
Yom HaBikkurim — Day of the First-Fruits
Chag Hakatzir — Festival of Harvest
Atzeret — A festive assembly of all the people
Zeman Matan Torateinu — The time of the giving of our Torah 

Did You Know? 

with them, especially since 
my savta (grandmother) is a 
Torah teacher, it’s even more 
meaningful.
”
Hilla, 6, likes eating the 
bourekas her grandmother 
makes on the holiday, and says 
she’s excited for the atmosphere 
her family creates around 
Shavuot. “I love to spend 
Shavuot with my family,
” she 
says. “I like learning Torah and 
really like tefilot [prayers].
” 
Her brother Zeev, 14, used a 
count similar to the one used 
for Shavuot, where people 
count the days leading up to 
the holiday, to count the days 
to his bar mitzvah. “Something 
I really like about Shavuot is 
the count up to it, and how 
that reflects the fact Shavuot 
is something that people look 
forward to,
” says Zeev. “I did 
a 50 day count up to the big 
event.
” 

SHARING YOUR 
ABUNDANCE 
Nicole Psakhis, 12, of 
West Bloomfield, is part of 
Girls on a Mission, a project 
of Aish Detroit where girls 
ages 12-15 take part in 
acts of service around the 
community. This month, they 
were baking for a pre-Shavuot 
bake sale supporting Bikur 
Cholim, a Jewish organization 
that helps those who are sick. 

“Shavuot 
is about sustain-
ing one another,” explains 
Ayala Kohn, director of edu-
cation for Aish Detroit. “Our 
blessing of abundance comes 
when we give to each other.” 
She’s talking about the idea 
from Shavuot, which is a har-
vest festival, that even when 
you bring your first fruits 
to the Temple, you’re sup-
posed to leave some behind 
for those who need it. “It’s 
the beginning of the season, 
you don’t have a lot yet, but 
it’s important no matter how 
much you have that we leave 
for each other,” she explains.
Nicole was excited for the 

fundraiser because 
of the opportunity to have 
a new experience, see a dif-
ferent perspective and make 
others happy. Last month as 
part of the group, she helped 
out at a Metro Detroit charity 
that gives kids the chance to 
shop for free clothes in a dig-
nified store-like environment. 
“You get to help other 
people and they pass on that 
kindness, and it makes every-
one else feel better,” Nicole 
says. “It’s nice to help out 
because it makes them feel 
good and helps the commu-
nity.” 

Nicole Psakhis