| We will be celebrating Shavuot
Sunday June 8, 2008
7:00 PM 7000 Bellaire Blvd, Houston, Tx. 77074
Kugel and nosh following in Room 206 |
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EVOLUTION OF SHAVUOT Shavuot is the Hebrew word meaning “weeks” and refers to the festival marking the giving of the Torah at Sinai. The name “weeks” derives from the forty-nine days, the omer, that it took our ancestors to travel from Egypt to the foot of Mount Sinai. The name Shavuot symbolizes the completion of this seven-week journey that led from a life of oppression to the giving of the Torah. Shavuot is celebrated on the sixth of Sivan. In biblical times, it marked the end of the spring barley harvest and the beginning of the summer wheat harvest. Along with Pesach and Sukkot, Shavuot was a pilgrimage festival, a time for Jews to bring crop offerings to the Temple in Jerusalem. After the Temple was destroyed and offerings were no longer possible, Jews began to decorate their homes with greenery and flowers. After Shavuot was tied with the giving of the Torah, this custom was explained by the story of the Israelites arriving to find Mount Sinai blooming with lush greenery and flowers.
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The Book of Ruth By the time of the Mishnah, it was customary to read the Ten Commandments and the Book of Ruth on Shavuot. Ruth journeyed with her mother-in-law Naomi and her sister-inlaw Orpah, all widows, toward Naomi’s homeland in Judah. Because she thought they would have difficulty adjusting to life in Judah, Naomi urged her daughters-in-law to remain in their birthplace, Maob. Orpah heeded Naomi’s advice, but Ruth declared, “Entreat me not to leave thee and to return from following after thee; for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be my people and thy God my God” (1:16-17). Ruth stayed with Naomi and later married Boaz, Naomi’s distant relative; their son, Obed, was the grandfather of David. Thus, Ruth, whose speech served not only as an expression of loyalty to Naomi, but as an act of conversion to Judaism, was the great-grandmother of the King of Israel. That the story of Ruth takes place during the summer harvest is only one explanation for why we read it during Shavuot. Ruth’s story is most significant in that it reminds us of our responsibility to Judaism. Ruth, a convert, serves as an example to us in her commitment to her faith. Another explanation of why we read the Book of Ruth on Shavuot is that it reminds us of the great King David. King David’s birth and death was said to have occurred on this day. We read Psalms, traditionally ascribed to David, on Shavuot. Many Jews make pilgrimages to King David’s tomb on Mount Zion during Shavuot. Some traditional synagogues light 150 candles in memory of David, one for each of the 150 psalms. |
Shavuot Foods Traditional Jewish families have two challot on Shavuot, one for each tablet of Jewish law. It is also customary to eat dairy dishes on the holiday, especially cheesecake and blintzes. Doing so symbolizes the sweetness of the Torah and the “land of milk and honey” which the Jews were about to enter. Also, meat symbolizes the incident of the golden calf, and so by refusing meat we remember the necessity of avoiding idolatrous incidents. Another explanation of why we eat dairy foods on Shavuot is that after receiving the Torah at Sinai, Jews discovered that they had not been observing dietary laws. Finding themselves without kosher meat or utensils, they ate only dairy foods. |
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| The information appearing above was adapted from Syme, Daniel B. The Jewish Home: A Guide for Jewish Living. NewYork, New York: UAHC Press, 1988. | ||||||