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The Feast of Weeks: Shavout

Shavuot is the second of the three major festivals (Passover being the first and Sukkot the third) and occurs exactly fifty days after the second day of Passover (this is according to rabbinic authority). This holiday memorializes the day when we received the Torah at Mount Sinai. The word "Shavuot" means "weeks": It denotes the conclusion of the seven-week counting period (called the counting of the Omer) between Passover and Shavuot. During these seven weeks the Jewish people transformed themselves from the physcially engrossed Egyptian slavery and endevoured to start the process of becoming an intuitively spiritual nation ready to enter into an eternal covenant with the Creator through the reception of the Torah. On this day we received a gift from Above which we could not have achieved with our own limited faculties. On this day we perceived thoughts and words that were foreign to us that would eventually give us the ability to to be cultivated beyond habitual animalistic human beings, Divine human beings who are capable of rising above and beyond the limitations of the five senses. Before the giving of the Torah we were a family and a community, but still referred to as separate, individual souls. The experience of Sinai bonded us into a new entity: the Jewish people; the Chosen Nation. This holiday is likened to the beginning of the marriage process – engagement through the ketubah of Torah. As a result we are to consciously relate to the Creator in a marital way. This is not what you see in fairytales folks. We are not Cinderella. The commitment that we've made is to grow and learn through the lessons we quite typically refer to as mitzvot. Every year on the holiday of Shavuot, we are asked to bring back into focus this very important purpose. To take on the lessons of Torah and to see the Creator as a merciful teacher (this is what a spouse truly is) who will allow us to be individuals and approve of our wholeness as a unified people.

In prior histroy, they brought two loaves of challah baked from the wheat of the new crop plus samples of the first fruits. In preparation for their journey to the Jerusalem, farmers would inspect their crops and tie red twine around any fig, pomegranate or bunch of grapes that looked ripe. These fruits, along with wheat, barley, olives and dates, were then piled into baskets and carried in processions to Jerusalem. Before every procession was a flutist and an ox, its horns painted gold. Half the day was devoted to study and the other half to eating and drinking. It's interesting to find that after the fall of the Second Temple and the Exile, the pilgrimages were put on hold, and the themes of Shavuot became what we have today, Torah and Covenant. In fact, scripture does not directly address that the Torah was given on Shavuot. It is Talmudic interpretation that tells us that fifty days after the Exodus, on the sixth of day of the Hebrew month of Sivan -- the date of Shavuot -- the Torah was given. What was in former times a joyous harvest feast is now a bittersweet memorial tinged with a longing for acceptance by a bride in waiting. We enjoyed the benefits of being unified as a nation. Being whole we had a whole relationship with our Creator. Now being fractured and bruised we take out the ketubah once a year with the purpose of longing for a whole relationship. With the building of the third temple on the horizen we are steadily becoming whole again. It seems a good transitional time to use our imaginations to see something different in this holiday, a bride whole with the experience of being scattered and disconnected from Torah for 2000 years. It's time to imagine ourselves as Ruth.

Date:
Sixth day of Sivan beginning at sunset. Candles are lit by the women (and their lovely daughters) to usher in the extra portion of the soul (often referred to as the Holy Spirit). There is a requirement to cease from labor on this holiday.

Decorations:
It is customary to decorate synagogues and homes with flowers and boughs. Bring the Harvest Inside Get masses of greens and fresh flowers and bring them into your house.

Some ideas:
Colorful paper cut-outs of flowers, animals and bible figures--to tape to the windows.

Shavuot Focus Readings:
Exodus 19: 1-20:23 Haftarah: Ezekiel 1: 1-28; 3:12 Reading of the book of Ruth Reading of Tikkun L'el Shavuot--the Service of the Night of Study. (Those who crave more mystical studies). Reading of the Akdamot.

Modern Ceremonies:
The youngest of children do the reading of the Ten Commandments in the synagogue on Shavuot. This is in commemoration of the Jewish people declaring: "Our children are our guarantors [that we will keep the Torah]". This is said to be the only guarantee acceptable to G-d (Midrash).

Interesting Facts:
King David passed away on Shavuot.

Sources:
http://www.chabad.org/library/article.htm/aid/2150/jewish/What-is-Shavuot.html
http://www.ujc.org/page.html?ArticleID=77809