Joy in simplicity

Torah comes alive in seasons, cycles of life on earth

HANNA TIFERET SIEGEL
Jewish Family and Life

Do you know the names of the three pilgrim festivals, or as they are called in Hebrew, the shalosh regalim, in the Jewish calendar? They are the three holidays during which our ancestors walked to the holy Temple in Jerusalem to offer sacrifices and celebrate together.

As God says in Exodus 23:14-17: "Three times a year you shall hold a festival for me. ... Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Sovereign, the Lord."

These holidays included Passover, the Festival of Freedom; Sukkot, the Harvest Festival; and Shavuot, which celebrates the receiving the Torah, and this year begins at sundown on Thursday, May 20, and lasts through Saturday, May 22.

Shavuot tends to get overlooked because unlike the seder for Passover and the fragile shelters of Sukkot, which both begin on the eve of a full moon, there is very little ritual or moonlight that bonds us to the holiday of Shavuot. So what is this holiday all about?

Shavuot, a holiday celebrated for one day in Israel and for two days outside of Israel, begins on the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan. Shavuot is the Hebrew word for "weeks;" the festival occurs on the 50th day (seven weeks plus one day) following the second night of Passover.

We actually count the days from Passover to Shavuot every night at the conclusion of the ma'ariv, or evening service. By counting each day, we recall the biblical custom of the daily offering of an omer, a sheaf of barley, from the early spring harvest until the time of the ripening wheat.

Many Jews observe the counting of the omer as a time of mourning for the loss of the Temple and the plague that befell Rabbi Akiba's students. These Jews do not cut their hair, attend concerts or get married during the omer.

Spiritually, the omer is a countdown or a "count-up" from the days of our slavery, through the birthing waters of freedom, to the mountain of revelation. It is also an opportunity to heal oneself by experiencing each day as a unique combination of the seven attributes of God: loving-kindness, discipline, compassion, perseverance, beauty, foundation-laying and the manifesting of our dreams. By the time we reach day 50, we've made a journey through the depths of our consciousness and are ready to receive the gift of the Torah.

But Shavuot has not always been seen as the holiday for receiving the Torah. The Torah itself describes the holiday in purely agricultural terms. As it says in Exodus 34:22: "You shall observe the Feast of Weeks, of the first fruits of the wheat harvest."

Shavuot appropriate time to encourage love of reading

The priests offered two loaves of leavened wheat bread in the Temple to mark the end of the omer period and the beginning of a new agricultural season. In addition, families brought bikkurim, or first fruits, to the Temple as specified in the Torah: wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and dates.

By the end of the second Temple period, there were disagreements between the priests (Sadducees) and the early rabbis (Pharisees) regarding the nature of the holiday.

In an attempt to democratize the religion and allow each person to see him/herself as liberated from Egypt and a recipient of Torah, an historical aspect was added to the agricultural nature of the holiday. Shavuot became the celebration of the marriage contract between God and Israel, the receiving of the Torah at Mount Sinai.

With the destruction of the Temple, loss of the priesthood and dispersion of the Jewish people, the historical meaning of the holiday became very significant. The result of the controversy can be seen in the five names for Shavuot:

Chag Hakatzir - The Festival of Reaping
Chag Hashavuot - The Festival of Weeks
Chag Habikurim - The Festival of the First Fruits
Atzeret - The Conclusion (The Talmud gives it this name. Shavuot is the conclusion to the holiday of Passover, much like Shemini Atzeret is the conclusion of Sukkot.)
Zman Matan Torah - The Time of the Giving of the Torah. The Talmud suggests that the Ten Commandments were given on the sixth of Sivan.

Perhaps it is time to reintroduce this forgotten holiday of Shavuot into our lives and to find meaningful ways to bring its message into our homes and communities. Although most of us no longer live an agricultural lifestyle, it is essential that we remember our connection to the earth as humans and as Jews.

We observe almost every one of our holidays for an agricultural as well as an historical reason. As we relearn how to live on the earth and in harmony with her cycles, and are able to pass it on to our children and our students, we will experience the simplicity and joy of the original meaning of the celebration.

When we can welcome the stories of our ancestors as well as the living Torah of the seasons of our lives, we will truly be enriched by the wisdom of the tradition.

Here are some Shavuot customs:

Decorating the home and synagogue. To maintain a link with the agricultural nature of the festival, it is customary to decorate the home and synagogue with beautiful flowers and greens.
Bringing the first fruits. In the kibbutzim (communal farms) in Israel, the custom of bringing the first fruits has been revived, and the ceremonies include processions, dancing and singing, and a celebration of the blessed fruits of the land.
Eating dairy dishes. No one knows for sure why this custom arose. Perhaps it is because of the verse in the Song of Songs 4:11, "Honey and milk are under your tongue," referring to Torah. Cheese blintzes are one of the favorite foods for Shavuot.
Reading the Book of Ruth. In the story, Ruth arrives in the land of Israel around the time of Shavuot. Her genealogy at the end of the book reveals that she is the great-grandmother of King David, who died on Shavuot. And her acceptance of our people and our traditions is comparable to receiving the Torah at Sinai.
Conversion. Perhaps inspired by Ruth's decision to embrace the Jewish people, Jews often complete their learning, go to a mikveh (ritual bath) and enter the covenant before Shavuot. Women often take the name Ruth for their Hebrew name. Jews-by-choice may be called to the Torah for the first time on Shavuot.
Confirmation. In the Reform and Conservative movements, this is the ceremonial time for graduation from Hebrew high school.
Tikkun Leyl Shavuot. Since the Torah is so deeply connected to learning, there is a kabbalistic custom of staying awake throughout Shavuot, studying texts, singing songs and telling stories, until the first rays of the sun call us to offer shacharit prayers (morning service prayers) and read the Ten Commandments.

This article was originally published on www.jewishfamily.com, an online family of magazines about Jewish life and values. It was distributed by Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

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