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Israel Alert Newsletter
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Shavuot EDITION
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5 Sivan 5773
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May 14, 2013
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CLICK HERE
FOR OUR FULL SELECTION OF ARTICLES ABOUT SHAVUOT
Happy Shavuot! The Time of Divine Revelation
It is ironic that Shavuot is such a little-known holiday. Because in fact,
Shavuot commemorates the single most important event in Jewish history
- the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. Shavuot is the culmination
of the seven-week-long "counting of the Omer" that occurs following
Passover.
The very name "Shavuot" means "weeks," in recognition of
the weeks of anticipation leading up to the Sinai experience. Since Shavuot
occurs 50 days after the first day of Passover, it is sometimes known as
"Pentecost," a Greek word meaning "the holiday of 50 days."
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The Rich Customs of Shavuot
Shavuot celebrates the event of G-d giving the Torah to the Jewish people at
Mt. Sinai. Shavuot is also one of the three pilgrimage festivals the other two
being Passover and Succot. In ancient Israel, Jews would journey from all over
the land in order to make a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem and to mark
the new agricultural season by giving sacrifices to G-d.
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This coming Tuesday and Wednesday Jews worldwide will be celebrating SHAVUOT -
the day the Jewish people received the Torah on Mount Sinai. You probably saw
the movie....but don't forget to read the book! It is customary to eat dairy on
Shavuot, and in today's United With Israel Torah column we are going to tell
you why!
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Shavuot:
Our Crazy Love for God
Shavuot never had the
marketing potential of the others Jewish holidays - no matzah, no colorful
candles, no lulav, no shofar. As a result, it is the least known of the major
Jewish holidays. It has no symbol, nothing to recommend itself and capture the
imagination. One of few customs we do have on Shavuot is staying up all night
studying.
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On Shavuot, the Jewish people traditionally read the Book of Ruth. According to
various Jewish sages, this is done because a) the holiday of Shavuot falls in
the harvest season and a great part of the story of Ruth took place during the
barley harvest b) King David was one of Ruth's descendants...
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