\”There\’s a challenge for Reform Jews around the observance of Tisha B\’Av, and communities make all kinds of choices,\” said Rabbi Sue Ann Wasserman, the Union for Reform Judaism\’s director of worship, music and religious living.
Around the Pico-Robertson neighborhood — and the city — the standard lectures were being given on topics ranging from the Book of Ruth to Israel, but something off the beaten path was taking place on Robertson Boulevard in a lecture at Anshei Emet Synagogue. The subject was \”Kabbalah and the Red String.\”
At 81, frail of body but sharp-tongued and wise, Rabbi Schulweis has made it his mission to preach the gospel of conversion to the Jews. That is we, as individuals and as a people, must seek and embrace converts. Doing so will not only improve Jewish life but improve our own lives as Jews.
Shavuot commemorates the Jewish people\’s grandest moment of revelation — on a mountain, but definitely not in solitude. Absolutely personal, but not in the least private.
Jews often live in calendar dialectics. Annually, we oscillate between two Jewish New Years (Tishrei/Nissan) and two \”Judgment Days\” (Rosh Hashana/Yom Kippur). the Dubner Maggid, Rabbi Yaakov Krantz, perhaps the greatest Jewish storyteller of all time, was once asked: Why do we celebrate both Simchat Torah and Shavuot? Why not condense them into one grand holiday?
Shavuot, which marks the receiving of the Ten Commandments by Moses, was often referred to as the Jewish Thanksgiving or the \”Feast of the First Fruits,\” a time when farm bounty and grains were brought to the ancient Temple. The harvest often included wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates.
In modern times, Shavuot inspires the preparation of many delicious and traditional recipes that usually feature a variety of vegetarian and dairy foods. Milk, eggs and cheeses of all kinds are used in abundance.
Is Shavuot becoming hip? The holiday, which begins June 12, may be one of Judaism\’s three major festivals, but it had never caught on in America like its more popular cousins, Passover and Sukkot.
The tradition of tikkun l\’eil Shavuot, the all-night study session that marks the commemoration of God\’s giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai, is celebrated by most Orthodox Jews and many Conservative congregations. But for many unaffiliated and non-Orthodox Jews, the holiday has gone fairly unnoticed.
Until recently.
Do you like ice cream? Cheesecake? Blintzes?
Well, Shavuot is the holiday for you. That\’s when the dairy queen grants us our wish: to eat all the sweetest, milkiest foods we want.
\”Mother used to leave jars full of schav in the refrigerator,\” says a friend of mine. \”Because the stuff looked like seaweed, I would run from the kitchen in horror.\”
Shavuot, the holiday that celebrates the receiving of the Torah, will be honored this month with special tributes by two area congregations. Figuring prominently is the holiest of all Jewish books, but each event has its own twist.
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