Shavuot, Part II

I'm told that Shavuot is not a widely-celebrated holiday outside of Jerusalem. Last time I was in Israel, I was in a small town called Ben-Ayish, where Shavuot as known as a day off from school during which kids squirted water guns and threw water balloons. I did see one water gun fight in Gan Sacher over the two-day Shavuot break, but this seemed a pretty marginal aspect of the holiday in Jerusalem.
Shavuot is characterized by a number of pieces that are kind of hard to put together into one big picture.

1) The agricultural aspect: In Israel, the harvest began with barley in Passover and ended with wheat, on Shavuot- thus Shavuot celebrates the wheat harvest. In the days of the Temple, people would bring loaves of bread to be sacrificed in celebration of the harvest. The agricultural aspect seems to get much more emphasis here than in the US - I saw at least three preschool presentations about grinding wheat into flour and baking bread, and all the signs for Shavuot sales at the clothing stores have pictures of wheat stalks on them.

2) the food aspect: It is traditional to eat dairy on Shavuot. The explanation I've heard for this is that because Shavuot commemorates the giving of the Torah, it was the first time that the Israelites had heard the laws of kashrut and they did not yet have the proper equiptment and knowledge to slaughter meat properly, so they ate milk. Whatever the reason, it's a great holiday to be a vegetarian, but a lousy one for vegans. Traditional foods include cheesecake, blintzes, etc. Cheese itself is less popular. According to the Shavuot Nextbook podcast I listened to, Jews weren't big cheese consumers because most cheeses are made with rennet, an enzyme found in calves' stomachs. There are kosher cheeses, and I'm sure some people do eat cheese on Shavuot, but some of these softer cheese/milk products are more popular.

3) the giving of the Torah: As with many Jewish holidays, the agricultural and theological/historical/Biblical understandings are paired. Therefore, not only does the counting of the omer represent anticipating the wheat harvest, but it also anticipates the giving/receiving of the Torah on Mount Sinai.

4) reading the book of Ruth: It is traditional to read the Book of Ruth on the morning of Shavuot, as it takes place during the barley and wheat harvests and tells of a woman who, like the people of Israel on Mt. Sinai, accepts the Jewish tradition. The book of Ruth is the paradigm for conversion into Judaism, and as David was Ruth's descendant and the Messiah will be David's son, we can see how fully integrated Ruth was the Jewish tradition, despite having been born as a Moabite. The book of Ruth is also a favorite among feminists, as it portrays strong and revered women who have agency over their own lives.

5) all night Torah study: It is traditional among Askenazi communities to study Torah all night on Shavuot - the study can be of any holy book. In Jerusalem, it is traditional to finish the studying by walking to the Western Wall to perform the morning service there.

6) greenery - It is traditional to decorate homes and synagogues with greenery on Shavuot, because Mt. Sinai is said to have blossomed when G-d gave the Torah to the Israelites.

6) confirmation - in the US, progressive synagogues often hold their confirmation ceremonies on Shavuot, a ceremony to acknowledge the completion of post-Bar/Bat Mitzvah studying. As it falls at the end of the school year and is connected to a theme of receiving and accepting the Jewish tradition, confirmation fits nicely into the holiday.

My Shavuot experience began with services at Har El, which was actually quite crowded (I was surprised!) with an upbeat crowd. The cantor donned his special tall high-Reform black hat and performed a combinatin of traditional tunes and contemporary compositions. We read the first chapter of the book of Ruth, the rest was to be read at morning services. After the service, I went to the potluck at Har El, which was filled with fruit salads, egg and cheese dishes, and breads. My friends Rebecca and Aya joined me at the potluck and we chatted with congregants a bit before heading in to the lecture given by Rabbi Ada.

Rabbi Ada's lecture was about the coming of the Messiah. She explained what some Rabbinic sources have to say about questions of when and how the Messiah will come, what the Messiah will look like and do, what the world will be in the Messianic era. All of this was done with a sense of humor but also with a sense of hopefulness and faith, a balance between a liberal and modern perspective and a respect for and sharing in the hope of a perfect world to come. Rabbi Ada is terrific and I was proud that I understood almost all that she said.

Afterwards, Rebecca, Aya, and I went to HUC to do some more studying. HUC was all lit up, the fountain was running, and many classes were set up around the courtyard, in Hebrew, and one in English. We, along with several HUC students, attended a talk about the idea of chosen-ness and uniqueness in Judaism, followed by a presentation by Rabbi/Prof Michael Marmur in which we examined one verse and used it as a way to understand what it means to be a stranger or an outsider, and the value and difficulty this perspective presents.

We ended at about 3:00 in the morning, and while I could have waited and walked to the Western Wall at 4:00, I was too tired by that time and I went home to bed.

Lag B'Omer

Tonight is the beginning of Lag B'omer, a holiday I've never celebrated before and I hardly ever noticed was a part of the Jewish calendar. But it is apparently a pretty big deal here. I asked a lot of Israelis at school today what they do for Lag B'omer, and the answers all were the same: set things on fire. Yes, Lag B'omer is the holiday for bonfires, for wrapping potatoes and onions into the fire and then eating them cooked and whole. It used to be the holiday for singing Israeli songs, but now it is more often the holiday for marshmallows (a concept brought over from the US) and barbecues. I suppose it might also be thought of as the start of summer.
Daniel and I stopped by the Har El bonfire to eat an onion, visit with some preschoolers, and see what it was all about. It was really fun - some singing, some eating, some chatting, some Israeli dancing. On the way home from school today I saw a giant fire in an Israeli neighborhood and it looked pretty dangerous to me, but the Har El one seemed relatively reasonable.
Since I'm talking about Lag B'omer, let me give you a little information abou the holiday, as my guess is that you also don't know too much about it:
In Leviticus 23:15-16 we are told to count seven complete weeks from the day after Passover and ending with the festival of Shavuot on the 50th day of the "counting of the Omer" The counting of the omer is to keep track of the time between the wheat and barley harvests in Israel, and also the time between the Exodus from Egypt and receiving the Torah. Lag B'Omer is the 33rd day of the counting of the Omer. According to Talmudic tradition, during the days of Rabbi Akiva 24,000 students of his died during a plague, which supposedly ended on the 33rd day of the counting of the Omer - so one explanation for Lag B'Omer is that it celebrates the cessation of the plague. Lag B'omer is also supposedly the yartzheit, or anniversary of the death, of Rabbi Yonatan Bar Yochai, a student of Rabbi Akiva's who survived the plague. According to tradition, Bar Yochai revealed the secrets of the Kabalah on the day of his death, and so Lag B'omer is a celebration of the Kabalah. (thanks, wikipedia!)
During the counting of the Omer, many life-affirming activities such as shaving, getting married, and having sex, are forbidden, but on Lag B'omer they are permitted, so it is a big celebratory holiday. It is also a custom for many Jews to make a pilgramage to Mt. Meron to the tomb of Rabbi Yonatan Bar Zochai. Also, many Orthodox Jews perform the first hair cut of their 3-year-old boys on Lag B'Omer. You can read here about celebrations at Mt. Meron. Thousands of Orthodox Jews head to Mt. Moriah, and thousands of secular Jews light their own bonfires all over the country. You can read here about environmentalists who are upset about all the fumes.

You can check out some pictures of our Lag B'Omer experience here.