Shavuot 101 – A New Take

May 28, 2009 · Filed Under Baum's Blog 

When I flew to Israel in 2003, I went on El-Al Airlines.  They asked me a few security questions… which were a bit more complicated than the ones they ask for domestic flights (You know, when they ask “have your bags been in your possession at all times?”  I mean – who says “no”?).  In any case, they asked why I was going to Israel, so I explained I was entering my first year of rabbinical school.  They then asked me to name the three festivals in the Jewish calendar (I suppose to prove I knew something about Judaism).  I hesitated for a moment, then offered my semi-educated guess: Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot.  Fortunately, I got it right.

For the record, I may have just committed some security breach by giving away the right answer.  I guess El-Al Airlines will have to stay on its toes and come up with some new questions.  Woops.

In any case, Passover is a holiday I knew a lot about.  I knew something about Sukkot as well, because I had learned about it in Sunday School and friends of ours invited us to their sukkah [booth] for dinner every year.  I probably knew the least about Shavuot though.  I’m thinking my lack of knowledge had something to do with the fact that Shavuot falls after the last day of Religious School so they never got to it. 

Pretty much all I knew was that Shavuot was when Jews celebrate God giving them the Torah.  I’m pretty sure that God didn’t write the Torah.  So, what could Shavuot mean to me?

Now that I’m slightly more educated (thank you Hebrew Union College), here’s what I know about Shavuot.  We like to give things lots of names, so the holiday is also known as the Feast of Weeks or the Festival of the Covenant (and to further complicate matters, Shavuot is sometimes pronounced Shavuos).  Essentially, it started as a way of marking the end of the barley harvest and involved making an offering to God.  I don’t grow barley.  So, what could Shavuot mean to me?

Eventually, Shavuot morphed and took on other meanings, as most holidays do.  Without the Temple in Jerusalem and with less focus on agriculture, Jews needed new ways to say God was important to them. Based on the 19th chapter of the book of Exodus in the Torah, Jews decided it was possible that God gave the Torah to the Jews during Shavuot (since the text says both happen during the third month).  So, hence the association with receiving the Torah on Shavuot.

It wasn’t just about receiving the Torah, though.  It was also about the response.  Our mythic ancestors in the Torah responded “we will do and we will listen/understand.”  That’s why it’s called a covenant– it’s supposed to be a two way relationship between God and the Jews. 

While traditional Jews understand this to mean that we will follow the Torah (i.e. God’s law, in their eyes), you’ve probably guessed by now that doesn’t work for me.  But, what does work for me is the idea of having a holiday where we recognize the importance of a text in our lives.

Sure, I don’t believe the Torah was written by God.  I don’t believe it was given on Mt. Sinai or that Moses had anything to do with it.  Yet, I do believe the Torah is a fascinating text.  And so I say “I will do and I will listen/understand.”  I will do – meaning I will embrace this text as I receive it today, with all of the wonderful commentary that enhances it and all of the scientific knowledge that informs how I approach the text.  And I will listen – taking in the words – seeking to understand them.  What were the issues the authors of these texts were grappling with?  What can we learn from this literature?  

That’s my take on Shavuot.  I won’t actually be observing it tonight (I’ll be in finance class instead – does that count?), but I guess I have marked it in some way by writing this blog.  I even reread Exodus 19 in the process – trying to make sense of this text. 

While many will be talking tonight about how Moses received the Torah from God on Sinai, I’ll be thinking (after finance class, of course) about my relationship with the Torah and other great literature today.   My friend Jonathan pointed out that Shavuot is like Constitution Day.  I like that idea.  Constitution Day is about reflecting on the legacy of those who wrote the Constitution, and this Shavuot I’ll be thinking about the legacy of those who wrote the Bible. 

If this has been too rambling for you, sorry, but I had to write more than Harry did.  Since you got this far, let me give you three fun facts to impress your friends with:
1. Traditional Jews read the Book of Ruth on Shavuot.
2. Some people spend the whole night studying on Shavuot (if you want to be really impressive, it’s called Tikkun Leil Shavuot).
3. It’s a tradition to eat lots of dairy on the holiday.

Oh yeah, did I mention tonight is Shavuot? Since it’s a holiday that involves dairy products, calories don’t count.  So have some ice cream and cheesecake (but not together, that would be gross!).

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