Shavuot 2014

Shavuot begins at sunset on Tuesday, June 3 and will end on the evening of Thursday, June 5 2014.

What is Shavuot?

Shavuot, the feast of weeks, is celebrated seven weeks after the second Passover seder.

Although Shavuot began as an ancient grain harvest festival, the holiday has been identified since biblical times with the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai.

Read more about the history of Shavuot.

What are some customs and practices for Shavuot?

- To commemorate the giving of the Torah at Sinai there is a tradition of staying up all night studying Jewish texts in what is called a tikun
- On Shavuot the Book of Ruth is read.
- Traditionally dairy foods are eaten on Shavuot.
- In order to mark the agricultural history of Shavuot, some decorate their house and synagogues with a floral theme.

Continue reading.

 

For more Shavuot ideas, check out our    page.

Dancing in Jerusalem

by Sam Glaser

This was the last song written for my new album, The Promise. I needed a groovy, let's-all-make-aliyah theme song that would describe the various major redemption moments of the past century. The opening line quotes the Ethiopian Crown Prince Ahmad when he finally gave permission for the Jews to leave. My heart is Dancing in Jerusalem. Now I just got to get my whole body there! Enjoy the video! You can buy the album at my site here, and on itunes.

My groovy, let's-all-make-aliyah theme song that describes the various major redemption moments of the past century.

In honor of Yom Yerushalayim/Jerusalem Day on May 28th, enjoy this video from Sam Glazer

If unable to view this video, check it out on aish.com













Check out Jvillage’s Modern Jewish Holiday page    page.

Top 10 Rolling Stones Shavuot songs

The good news? The Rolling Stones will play Tel Aviv in June. The bad news? A large portion of Israelis won’t be able to go.

The concert, scheduled for June 4, falls at the end of Shavuot — making it near impossible for holiday-observant Israelis to go see Mick, Keith and Co. prove they’ve still got the magic at age 70. Jewish Home MK Nissan Slomiansky petitioned the Stones to move the concert, but in case they don’t acquiesce, we’ve got the next best thing: The top 10 Rolling Stones Shavuot songs.

(Props to the Jerusalem Post’s Lahav Harkov for this idea.)

1. Sympathy for the Devil’s Food Cake — We can’t have meat, but at least we can have great dessert.
2. (Don’t) Gimme Shellfish — The laws of kashrut, put to hard rock.
3. Wild Moses — Check out Charlton Heston’s beard in “The Ten Commandments.” Now tell me Moses wasn’t wild.
4. Dairy Tuesday — This one really only works this year.
5. 19th Nervous Breakdown — The song title is the same, but this time it’s about a Jewish mother.
6. Let’s Spend the Night Together… Learning Torah — Probably not what you expected from a Stones song.
7. Holy Talk Woman — Shavuot night at Yeshivat Maharat.
8. It’s Only Lox and Rolls But I Like It — Nothing like a good bagel.
9. Write with Fire – According to legend, God wrote the Ten Commandments with black fire on white fire. Don’t try this at home.
10. Hey, Jew, Get Off of My Cow – Moses gets angry about the Golden Calf

Kabbalah and Lag B'Omer

by Yair Danielsohn for aish.com

Lag B'Omer is celebrated May 18, 2014

Lag B'Omer, the 33rd day of the Omer, is celebrated as a commemoration of the memory of Rabi Shimon bar Yochai. A prominent sage of the Mishna, Rabbi Shimon is best known as the author of the chief mystical work, the Zohar, or “Luminescence”. Accordingly, this day has come to be associated with the Kabbalah, the mystical tradition that deals with the concealed aspects of Torah.

If genuine Kabbalah is decidedly not a quick-fix derivative of Judaism ― a jar of blessed water, an amulet or a red string can bring blessing into your life and solve all of your problems – what is it exactly? Does Kabbalah have something to offer the uninitiated layman in terms of opportunities for growth and enlightenment?

The Torah has two general levels of meaning. One, called “pshat”, is the plain meaning of the text, without resorting to concepts that need to be learned from other sources. This term is somewhat deceiving, since even the basic meaning of the Torah’s texts requires ceaseless study and yields an inexhaustible fountain of inspiration and enlightenment.

The second level is that of “sod”, which means “secrets”. At this level, everything within the Torah can be seen as just the tip of the iceberg, and actually hints at esoteric levels of existence we do not ordinarily come into contact with. Generally speaking, the focus of attention at this level of Torah study is the ways in which God relates to this world. It describes the spiritual DNA of the universe.

The study of sod is also called Kabbalah. This is because the word Kabbalah means the reception of a tradition, and due to the extremely sensitive nature of Kabbalah, it can only be understood properly when received as a transmission from a knowledgeable scholar. The discipline of Kabbalah was given at Sinai as one of the levels of interpretation of the Torah. It was always studied as a part of Torah, and its existence is alluded to throughout the Mishna and Talmud, although its investigation was usually reserved for the most spiritually gifted of each generation.

Just as one cannot study calculus without being fluent in arithmetic or study quantum physics without a background in the basics of science, so too is it impossible to comprehend the esoteric secrets of sod without first having thoroughly studied pshat, the first level of Torah understanding.

 Continue reading.



Check out Jvillage’s Modern Jewish Holiday page    page.  Also, check out our spring & Summer Holiday Spotlight Kit.