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On the first day of Shavuot, we read in Exodus 19 that God declares to the Israelites assembled at the foot of Mount Sinai:

May 26th will mark the Jewish festival of Lag BaOmer which – like, Shavuot and Hanukkah – is not mentioned in the Torah.

Shavuot is an ideal time to contemplate the brit (covenant) that God made with the Israelites, and its impact on the Jewish experience to this day.

One of the great examples of Reform Jewish thinking, some 2,000 years before there was anything called Reform Judaism, regards the Festival of Shavuot.

We find ourselves in the midst of the Omer, when we count off the days, and weeks, in between Passover and Shavuot. Last week, we celebrated the 33rd day of the Omer: Lag BaOmer. The journey begins with our liberation from Egypt. It concludes with the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai.

Today's North American Reform synagogues have increasingly begun to rethink and attempt to reinvigorate the contemporary practice of bar and bat mitzvah, a practice that may transform Reform Judaism in general. In many ways, these conversations are reminiscent of the emergence of confirmation at the beginning of the 19^th century, a significant part of a broad effort to re-envision Judaism's well known adolescent rites-de-passage in communities throughout central Europe. In time, confirmation, largely became associated with Reform Judaism.

Over Memorial Day Weekend, Americans will be honoring the lives of those lost in service to their country. This weekend is also known as the celebration of the symbolic beginning of summer (often with barbecues and white pants, sometimes a dangerous combination). And, coinciding with Memorial Day Weekend this year is the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, the Festival of Weeks, when we celebrate the giving of the Torah at Sinai (and cheesecake).

As Rosh HaShanah approached last year, I was living in southwestern China, where I celebrated by eating apples and explaining the Jewish New Year to my Chinese roommate.