Making Special Foods for Shavuot
Do you love to make special foods for the Jewish holidays? Shavuot (which starts at sundown on June 3rd this year) can really inspire creativity in the kitchen. Or, if you prefer, it can be extremely simple.
Sanctuary: A Poem for the End of Counting the Omer
I counted out the measures
In cubits
and inches
and baskets of grain
And made a sanctuary
From a field of grass
And cornflowers,
And it was pleasing to behold,
And silent.
Take Two Tablets: A Shavuot Prescription for Displaying the Decalogue
Have you seen the Ten Commandments lately? Not the 1956 Cecil B. DeMille blockbuster, but the Decalogue: the biblical guidelines Moses brought down from Mt. Sinai and a cause for Jewish celebration each year on Shavuot.
This Shavuot, Stand With Ruth
It is customary to read and study the Book of Ruth on Shavuot. Why? A couple of reasons.
Shavuot: Celebrating an Interfaith Torah
In this Scroll is the secret of our people's life from Sinai until now. Its teaching is love and justice, goodness and hope. Freedom is its gift to all who treasure it.
– Mishkan T'filah, the Torah Service
Immigrant Families: Our Modern-Day Strangers
As we count our days to Shavuot, we are ever mindful that we left Egypt as strangers but came to Sinai to fulfill a mission.
It’s Hard to be a Jew at Christmas, But Even Harder on Tu BiSh’vat
It is a truth universally acknowledged that it can be difficult to be Jewish at Christmas time. It has seeped into North American cultural consciousness so thoroughly that South Park even wrote a song about it, complete with trademark expletives.
Putting Down Roots: Why Our Jewish Family Needs a Yard Full of Trees
We celebrated the holiday of Tu BiShvat – the “Jewish Arbor Day” – way back in February, and we won’t celebrate it again until January. But no matter: I need to talk about the trees now.
A Playlist for the Omer: The Journey from Liberation to Revelation
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.