F9: Shavuot

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Shavuot

The festival that commemorates
Revelation on Mt. Sinai is called Shavuot meaning weeks.
This refers to the seven week count (omer) from Pesach
to this festival. How do we celebrate Revelation? We try to relive it. There is a tradition to stay up very late on the first night of Shavuot studying Judaism. We do this to show we care. By learning through the night we are demonstrating that being Jewish is not an annoying chore or a heavy obligation. Being Jewish is an opportunity for contact, a chance to build relationships with each other and with our God. Sinai was a big moment for us, one of our most memorable. On that day God made contact with all the Jewish people and from that day on, everything changed. Judaism is not a religion or a mode of customs, it is a living reality. It makes every day as fresh as the previous one. From Sinai until today.

The story of Ruth

On Shavuot the scroll of Ruth is read. It is an unusual story about the relationship of two women, Naomi and her daughter-in-law, Ruth. During a famine they had left Israel with their families. Both became poor widows. Naomi decides to return to Israel. It is harvest time. Ruth is not a Jewess and Naomi gives her the option of going home to her own family in Moav. But Ruth wants to be with Naomi and to become part of the Jewish people. "Where you go, I will go; wherever you stay I will stay; your people will be my people, and your God will be My God..." (Ruth 1:16) Ruth is accepted and eventually remarries. In the end, she turns out to become the ancestor of King David.

Shavuot occurs at harvest time as does the story of Ruth, but the story is also read on Shavuot because it embodies what the festival is about. Ruth is us. Like her we must decide if we want to make a serious commitment to our people. Clearly, Ruth was motivated out of love, care and feeling for Naomi. So our motivations should also have those traits in them. On Shavuot we renew our commitment to Judaism.

A Sinai Timetable

A lot happened at Sinai. Reading the Torah text and trying to work out what occurred and when can be quite difficult. Below is an easy-to-read timetable of the events. Everything has been calculated directly from the Torah alone.

15 NISSAN On this day, Moses and the people leave Egypt. The year is 1312BCE.

1 SIVAN Everyone arrives at Mt. Sinai

6 SIVAN Revelation at Sinai.

7 SIVAN Moses goes up the mountain for forty days to learn from God.

17 TAMMUZ Moses comes down holding two tablets of stone containing the Ten Commandments. He sees the golden calf and smashes the tablets.

18 TAMMUZ Moses spends a second set of forty days up the mountain and convinces God to forgive the people.

29 AV Moses comes down privately to carve a second set of tablets.

30 AV Moses goes back up with the new tablets to spend a third set of forty days there. The Ten commandments are rewritten on the new tablets.

10 TISHREI Moses come down holding the second set of tablets. The people see that they have been forgiven. This day became Yom Kippur. The year is now 1311BCE.

1 NISSAN The Tabernacle (a portable Temple) is completed and dedicated. It has taken six months to build.

20 IYAR Camp moves off from Mt. Sinai information. They have spent ten days shy of a year by the mountain.

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