Rabbi Silver Explains Shavuot
The Annual count has begun, marking the days from Pesach to Shavuot.
On the second night of Passover Jews around the world began the
counting of the Omer, a tradition going back to ancient days when
a sheaf of barley would be set aside to mark the days between the
two festivals.
According
to Scripture, God promised the Israelites that fifty days after
leaving Egypt, they would
be standing at Sinai to receive
the Torah, and so each day our ancestors set aside a sheaf of barley
as a counting piece. The counting was accomplished by days and
weeks, until at the end of forty-nine days, a week of weeks had
been counted, and the following day would mark the revelation at
Sinai. The Hebrew word for week is "Shavuah," and the
plural, "Shavuot," is the name given to the festival,
hence its English name, the "Feast of Weeks."
"Let My people go, that they might serve Me," demands
Moses in God's name, to which Pharaoh responds, "I do not
know this Adonay of whom you speak, and I will not let the Israelites
go. They will remain as my servants." Ultimately Pharaoh had
to give in, and the Jews left Egypt, but that was only half the
path to liberation. Wandering on their own, lost in the desert,
they were simply ex-slaves, not yet a free people. At Sinai the
Covenant of liberation was forged and our ancestors bound themselves
to God's purpose. So that they might never forget that the very
fulfillment of Passover is Sinai, we promised that we would count
the days each year, and in so doing, we would learn, as did our
ancestors, that the only true freedom is to be a servant of God.
Faith. It seems like such a difficult thing to have. Maybe people
like Mother Theresa have faith, but for ordinary mortals like us,
it's far too difficult. Maybe if God had wanted to make us saints,
then we would have an easier time believing.
And now the calendar has rolled around once more to Shavuot, Z'man
Mattan Toratenu--the Festival of the Giving of the Torah. How fortunate
our ancestors must have been, to have lived in an age when miracles
were commonplace. For them, Torah was was an easy thing. After
all, they were the generation who had witnessed the Exodus from
Egypt, the redemption at the Sea, and who stood at the base of
Sinai when the mountain was aflame with the presence of God. They
witnessed what has been denied to us, so believing was easy for
them. For us, it is far more difficult, for we have only our stories
to fall back upon.
And yet, it was the generation that had witnessed everything first
hand, to whom miracles were commonplace, who saw everything with
their own eyes, who celebrated that first Shavuot by building a
golden calf! You see, my friends, faith is something that is not
encouraged by direct experience. Sometimes that experience is a
reward. It's not that seeing is believing, rather, believing is
seeing.
Permit
me to explain a bit here. Augustine, an early Christian leader,
had it right when he wrote, "Understanding is the
reward of faith. Therefore, do not say, 'let me understand, in
order that I may have faith,' but have faith, that you might understand." The
meaning of this is clear. We can see things happening right before
our own eyes, yet our minds can tell us not to be moved by them.
We can ignore Sinai, happening right in front of us, because we're
too busy building a golden calf. On the other hand, we can will
our minds to accept Sinai, to hold fast to Torah. That's when the
celebration of Shavuot becomes real.
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Shavuot Food
From Seasoned
with Tradition, Sisterhood's Cookbook
Shavuot, also called the Feast of Weeks, occurs 50 days after
Passover. Originally a harvest festival celebrating the completion
of the grain harvest, it evolved into a holiday commemorating the
giving of the Ten Commandments to Moses on Mt. Sinai.
It is customary to serve wheat bread and dairy products on Shavuot.
A pastoral explanation for the emphasis on dairy dishes is that
late May and early June are peak cheese-producing times, since
goats and sheep and cows begin to graze more and produce more milk.
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A Recipe
Try Dorie Cobern's Lokshen Kugel as a delicious addition to your
dairy meal.
1 lb. broad noodles
1/4 tsp. salt
4 eggs
6 Tbsp. sugar
6 Tbsp. bread crumbs 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
8 Tbsp. shortening
1 c. seedless raisins
1 c. thinly sliced tart apples
Drop noodles into rapidly boiling salted water. Drain in colander
and rinse.
Beat eggs with sugar, cinnamon and salt. Add the cooked noodles.
Melt shortening in the baking dish and add to the mixture. Turn
1/2 the mixture into the greased baking dish. Sprinkle with raisins
and apples. Add remainder of mixture on top.
Bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes.
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* Shavuot on the net
* Obadiah the Proselyte
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Shavuot