S h a v u o t

According to Jewish tradition, the Ten Commandments were given to Moses on Mount Sinai on Shavuot. That is why this holiday is called “Zman Matan Toratenu”-the Time of the Giving of Our Law. Shavuot, which means the Festival of Weeks, and occurs seven weeks after Passover, also commemorates the early wheat harvest in Palestine. So we decorate our homes and synagogues with flowers and greens. Shavuot has still another meaning. It is the Festival of New Fruits, when each man brought the first of his barley, wheat, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olive oil, and honey to the Temple in Jerusalem. There, everyone took part in the Bikkurim (First Fruits) ceremony, which has been revived in new dress in modern Israel. (Reform Jews observe only the first of two days) Shavuot starts sundown on Thursday through Sundown on Friday.