SHAVUOT
Events and
Worship
Sunday, June 8, 2008
7:30 p.m. Erev Shavuot Festival Service and Yizkor with Blessing of
Confirmands
8:30 p.m. Tikkun Leil Shavuot with mini-study sessions.
Monday, June 9, 2008
10:00 a.m. Shavuot Festival and Confirmation Service
 In
the spring, everything is beginning to bloom. The trees are budding, flowers are
growing, and everything is beautiful outside. This is also the time of year for
Shavuot, the time we celebrate the day God gave us the Torah. Many thousands of
years ago, Moses led the Jewish people out of the land of Egypt. When they
reached Mt. Sinai, Moses climbed to the top of the mountain. After forty days
and forty nights, Moses returned to the Jewish people with a great gift from
God: The Ten Commandments. These commandments are:
- I am Adonai your God.
- Do not pray to other gods.
- Do not say bad words.
- Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.
- Honor your father and your mother.
- You shall not murder.
- Married people should love each other.
- You shall not steal.
- Do not tell lies.
- Be happy with what you have.
How we celebrate: Flowers, fruit and leaves are used to decorate the
synagogue. During services, we read the Ten Commandments aloud. At home, we eat
blintzes, fruit, cheesecake and other dairy dishes.
From Our Clergy
Shavuot Reminds Us: We Are All Jews-by-Choice
As one walks through our Confirmation Gallery (lovingly organized by Roz
Korach Levy), one is struck by the promise, exuberance, and optimism that beam
from nearly every face. The Gallery is an archive of hope and commitment,
potential and dedication -- an archive of so many choices made to confirm active
participation in the Jewish people, inspiration from Torah, and faith in God.
These are exactly the same affirmations that we require of a convert to
Judaism, a Jew-by-choice. At one time in our people's history, we imagined that
Jews-by-birth made similar affirmations automatically, as if by instinct. But
the modern world with its constant, competing temptations, distractions, and
alternative philosophies has turned that imagined view into a myth.
As Jews-by-birth are no longer insulated from the world of choices, each one of
us must make choices to be a Jew. The twin blessings of liberty and freedom
carry, for some, the freedom to abandon Judaism. Because we cannot force our
children or grandchildren to be Jews (although we can influence and encourage
them), we all are Jews-by-choice -- Jews who make the same choices about God,
Torah, and Israel that are made by every convert to Judaism.
Which brings us back to the occasion of those pictures in the Confirmation
Gallery, Shavuot. The Biblical festival of Shavuot (lit. "weeks") was
to be a spring harvest celebration marking the end of the barley harvest, the
beginning of the spring-wheat harvest, and the wonder of the first-fruits of
late spring. Ancient celebrations of Shavuot were concentrated at the Temple in
Jerusalem. When that Temple was destroyed, we were exiled from Jerusalem and
Jews moved away from agricultural settings. Then our Sages transformed Shavuot
with some "creative counting."
Our Sages counted exactly seven weeks from the Exodus from Egypt until the
Revelation at Sinai -- just as there are seven weeks from Pesach to Shavuot. In
this way, they elevated and spiritually linked Shavuot with the exact moment of
receiving the Torah at Sinai. The mystics extended this link to view Shavuot as
the moment of eternal commitment between God and each Jew as at a marriage with
the Torah being God's wedding gift to us. To amplify this theme, the Sages
directed that the book of Ruth be read at Shavuot. Not only does the Ruth
narrative occur during the Shavuot harvest season, but also Ruth tells the story
of a non-Jewish woman who sincerely and joyously accepts active participation in
the Jewish people, inspiration from Torah, and faith in God. "Your people
shall be my people, your God shall be my God" (Ruth 1:16).
Traditionally, Ruth's choices are used to inspire every person considering
conversion to Judaism. Yet, she inspires all of us. She teaches us that deeds
mean more than ancestry -- actions more than mere words. The same lesson is
taught at the Sea of Reeds. After having just been liberated by God and being
pursued by Pharaoh's army, our people waited for Moses to lead them. But the
great Moses himself was paralyzed and stood praying when action was required. It
was the simple Nachshon who chose a brave leap of faith being the first into the
Sea. Stepping into the Sea, Nachshon fully expected God to become his partner in
saving the people Israel. Every one of us - whether Jew-by-birth or
Jew-by-choice -- confronts the same choices facing Nachshon and Ruth.
These are choices we are invited to renew every year at Shavuot: the choice
to renew our personal leap of faith, to step into the waters of Torah, to become
God's partner in enriching the people Israel and improving the world. Each of us
is invited symbolically to stand with our Confirmands on Shavuot, standing to
recreate Sinai for ourselves. One of Hebrew Union College's great teachers,
Rabbi Eugene Mihaly, said of the Revelation: "Sinai is ever present; not
only a past event. Wherever people gather to seek God's presence, to renew the
covenant, to discover God's will, whenever we listen and hear, receive and
transmit, we stand at Sinai." This Shavuot, may each of us make the choice
to listen and hear, receive and transmit as if we were standing at Sinai.
Recipes
BLINTZES
For blintzes:
2 eggs
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 cup sifted flour
butter
For filling:
1 pound dry cottage cheese
1 egg
salt and pepper or sugar to taste
Directions: For the blintzes, beat the 2 eggs with the salt until they are
fluffy. Stir in the milk. Add the flour. Melt a little butter in a 6"
frying pan. Pour about 2 tablespoons of blintz batter into the pan - just
enough to cover the bottom - and gently tilt the pan from side to side. Cook
until the edges of the blintz are dry and can be easily taken out of the pan.
Place on paper towel. Continue until all the batter is used.
For the filling: With an electric mixer blend the cheese, egg, and salt and
pepper or sugar until there is a smooth texture.
Putting it all together: Take a blintz and put a heaping tablespoon of
filling on tap and fold the two opposite edges together over the filling. Then
fold the third side over the tope, and then the fourth. Tuck in the edges so
the filling doesn't leak out. To fry the blintzes, put a little butter into a
frying pan and fry each blintz on one side until it is golden brown, then turn
it over and fry it on the other side. To bake the blintzes, preheat over to
350 degrees, grease a baking pan, set the blintzes in the pan and bake until
golden brown - 20-25 minutes.
Crafts
Flowers for the Table
Materials needed:
Cardboard
Toilet paper roll
Straws
Paper muffin cups
Tissue paper
Colored paper
Glue, scissors, markers
What to do:
- To make the vase, cut out a circle larger than the bottom of the toilet
paper roll. Glue the roll to the circle.
- Make flowers by gluing two muffin cups together, or by cutting out
colored paper in the shape of flowers. These can be decorated with
markers. Glue tissue paper in the center of each flower. Glue the straw to
the back of the flower for the stem.
- Leaves can be cut out from green construction paper. Glue to straws.
- Decorate the vase with colored paper, tissue paper and/or markers.
- Place flowers inside of vase.
Flower Crown
Materials needed:
Strip of thick cardboard
Colored tissue paper
Markers
Stapler
What to do:
- Cut a piece of cardboard into 12" to 18" strips, approximately
3" wide.
- Decorate strip with colored markers.
- Attach crumbled up balls of tissue paper to strip so they resemble
flowers.
- Fit strip to the child's head and staple the ends to close the crown.
See Calendar
of Events.
Links
UAHC
Jewish Holidays - Shavuot
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