June 5, 2008

Monday June 9th is Shavuot

FYI: Skip please if you are not interested:

Shavuot MONDAY JUNE 9^th…

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shavuoth

Official name Hebrew: שבועות or חג שבעות

Also called English: “Festival of Weeks”

Observed by Judaism and Jews

(( FROM CAROL, This is a Jewish Holiday and though

I am not Jewish…(BUT I always BUY Myself flowers, decorate

the house with them and REMEMBER THE LAWS::: remember

what I need to be doing with my life and my energy

and recommit myself on this day each year:)))

Celebrates the giving of the Ten Commandments by

God to the Children of Israel at Mount Sinai,

49 days (7 weeks) after the Exodus from ancient Egypt.

Commemorates the fruit harvesting in the Land of Israel.

Celebrations Festive meals. All-night Torah study.

Recital of Akdamut liturgical poem in Ashkenazic synagogues.

Reading of the Book of Ruth. Eating of dairy foods.

Decoration of homes and synagogues with greenery.

Related to Passover, which precedes Shavuot.

It marks the conclusion

of the Counting of the Omer and the day the Torah was given

to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai. It is one of the shalosh

regalim, the three Biblical pilgrimage festivals.

This counting of days and weeks is

understood to express anticipation and desire for the Giving

of the Torah. On Passover, the Jewish people were freed from

their enslavement to Pharaoh; on Shavuot they accepted the

Torah and became a nation committed to serving God.

In the Bible, Shavuot is called the Festival of Weeks

(Hebrew: חג השבועות, Hag ha-Shavuot, Exodus 34:22, Deuteronomy 16:10);

Festival of Reaping (Hebrew: חג הקציר, Hag ha-Katsir, Exodus 23:16),

and Day of the First Fruits (Hebrew יום הבכורים,

the holiday of Passover. Since Shavuot occurs 50 days after Passover,

Christians gave it the name Pentecost (πεντηκόστη, “fiftieth day”).