Shavuot: May 23 2007

Today, Tuesday, is the eve of the Jewish holiday, Shavuot, the "Feast of Weeks." It takes place on the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan, so it falls either in late May or in early June. This year, it falls on May 23. (In some Jewish communities, the holiday is celebrated for a two-day period, May 23-24.)

Shavuot marks the conclusion of the counting of the "Omer" (for more about that, see the blog post about the Lag Ba'Omer holiday). It is now fifty days since Passover, and the holiday commemorates how on Mount Sinai the Torah was given to the Jewish people.

In addition to its connection to the Torah and Mount Sinai, Shavuot is also a harvest festival, and is sometimes called the Festival of Reaping or the Day of the First Fruits. When Jewish people worshipped at the Temple in Jerusalem, they would bring the "Bikkurim" ("first fruits") to the Temple as an offering.

In modern times, there are a variety of special holiday customs associated with Shavuot, including the the reading of the Book of Ruth at morning services - a book with special associations for the harvest and harvesters. Dairy foods, such as cheese blintzes (yum!), are traditional fare for Shavuot. You can read more about the modern observances of Shavuot in the wikipedia article.

Since the reading of the book of Ruth is a Shavuot tradition, I thought I would include this lovely depiction of Ruth as the image for this post! You can read the Book of Ruth online - if you are not familiar with this beautiful Bible story, it's definitely worth your time today.

Lag Ba'Omer: May 5-6 2007

Lag Ba'omer is a Jewish holiday which takes place on the 18th day of the month of Iyar in the Jewish calendar. So in 2007, the holiday of Lag Ba'Omer takes place on Sunday May 6, beginning at sundown on the previous day, Saturday May 5.

The name Lag Ba'Omer refers to the thirty-third day of the counting of the "Omer," a holiday season that lasts for a total of 49 days, starting from the second day of Passover. The word "Lag" is not really a word; it is a number. In Hebrew, as in ancient Greek, numbers were written with letters: lamed, ל, L = 30, and gimel, ג, G = 3, so L-G ("Lag") is 33.

The Lag Ba'Omer holiday goes back to the time of Rabbi Akiva. According to the Talmud, twenty-four thousand of the rabbi's students died from a plague that had been sent upon them as a punishment for not showing respect to each other. The plague came to an end on the 33rd day of the counting of the Omer, which is commemorated in the Lag Ba'Omer holiday.

According to other accounts, the holiday really commemorates the many soldiers who died in the Bar Kochva revolt which took place during Rabbi Akiva's lifetime.

The holiday is celebrated with dancing, singing and picnics. Bonfires are lighted, and children play games with bows and arrows. The day is a school holiday, and "Students' Day" is celebrated at many universities. You can read more about Lag Ba'Omer at About.Com or at the Velveteen Rabbi blog.

Here's a Lag Ba'Omer poster showing the different symbols of the holiday, available from Avron Judaica: