A Week of Trauma and Triumph
On the same day the U.S. embassy opened in Jerusalem, more than 60 Palestinians lost their lives at the Gaza border. How can we bring balance to these disparate events?
Related Blog Posts on Shavuot
Shavuot Backyard Fun: Making Blueberry Balsamic Ice Cream
This ice cream is made with 100% kid power! I love this process because it’s fun, interactive, and takes some stamina.
Is There a Blessing for a Blintz?
When we moved to Israel, I kept Grandmother’s blintz pans. They were a link to the past: to heritage, to history, to family.
Shavuot: Counting Up to the Celebration
Just as the light grows with each night of Hanukkah, so too do our joy and excitement grow as we count the Omer for 49 days on the way to Shavuot.
Shavuot in Jerusalem: A Night of Study and a Day to Surf
I know that Shavuot is near when I can hear the fruit vendors in the shuk (open-air market) extolling the virtues of the newly arrived crops of peaches, plums, apricots, and nectarines.
On Shavuot, Diverse Voices in One Community
Shavuot provides an ideal Jewish textual grounding for celebrating our diversity, and lifting up various and dissenting voices within our community.
Shavuot: The Day God and the Jewish People Wed
The day the Israelites stood at the foot of Mount Sinai, preparing to encounter God, is understood in midrash as the day of marriage between God and the Jewish people.
Revelation: It’s Not What It Seems to Be
On Shavuot we celebrate receiving the Torah. But, how are we truly to understand divine revelation?
Sleepless on Shavuot: Let My People Learn
On the first day of Shavuot, we are supposed to hear the Ten Commandments read in the synagogue, but the main event is the learning binge the night before.
How to Bring Biblical Agricultural Traditions to Life
In the 1940s, two Israeli pioneers created a new Jewish holiday specifically for agricultural settlers who were bringing the Jewish people back to working the land.