Simultaneous Joy and Pain: The Wisdom of the Counting of the Omer
This year at our Passover seder, I experienced something deeply powerful which I had not felt in the context of Passover before.
Related Blog Posts on Shavuot
Stan's Rice Pudding and Beyond: The Power of Jewish Food
Food plays a significant role in the history of the Jewish people, from why we eat matzah at Passover to the reasoning behind fried foods at Hanukkah. At Rosh HaShanah, an apple dipped in honey represents a sweet new year, and there are numerous reasons for
S’firat HaOmer: The Omer Period in Jewish Life
The mechanism to connect the Exodus with the giving of the Torah is a simple one-counting the days.
Divine Revelation and Processed Food?
In the world of nutrition and health today, there is a lot of talk about the difference between whole and processed foods.
Galilee Diary: Hearing Torah
On the third new moon after the Israelites had gone forth from the land of Egypt, on that very day, they entered the wilderness of Sinai. -Exodus 19:1
The holiday of Shavuot, as it is described in the Torah (Numbers 28:26) is a harvest festival, when “first
Milkshakes at Mt. Sinai
Shavuot, like Sukkot and Pesach, began as an agricultural festival celebrating the end of the spring barley harvest and the commencement of the wheat harvest. In ancient times Jews were required to bring barley offerings (omer) to the Temple.
Who Needs Shavuot?
by Rabbi Rick Schechter It’s the black sheep of the Jewish calendar—unfortunately. Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks, is a holy day often overshadowed and overlooked in the contemporary Jewish world. How could this have happened? It had such an auspicious start.
Living Lag BaOmer
The Hebrew letter equivalent of 33 is pronounced Lag (lamed gimel), giving rise to the name Lag BaOmer for this particular day. There is no one particular reason that this day stands out from the other 48 days counted between Pesach and Shavuot, yet many fascinating traditions surround the special nature of this day.
An Omer Meditation
The opening moments of Passover are behind me, and I'm left with a sense of something momentous having passed with it. There's a dryness in my mouth and heaviness in my gut that has nothing to do with the matza I've consumed.
Galilee Diary: Standing at Sinai?
by Marc Rosenstein
(Originally published in Ten Minutes of Torah and Galilee Diary)
On the day of the first fruits, your Feast of Weeks, when you bring an offering of new grain to the Lord, you shall observe a sacred occasion; you shall not work at your