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Shavuot

Close-up of golden wheat stalks tightly clustered together against a light background.

Seven weeks after we celebrate Passover, we mark the holiday of Shavuot—literally “weeks.” In the Bible, Shavuot was primarily an agricultural holiday, marking the end of the grain harvest and the beginning of a new agricultural season during which first fruits were brought to the Temple in Jerusalem. Later, Shavuot came to be associated with the giving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai. On Passover, we were physically freed from slavery; on Shavuot, our freedom is given purpose—we are free in order to serve God according to the dictates of the Torah. Shavuot is celebrated with an all-night study session called tikkun leil Shavuot. It is also common to eat cheesecake and other dairy foods, since the Torah is likened to milk and honey. In this section you will find some ideas for a women’s tikkun, feminine blessings for the Torah, and some poetry and meditations.

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“We acknowledge the bounty You provide”

A smiling girl in a white dress holds a basket of fruit and flowers in a wheat field.
A new ritual of creating a daily embodied spiritual practice for the liminal period of Sefirat Ha’Aveilut/the counting of grief, in the nine weeks between Shavuot and Tisha b’Av
the silhouette of a person sitting with hands clasped and head bowed, there are trees in the background
Silhouetted people watch colorful fireworks light up the night sky.

A meditation for those who do not read Hebrew but wish to learn Torah

the words of the shema

I saw the ocean unfolding. But really it was Torah

Yellow leaf floating on a rain-dappled puddle.

Experiencing personal revelation

Two stone tablets with the Ten Commandments inscribed, set against a sandy desert background.

“Let our kindness burst forth like a bountiful harvest”

Person in a white dress stands in a sunlit wheat field, with soft golden hues during sunset.

Kiddush: Humanist liturgy

A silver kiddush cup with a blue design beside a folded dark blue cloth on a table.

A poem on asylum seekers referencing the biblical story of Ruth

a crying woman hugs another person

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