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.
Kiddush: Humanist liturgy
A poem on asylum seekers referencing the biblical story of Ruth
A meditation on the healing light of generations and ancestors
A blessing for receiving Torah, acknowledging the diversity of the spectrum of queer identities
A prayer and poem asking to return us to ourselves and our source
A midrash and personal story about how our children teach us the lessons that we refuse to learn as adults
Three poems reflecting on different aspects of Torah
A poem depicting the celebration of Shavuot on a kibbutz
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