Shavuot (The Feast of Weeks in English) begins this Thursday evening, May 25. In ancient Israel, when the Temple still stood, it was a pilgrimage holiday celebrating the Spring wheat harvest with a sacrificial service. After the Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 C.E. and we could no longer make sacrifices, our sages of blessed memory reimagined Shavuot as Hag Matan Torateinu, the Holiday of the Giving of Our Torah. They connected Shavuot to Pesach through the ritual practice of counting the Omer, a reinvention of the ancient practice when the Temple stood, of bringing a measure (an omer) of grain to the Temple every day between Pesach and Shavuot. In this way, through creative reimagination, our rabbis created new meanings for Shavuot. If Pesach was the celebration of our physical freedom, liberation from Egyptian slavery, then Shavuot became the celebration of receiving our collective moral purpose from God, symbolized by Torah. We need both, freedom and purpose to lead lives of meaning and value. From this we also see that Jewish religious practice contains within it elements of continuity and change. The forms, the holidays, may remain constant, but their meaning changes over time. This is true for us today. For much of Jewish history, communities outside of the Land of Israel celebrate two days for each holiday, while Jews in Israel celebrate only one day. The Reform movement changed this practice, celebrating one day of each holy day. This was a recognition that with the granting of citizenship to Jews in Europe and America the fundamental condition of the Jewish community had changed. For this reason, we celebrate only one day of Shavuot. To keep our Torah reading on track with other Diaspora Jewish communities we divide Parashat Naso into two parts and read some this week and the rest next Shabbat. Continuity and change, compromise and commitment, faith coupled with uncertainty, these are the qualities that keep a religious tradition alive and vital in our lives. The challenge is holding these different qualities in balance.
Naso I, Numbers 4:21-5:31, Parshat Hashavua for Shabbat, May 27, 2023
May 26, 2023 by Dean Kertesz • Drashot
Shavuot (The Feast of Weeks in English) begins this Thursday evening, May 25. In ancient Israel, when the Temple still stood, it was a pilgrimage holiday celebrating the Spring wheat harvest with a sacrificial service. After the Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 C.E. and we could no longer make sacrifices, our sages of blessed memory reimagined Shavuot as Hag Matan Torateinu, the Holiday of the Giving of Our Torah. They connected Shavuot to Pesach through the ritual practice of counting the Omer, a reinvention of the ancient practice when the Temple stood, of bringing a measure (an omer) of grain to the Temple every day between Pesach and Shavuot. In this way, through creative reimagination, our rabbis created new meanings for Shavuot. If Pesach was the celebration of our physical freedom, liberation from Egyptian slavery, then Shavuot became the celebration of receiving our collective moral purpose from God, symbolized by Torah. We need both, freedom and purpose to lead lives of meaning and value. From this we also see that Jewish religious practice contains within it elements of continuity and change. The forms, the holidays, may remain constant, but their meaning changes over time. This is true for us today. For much of Jewish history, communities outside of the Land of Israel celebrate two days for each holiday, while Jews in Israel celebrate only one day. The Reform movement changed this practice, celebrating one day of each holy day. This was a recognition that with the granting of citizenship to Jews in Europe and America the fundamental condition of the Jewish community had changed. For this reason, we celebrate only one day of Shavuot. To keep our Torah reading on track with other Diaspora Jewish communities we divide Parashat Naso into two parts and read some this week and the rest next Shabbat. Continuity and change, compromise and commitment, faith coupled with uncertainty, these are the qualities that keep a religious tradition alive and vital in our lives. The challenge is holding these different qualities in balance.