New York – The Jewish holiday of Shavuot is set to begin Tuesday night – lasting for its one Biblical day (from sunset to the next sunset) in Israel, and two days in the rest of the world.
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The holiday of Shavuot marks the Jewish People’s receiving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai 3,323 years ago. It also marks the day after the 49-day Sefirat HaOmer counting period, which begins on the Passover holiday. The counting denotes the fact that the ultimate purpose of the Exodus from Egypt was for the Jewish People to receive the Torah and begin its national/spiritual existence as the People of the Book.
Features of the joyous Shavuot holiday include many minhagim (customs):
* remaining awake all night to study Torah; known as Tikkun Leil Shavuot.
*Akdamut, the reading of a liturgical poem during Shavuot morning synagogue services. (Sephardim do not read Akdamut)
* the bringing of the Bikurim (First Fruits) to the Holy Temple (temporarily suspended, until the Temple is rebuilt); greenery is placed arund the home and synagogue to recall this.
* the time of the wheat harvest;
* the public reading of the Book of Ruth for several reasons, among them: Ruth accepted Judaism as the Jews did on the holiday, the story takes place during the Shavuot season, and King David, her descendant, died on Shavuot.
* a wide-spread custom of eating dairy foods on Shavuot, as the Torah is compared to “milk and honey under the tongue”.
For more on the holiday of Shavout you can read on Wikipedia.
In New York, Shavuot is a religious holiday. Alt. side parking is suspended Wednesday, June 8–Thursday, June 9, but meters remain in effect.
VIN News will be offline starting today at 7:00 PM, until Thursday May 9 10:00 PM.
A gooten yom-tov to all VIN readers and their families. We should be zoche for matan torah and the return of moishiach bim’hara bayamanu and the realization of a secure and lasting peace in EY.
Whats this business with shavuot??? This is not an Israeli website. The word is SHEVOUS!