All around the world this week, Jewish communities will celebrate Shavuot, when G‑d gave the Torah to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai 3,300 years ago. They’ll do so by lighting candles, staying up all night to learn Torah, hearing the reading of the Ten Commandments in synagogue and feasting on dairy foods.
The two-day holiday starts the night of Tuesday, May 30, and runs through the night of Thursday, June 1. All-night study sessions will take place from Arizona to Australia, giving Jewish adults the chance to take part in a tradition that prepares them physically and spiritually to receive the Torah.
But the emphasis is equally, and perhaps more importantly, on the younger generation. The Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory—called upon every Jewish man woman and child to be present in synagogue on the morning of the first day of Shavuot, when the Ten Commandments are read as part of the prayer service. As a result, Shavuot has taken hold as a special family holiday in synagogues around the globe.
In Croatia, about 60 children are expected to join their parents for services and an ice-cream party. Rabbi Pinchas and Raizel Zaklas, co-directors of Chabad of Croatia in Zagreb, will make the ice-cream themselves, along with other dairy foods they plan to serve. The rabbi says they’ll be using a Torah borrowed from Chabad of Budapest, Hungary, for the holiday, but are looking forward to their own very soon.
They happen to be in line for one from the Beis Yisroel Torah Gemach, a project of Merkos Suite 302, led by executive director Rabbi Mendy Kotlarsky in Brooklyn, N.Y.
The Gemach loans out both refurbished and new Torahs, primarily to Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries without them. Several Torahs have landed recently or are slated to go to eager communities after Shavuot.
“The connection with G‑d on Shavuot is the Torah,” affirms Bentzion Chanowitz, who oversees the organization and recently returned from Israel.
There, several Torah scrolls were finished and delivered to Chabad centers, complete with processions and festivities marking their arrival. A new shul at the Caliber-3 military-training facility in Israel, under the direction of Rabbi Nissan Nachshon of Chabad of Efrat, not only received a new Torah, but pairs of new tefillin as well.
Chabad Lubavitch of Southwest Florida in Fort Myers, directed by Rabbi Yitzchok and Nechama Dina Minkowitz, will host community meals both night and day, complete with the requisite cheesecake. On top of the reading of the Ten Commandments, they will offer Chassidus classes on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, in addition to “Jewish Jeopardy” on Tuesday night.
“The message is: G‑d himself is available to each and every one of us 24/7 via our Torah study, and that will give us the greatest feeling of peace, harmony and happiness,” says the rabbi. “So study Torah; you’ll be glad you did, as your life will be blessed beyond your wildest dreams.”
For Taryn Sasser, a resident of Fort Myers, Shavuot is a time of excitement, inspiration and connection to the Torah. “That’s one of the biggest things with Chabad—the community and the collective inspiration, the oneness of us all,” says Sasser, who has celebrated the holiday with Chabad the last few years.
The goal, she emphasizes, “is to really take that excitement into the following days and weeks and months.”
‘Renewing of the Vows’
Below the border, Rabbi Mendel and Chaya Goldberg, co-directors of Chabad Lubavitch Jewish Center of Playa del Carmen, Mexico, are getting ready to serve up five types of homemade cheesecake and four flavors of ice-cream (pecan, in addition to the standard chocolate, vanilla and strawberry) as they’re joined by tourists and locals for a dairy lunch on Wednesday. That’s in addition to services and meals throughout the holiday.
Even though it’s currently not high tourist season, the Goldbergs are always ready to welcome new visitors. They’re trying to get as many kids as possible to come hear the Ten Commandments, says the rabbi, explaining that when G‑d gave the Torah to the Jewish people, the children were the guarantors. “Every year when the Jews receive the Torah, it’s a renewing of the vows of receiving the Torah once again.”
Some students will take the day off to go to synagogue with their families. “All are welcome to join,” says Goldberg. “Like Chabad Houses around the world, every year we try and do it with more excitement—and more people.”
To find Shavuot services and meals worldwide, click here.
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