The Festival Of Weeks.

Today is the 6th of Sivan, on which day Jews around the world celebrate Shavuot, or the Festival of Weeks.

Agriculturally, it commemorates the time when the first fruits were harvested and brought to the Temple. In ancient times, the grain harvest lasted seven weeks, beginning with the harvesting of the barley during Passover and ending with the harvesting of the wheat at Shavuot. Counting begins on the second day of Passover and ends on the 49th day, the eve of Shavuot.

Also historically it celebrates the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai.

Shavuot is unlike other Jewish holidays in that it has no prescribed mitzvot (Torah commandments) other than the traditional festival observances of abstention from work, special prayer services and holiday meals. However, it is characterized by many minhagim (customs).

?????? - Akdamut, the reading of a liturgical poem during Shavuot morning synagogue services
??? - Chalav (milk), the consumption of dairy products like milk and cheese
??? - Ruth, the reading of the Book of Ruth at morning services
??? - Yerek, the decoration of homes and synagogues with greenery
???? - Torah, engaging in all-night Torah study.

On the kibbutz there's not much ... ok, there's none ... of the Torah study bit, but there is plenty of of goings on, mostly directed at the children. There are fun and games organised for the community connected to teh agricultural side - who can hand milk a cow the fastest is one of my favourites!

White is the colour of the day and when I worked with the calves, I would keep my fingers crossed for calves that were more white than black and put them out on display in a special pen where the children could come to bottle feed them ( only with water, otherwise I'd have a load of sick calves with runny bottoms the next day! ).

In the fields there's usually a display of machinery, a talk on the current harvest and a traditional drive by of the combine harvester, which sprays out sweets to the kids ( big and small! ) as it passes! Also any babies born in the last 12 months are brought up onto the stage ( made up of bales of straw ) by their mums for everyone to ooh and ahh over.

It's probably my favourite festival and I had planned to be in Israel for it this year, but rather shot myself in the foot on that score by quitting my job too soon! Shoulda gritted my teeth and held on .... hey ho .....

The food associated with Shavuot is predominantly dairy, and predominantly cheesecakes! Yayyyyyyyyyyy!!!! On the kibbutz they know me by now and no-one gets between me and the cheesecake table!

Ours is in the fridge and I can hear it calling me, begging me to let it out, but Sav's sleeping off his night shift and it'd be rude to start without him ... wouldn't it?