You will need a volunteer to keep track of time and make sure you pace yourselves through the texts. Please designate that person now.
You will take turns reading the texts and questions out loud to one another. Whoever is celebrating a FUTURE birthday closest to Shavuot (June 4-6, 2022) should please go first and then invite someone else by name to read next.
(טז) וְחַ֤ג הַקָּצִיר֙ בִּכּוּרֵ֣י מַעֲשֶׂ֔יךָ אֲשֶׁ֥ר תִּזְרַ֖ע בַּשָּׂדֶ֑ה וְחַ֤ג הָֽאָסִף֙ בְּצֵ֣את הַשָּׁנָ֔ה בְּאָסְפְּךָ֥ אֶֽת־מַעֲשֶׂ֖יךָ מִן־הַשָּׂדֶֽה׃
(16) and the Feast of the Harvest, of the first fruits of your work, of what you sow in the field; and the Feast of Ingathering (Sukkot) at the end of the year, when you gather in the results of your work from the field.
(כו) וּבְי֣וֹם הַבִּכּוּרִ֗ים בְּהַקְרִ֨יבְכֶ֜ם מִנְחָ֤ה חֲדָשָׁה֙ לַֽיי בְּשָׁבֻעֹ֖תֵיכֶ֑ם מִֽקְרָא־קֹ֙דֶשׁ֙ יִהְיֶ֣ה לָכֶ֔ם כָּל־מְלֶ֥אכֶת עֲבֹדָ֖ה לֹ֥א תַעֲשֽׂוּ׃
(26) On the Day of the First Fruits, your Feast of Weeks, when you bring an offering of new grain to Adonai, you shall observe a sacred occasion: you shall not work at your occupations.
Chag HaKatzir - Feast of the Harvest
Yom HaBikurim - Day of First Fruits
Shavuot - Feast of Weeks (literally: Weeks)
**Note: Chag Asif - Feast of Ingathering is also known as Sukkot. A discussion for another time.
Questions:
1. What sense of Shavuot do we get from each name given to this festival? In other words, based on these names individually and together, what personality does this holiday have?
2. Setting aside what the Torah means or how the rabbis might interpret it, what does it mean to you to "observe a sacred occasion"?
Fantastic! We're going to pause here for now and come back together. If you have time left, you can enjoy this (90 second) video together. יונינה- סלינו על כתפינו (לופר) | Yonina- Shavuot
You will again need a volunteer to keep track of time and make sure you pace yourselves through the texts. Please designate that person now, and decide who will read first.
Passover is connected to history, real or imagined. It commemorates our liberation from Egyptian slavery. It was also an agricultural holiday, a spring festival linked to the beginning of the spring harvest season. The agricultural side of Passover began on the 2nd day with the ritual of the omer, the offering of a sheaf of barley - the earliest of the new grain crops. The second day of Passover marked the beginning of the barley harvest season. The grain ripened 50 days later around the time the wheat harvest began. That's why Shavuot is celebrated with the offering of first fruits and the celebration of the grain harvest.
(כב) וְחַ֤ג שָׁבֻעֹת֙ תַּעֲשֶׂ֣ה לְךָ֔ בִּכּוּרֵ֖י קְצִ֣יר חִטִּ֑ים . . .
(22) You shall observe the Feast of Weeks, of the first fruits of the wheat harvest . . .
(17) You shall bring from your settlements two loaves of bread as an elevation offering; each shall be made of two-tenths of a measure of choice flour, baked after leavening, as first fruits to Adonai.
*after leavening. This is NOT matzah!
(11) You shall rejoice before Adonai your God with your son and daughter, your male and female slave, the Levite in your communities, and the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow in your midst, at the place where Adonai your God will choose to establish God's name.
(3) You shall go to the kochain* (the priest) in charge at that time and say to him, “I acknowledge this day before Adonai your God that I have entered the land that Adonai swore to our fathers to assign us.”
*ch = a hard 'h' sound as in the name Bach.
(5) You shall then recite as follows before Adonai your God: “My father was a fugitive Aramean. He went down to Egypt with meager numbers and sojourned there; but there he became a great and very populous nation. (6) The Egyptians dealt harshly with us and oppressed us; they imposed heavy labor upon us. (7) We cried to Adonai, the God of our ancestors, and Adonai heard our plea and saw our plight, our misery, and our oppression. (8) Adonai freed us from Egypt by a mighty hand, by an outstretched arm and awesome power, and by signs and portents. (9) God brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. (10) Wherefore I now bring the first fruits of the soil which You, Adonai, have given me.” You shall leave it before Adonai your God and bow low before Adonai your God. (11) And you shall enjoy, together with the Levite and the stranger in your midst, all the bounty that Adonai your God has bestowed upon you and your household.
A. Observe
B. Bring loaves - two of them - leavened
C. Rejoice - and not alone (take another look at who we're to celebrate with)
D. Express gratitude for the land
E. Remember where we came from (where did we come from?)
F. Enjoy the bounty of the land and from God (all the good God has given you) with the Levite and the 'stranger in your midst' (what might that mean?)
Questions:
1. What links are there between this chag, this holiday, and Passover? How could we see Shavuot as actually the END of the Passover festival?
2. Hold up. This is the Torah. We aren't even IN the Land yet. All of this anticipates the future. Also, most of us aren't barley and wheat farmers. How might the future-focus of these texts be relevant in thinking about this festival for us today?
Bonus video - if you have time.
The Mishnah describes the scene:
And at the rise of the morning an official says: 'Rise and let us go up to Zion, to the House of the Lord our God!' An ox walked before them, its horns covered with gold, and with an olive-crown on its head. The chalil (flute) was played before them til they reached the vicinity of Jerusalem. Upon coming close to Jerusalem, they sent word ahead and decorated the bikkurim. The important officials went out to meet them . . . and all the tradesmen in Jerusalem stood before them and greeted them: 'Our brothers, the men of such and such a place, you have come in peace!'
The chalil was played before them till they reached the Temple Mount. Even King Agripas took the basket on his shoulders and carried it till he reached the courtyard. When the pilgrims reached the courtyard, the Levites sang: 'I will exalt You, O Lord, for You have saved me and You have not rejoiced my enemies over me!'
With the basket still on his shoulder, the Israelite read: 'I have told the Lord your God this day, that I have come to this land which the Lord swore to our fathers to give us . . . My father was a wandering Aramaean . . . . after completing the entire parsha the Jew places the bikkurim basket by the side of the altar, he bows down, and goes out.
And so every family publicly avows its share in the history of the people. Then the high priest acts on behalf of the people as a whole. He presented before the alter the special Shavuot wave-offering - two loaves of bread made of wheat, the first products of the spring wheat harvest that begins just as the barley harvest comes to an end. So Shavuot celebrates the success of the spring growing season - the growth of new sprouts of spring into full grown plants at summer time.
But there is a special twist in this celebration of growth. The two loaves are unusual - for they are explicitly the products of human labor. Not grain, not sheep or lambs or goats, straight from God's hand - but bread, mixed and kneaded and leavened and baked, is the distinctive offering of Shavuot. So Shavuot celebrates the partnership of human beings with God in giving food to the world. Having received from God the rain, the seed, the sunshine, we give back to God not just a dividend on the natural growth, but the value we ourselves have added to it.
So into the period of the Second Temple, Shavuot was viewed simply as the festival of first fruits. But toward the end of that period, different understandings of Shavuot became part of an important debate within the Jewish people."
Seasons of Our Joy
Arthur Waskow
How might a story of physically journeying to Jerusalem with loaves of bread in joy and abundance speak to the desire to preserve this holiday for future generations after the destruction of the Temple and the exile from Jerusalem?
אֲמַר לֵיהּ מֵיזָל אָזֵילְנָא וְאִינָשׁ אַחֲרִינָא מְשַׁדַּרְנָא אֶלָּא בָּעֵי מִינַּאי מִידֵּי דְּאֶתֵּן לָךְ אֲמַר לֵיהּ תֵּן לִי יַבְנֶה וַחֲכָמֶיהָ וְשׁוּשִׁילְתָּא דְּרַבָּן גַּמְלִיאֵל וְאָסְווֹתָא דְּמַסַּיִין לֵיהּ לְרַבִּי צָדוֹק
Vespasian then said to Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai: I will be going to Rome to accept my new position, and I will send someone else in my place to continue besieging the city and waging war against it. But before I leave, ask something of me that I can give you. Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai said to him: Give me Yavne and its Sages and do not destroy it, and spare the dynasty of Rabban Gamliel and do not kill them as if they were rebels, and lastly give me doctors to heal Rabbi Tzadok.
(1) On the third new moon after the Israelites had gone forth from the land of Egypt, on that very day, they entered the wilderness of Sinai. (2) Having journeyed from Rephidim, they entered the wilderness of Sinai and encamped in the wilderness. Israel encamped there in front of the mountain, (3) and Moses went up to God. Adonai called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus shall you say to the house of Jacob and declare to the children of Israel: (4) ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Me. (5) Now then, if you will obey Me faithfully and keep My covenant, you shall be My treasured possession among all the peoples. Indeed, all the earth is Mine, (6) but you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the children of Israel.” . . . . (16) On the third day, as morning dawned, there was thunder, and lightning, and a dense cloud upon the mountain, and a very loud blast of the horn; and all the people who were in the camp trembled. (17) Moses led the people out of the camp toward God, and they took their places at the foot of the mountain. (18) Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke, for Adonai had come down upon it in fire; the smoke rose like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled violently. (19) The blare of the horn grew louder and louder. As Moses spoke, God answered him in thunder. . . . .
(1) God spoke all these words, saying: (2) I Adonai am your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage: (3) You shall have no other gods besides Me. (4) You shall not make for yourself a sculptured image, or any likeness of what is in the heavens above, or on the earth below, or in the waters under the earth. (5) You shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I your God Adonai am an impassioned God, visiting the guilt of the parents upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generations of those who reject Me, (6) but showing kindness to the thousandth generation of those who love Me and keep My commandments. (7) You shall not swear falsely by the name of your God ; for Adonai will not clear one who swears falsely by God’s name. (8) Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy. (9) Six days you shall labor and do all your work, (10) but the seventh day is a sabbath of your God you shall not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, or your cattle, or the stranger who is within your settlements. (11) For in six days Adonai made heaven and earth and sea—and all that is in them—and then rested on the seventh day; therefore Adonai blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it. (12) Honor your father and your mother, that you may long endure on the land that your God is assigning to you. (13) You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. (14) You shall not covet your neighbor’s house: you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox or ass, or anything that is your neighbor’s. (15) All the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the blare of the horn and the mountain smoking; . . . .
A. Observe
B. Bring loaves - two of them - leavened
C. Rejoice - and not alone (take another look at who we're to celebrate with)
D. Express gratitude for the land
E. Remember where we came from (where did we come from?)
F. Enjoy the bounty of the land and from God (all the good God has given you) with the Levite and the 'stranger in your midst' (what might that mean?)
at this festival?
[Talmud written 500 - 4th century CE]
MISHNA: At four times of the year the world is judged: On Passover judgment is passed concerning grain; on Shavuot concerning fruits that grow on a tree on Rosh HaShana, all creatures pass before Him like sheep [benei maron], as it is stated: “He Who fashions their hearts alike, Who considers all their deeds” (Psalms 33:15); and on the festival of Sukkot they are judged concerning water, i.e., the rainfall of the coming year. GEMARA: The mishna taught that on Passover judgment is passed concerning grain. The Gemara asks: Which grain is judged on Passover? If we say it is the grain that is presently standing in the fields ready to be reaped between Passover and Shavuot, when was judgment passed with regard to all those events [harpatkei] that already happened to the grain while it was growing in the winter? Rather, the mishna must be referring to the grain that will be sown over the coming year. The Gemara asks further: Is this to say that only one judgment is passed concerning a particular crop, and no more? But isn’t it taught in a baraita: [Rabbi Ariel Note: A Baraita is a teaching outside of the six orders of the Mishnah] If grain suffers an incident or accident before Passover, it was judged in the past, the previous Passover; if this occurs after Passover, it was judged this Passover for the future. . . . On Passover the sentence is sealed concerning grain; on Shavuot concerning fruits that grow on a tree; on the festival of Sukkot they are judged concerning water; and humanity is judged on Rosh HaShana, and the sentence is sealed on Yom Kippur. . . . Rava said: The tanna [teacher]of the mishna is a tanna from the school of Rabbi Yishmael, as a tanna from the school of Rabbi Yishmael taught: At four times of the year the world is judged: On Passover concerning grain; on Shavuot concerning fruits that grow on a tree; on the festival of Sukkot they are judged concerning water; and mankind is judged on Rosh HaShana and the sentence is sealed on Yom Kippur. . . . .§ It is taught in a baraita that Rabbi Yehuda said in the name of Rabbi Akiva: For what reason did the Torah say: Bring the omer offering on the second day of Passover? It is because Passover is the time of grain, the beginning of the grain harvest season, and therefore the Holy One, Blessed be He, said: Bring the omer offering before Me on Passover so that the grain in the fields will be blessed for you. And for what reason did the Torah say: Bring the offering of the two loaves from the new wheat on Shavuot? It is because Shavuot is the time of the fruits that grow on a tree, when it begins to ripen, and therefore the Holy One, Blessed be He, said: Bring the offering of the two loaves before Me on Shavuot so that the fruits that grow on a tree will be blessed for you.
Seasons of Our Joy
Arthur Waskow
Every Person's Guide to Shavuot
Ronald Isaacs