Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>]

The festival of Shavu'ot begins tonight at sundown and ends in Israel
tomorrow night. The custom of many Jewish communities outside of Israel is
to add an extra day. Besides the usual holiday prayers and meals, many
communities hold all-night Torah study sessions, "Torah" in the wider
meaning of the study of any Jewish texts, from the Bible to modern. One
traditional reason for these all-night sessions is that according to one
legend, on the morning of the original Sinai event the Israelites were all
asleep in their tents and Moses had to go from tent to tent pulling them out
of bed. So we don't want to miss out this time around. In many communities
it is also customary to read and to study the book of Ruth, the main action
of which occurred during the harvest-time. Since Ruth is the
great-grandmother of David (and thus also the ancestress of the Messiah),
Shavu'ot is also considered the anniversary of David's birth and of his
death. I'll actually be giving a talk on Joab at our synagogue. Also, since
the Torah is likened to milk and honey, Shavu'ot is also a festival of
cheesecakes and other milk dishes. There's a cheesecake in the oven as I
write. 

 

So have a good holiday, everyone.

 

 

Yigal Levin

 

  _____  

From: James Christian [mailto:jc.bhebrew AT googlemail.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, May 18, 2010 3:56 PM
To: Yigal Levin
Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: שבועות

 

Good point. I had forgotten about that but was planning to visit mount Sinai
for שבועות. Does anybody have the date of this year's שבועות to hand?

 

James Christian

On 18 May 2010 15:40, Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il> wrote:

Sorry, James and all, but some participants in this discussion have begun
using terms like "garbage" and questioning others' competency and
intellectual honesty. That's where we have to draw the line. Let's all cool
down. If anyone has any LINGUISTIC points to add, please wait until Thursday
and then post them.

And have a good Festival of Weeks. See if you can come up with anything
"Pentecostal" to discuss.


Yigal Levin

Co-moderator, B-Hebrew