Shavuot

By Heather Borshof, Emma Gottlieb & Ariana Silverman
[The authors are rabbinical students at Hebrew Union College in New York This project was part of the course on Eco-Judaism taught by
Rabbi Arthur Waskow in 2008.]

Description Of Overall Cirriculum

This is a Confirmation/Shavuot curriculum consisting of five parts:
1) A text study on the Book of Ruth (see Appendix A)
2) Planning a dish to prepare for Erev Shavuot following Confirmation/Shavuot services
3) A site visit to trace one ingredient of that dish to its source (See Appendix B)   Read more »

Developed by Rain Zohav
[Zohav is a rabbinical student in the ALEPH smikha program. This plan for Shavuot was developed for the course in Eco-Judaism taught hy Rabbi Arthur Waskow in 2009.]

Idea: Use the attached document, “Ten Commandments From the Earth” as a starting point for discussing what people can do to protect and defend the environment.   Read more »

Heather Borshof, Emma Gottlieb & Ariana Silverman
Project for course on Eco-Judaism
Hebrew Union College, NYC, June 2008
(Rabbi Arthur Waskow)

SHAVUOT: RECONNECTING TO THE LAND AND ITS PRODUCE:
A CONFIRMATION CURRICULUM

DESCRIPTION OF OVERALL CURRICULUM:
This is a Confirmation/Shavuot curriculum consisting of five parts:

1. A text study on the Book of Ruth (see Appendix A)
2. Planning a dish to prepare for Erev Shavuot following Confirmation/Shavuot services
3. A site visit to trace one ingredient of that dish to its source (See Appendix B)

Rabbi Arthur Waskow *

Seven weeks of walking from the Narrows into the open space that is the Land of No One – and then we enter the heart of the heart of the wilderness — Sinai itself, and the Torah.

“Wilderness” is “midbar.” It could be understood as “midaber,” — “wording, speaking,” — or “m’devar/ m’dibbur,” “away from word, without a word, beyond words.”

Or both:

A speaking beyond words.

Several years ago, Phyllis (Rabbi Phyllis Berman, my life-partner) and I spent a few days in “Midbar sinai,” and with hundreds of pilgrims from many religions and from all around the world spent all night climbing the mountain that either is or isn’t the mountain where we all assembled to get the Teaching that was beyond words.   Read more »

Rabbi Arthur Waskow, 6/9/2005

In the biblical story, Ruth was welcomed onto the fields of Boaz, where she gleaned what the regular harvesters had left behind. Boaz made sure that even this despised foreigner had a decent job at decent pay. When she    Read more »

A Jewish Voice for Peace, 6/3/2003
Dear Friends,

I am forwarding you (below) a program of "A Jewish Voice for Peace" in San Francisco. Their program draws — I think quite creatively — on the festival of Shavuot and the Revelation of th   Read more »

Rabbi Arthur Waskow, 6/1/2003

This passage is from Rabbi Waskow's book Godwrestling - Round 2 (Jewish Lights). It may be useful in observing Shavuot, perhaps as part of the night-time study that is traditional for the festival.

Rabbi David Seidenberg, 5/30/2003
On Shavuot, when we celebrate receiving the Torah, we also celebrate the offering of the first fruits in the Temple, the Bikurim.

The offering was a supremely humble gesture: the fruits which form first on a tree    Read more »

Rabbi Arthur Waskow

Shavuot: IF RUTH CAME TO AMERICA TODAY

One approach to the celebration of Shavuot is to combine the tradition of an all-night process of Torah-study with the themes of poverty and sharing that appear in the Scroll of Ruth, by creating a public Teach-in on the theme: "If Ruth the Moabite Came to America Today."

The tikkun/teach-in could be open to the public, intended to get some ideas and action going about our society and how to heal it.   Read more »

Rabbi Arthur Waskow

Shavuot: Ezekiel's Chariot

On Shavuot, traditionally we read the Chariot vision of Ezekiel as the Prophetic Haftarah. How does this speak to us today?

The Figure Who appears to Ezekiel has four faces: Human, Lion, Bull, and Eagle. It turns of its own volition, without seeming to be moved.   Read more »