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Shavuoth
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Chag
HaShavuoth Vayikra
(Leviticus) 23:9-21 (9)
And YHWH spoke to Moshe saying: (11)
And he shall wave the sheaf before YHWH, to be accepted for you; on the
morning after the Shabbat the priest shall wave it. (12)
And in the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb
without blemish in the first year of its life for a burnt-offering to
YHWH. (13)
And the meal-offering thereof shall be two tenth parts (of an ephah) of
fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire to YHWH for a
soothing aroma and the drink-offering thereof shall be of wine, the
fourth part of a hin (a hin=about 5 quarts). (14)
And you shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor fresh ears, until
you have brought the offering of your Elohiym; it is a statute for ever
throughout your generations in all your dwellings. (15)
And you shall count from the day after HaShabbat, from the day that you
brought the sheaf of the waving; seven weeks shall complete the count; (16)
to the day after the seventh week you shall number fifty days; and you
shall present a new meal-offering to YHWH. (17)
You shall bring out of your dwellings two wave-loaves of two tenth parts
(of an ephah); they shall be of fine flour, they shall be baked with
leaven, for first-fruits to YHWH. (18)
And you shall present with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the
first year, and one young bullock, and two rams; they shall be a
burnt-offering to YHWH, with their meal-offering, and their
drink-offerings, even an offering made by fire, of a soothing aroma to
YHWH. (19)
And you shall offer one male goat for a sin-offering and two male lambs
of the first year for a sacrifice of peace-offerings. (20)
And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the first-fruits for a
wave-offering before YHWH, with the two lambs; they shall be holy to
YHWH for the priest. (21)
And you shall make proclamation on the same day; there shall be a holy
convocation to you; you shall do no manner of servile work; it is a
statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations. Shavuot
(Feast of Weeks/ Pentecost) is the Biblical harvest-festival celebrated
50 days after the Sunday which occurs during Pesakh.
These fifty days are called the Counting of the Omer. What Exactly is Shavuot? Chag
Ha-Shavuot, is the second of the three annual Chagiym [Pilgrimage-Festivals] in the Hebrew Calendar and is known in
English as the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost. Shavuot is also referred to
in the Torah as Chag HaKatzir (Feast
of Harvest) [Ex 23,16] and Yom HaBikurim (Day of Firstfruits) [Nu 28,26]. 1
The
farmers of This Holiday is known by
several names: It is called Chag HaShavuoth, Festival of Weeks,
concluding 7 weeks since Passover, and the Giving of Torah (Z'man Matan
Torateinu) In Post-Biblical times Shavuot was believed to be the
anniversary of the Revelation at Sinai, but there is no basis for this
in the Tanakh), Festival of the First-Fruits (Chag HaBikurim), and
Festival of the Harvest (Chag Hakazir). And
now…When is Shavuot? Other Holidays in the Tanakh
are given a fixed date but the Feast of Weeks is not given a fixed
calendar date but instead we are commanded to celebrate it at the end of
a 50-day period known as "The
Counting of the Omer" (Shavuot being the 50th day). The
commencement of this 50-day period begins when the Omer
Offering was brought to the According to Nehemia Gordon,
“In late Why
is the Feast of Shavuot [Weeks] Always on a Sunday? by
Hacham Mordecai Alfandari Because the Torah commanded us
to start the counting of the Omer "on the morrow after the
Sabbath" and there is no "Sabbath" other than the Sabbath
of Genesis [i.e. the 7th Day of the week]. Additionally, the
Torah mentioned "Seven complete Sabbaths" and what Sabbath
occurs seven times during seven weeks other than [the actual] Sabbath,
the Seventh Day? The Rabbanites say that the morrow after the Sabbath is
the morrow after the First Yom
Tov [Holy Day on which work is forbidden] of Pessach, but they
have no proof whatsoever from the Torah that a Yom
Tov can be called "Sabbath".1
Note
1: Indeed, it is permissible to cook and have fire
on a Yom Tov, both of which are strictly forbidden on a Sabbath! [NG] A passage, which indicates
that the first day of the Omer has to be the Sunday during Chag HaMatzot,
is Yahoshua (Joshua) 5,11. This verse reports the events surrounding the
end of the giving of the manna shortly after B’nei Yisrael's entrance
into the So it’s Shavuot..What now? What are we to do? The
festival originally marked the beginning of the wheat harvest. If you
have ever driven down to In
Now we have seen Shavuot from Torah as a Biblical
Harvest Festival, as a Jewish holiday, what was done and when it was
done and even a bit of why it was done. What it was, when it was, how it was done, notice
that all of these refer to ‘was’. We need to attempt to establish
whether there are things we are to do today. All I can see is that these things could not/cannot
be done while we are in exile. We cannot go to the We can gather together, at least in cyberspace. We
can praise our Creator and Provider. We can remember that He should be
thanked for the provisions He has made and for those He will make. Although it is not necessary and commanded, let’s
read from the book of Ruth. Ruwt (Ruth) 1:1-18 1
In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the
land, and a man from Bet-lechem in Yahudah, together with his wife and
two sons, went to live for a while in the country of 2
The man's name was Eli-melekh (Elimelech), his wife's name
No’omiy (Naomi), and the names of his two sons were Machlown (Mahlon)
and Kilyown (Kilion). They were Ephra’atiym (Ephrathites) from
Bet-lechem, Yahudah. And they went to 3
Now Eli-melekh Elimelech, No’omiy’s (Naomi's) husband, died,
and she was left with her two sons. 4
They married Mow’abiyah (Moabite women), one named Orpah and
the other Ruwt. After they had lived there about ten years, 5
both Machlown and Kilyown also died, and No’omiy was left
without her two sons and her husband. 6
When she heard in 7
With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had
been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the 8
Then No’omiy said to her two daughters-in-law, "Go back,
each of you, to your mother's home. May YHWH show kindness to you, as
you have shown to your dead and to me. 9
May YHWH grant that each of you will find rest in the home of
another husband." Then she kissed them and they wept aloud 10
and said to her, "We will go back with you to your
people." 11
But No’omiy said,
"Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going
to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? 12
Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband.
Even if I thought there was still hope for me-- even if I had a husband
tonight and then gave birth to sons-- 13
would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for
them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because
YHWH's hand has gone out against me!" 14
At this they wept again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law
good-by, but Ruwt clung to her. 15
"Look," said No’omiy , "your sister-in-law is
going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her." 16
But Ruwt replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn
back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay.
Your people will be my people and your Elohiym my Elohiym. 17
Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May YHWH
deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates
you and me." 18
When No’omiy realized that Ruwt was determined to go with her,
she stopped urging her. We are told that this was Ruwt’s conversion and
her joining herself to YHWH and His people. Let us praise Him together tonight, that we as a
mostly Gentile, by blood, group have been accepted to come together in
worship of Him. So let us simply give Him thanks. |