Shavuot Hub
Craft Ideas, Recipes, Music, Cooking Videos, and more to help your family celebrate together or apart.
Shavuot – the Jewish festival of “weeks” is celebrated seven weeks after Passover. This holiday combines two major religious observances. The first marks the grain harvest of the early summer that determined the ritual for this holiday, which was one of the three pilgrimage festivals of ancient Israel. The second is the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai seven weeks after the exodus from Egypt.
Today people celebrate the day by studying the Torah and other Jewish sources, sometimes staying up all night for special learning sessions. One delicious Shavuot tradition is enjoying dairy foods and recipes, like cheesecake and blintzes. Although the reasons for this custom are not completely clear, some people believe that we eat dairy foods on Shavuot because not eating meat makes everyone feel lighter, physically—a good reminder about the spiritual light that comes with receiving the Torah. The tie-in to the Torah and Ten Commandments also makes Shavuot a perfect opportunity to reinforce so many of the values that parents are already imparting to their children: telling the truth, honoring others, and sharing.
This year, Shavuot will begin the evening of Thursday, May 25th and end the evening on Saturday, May 27th. We hope you enjoy these Shavuot activities, to help your family celebrate this special holiday.
Adapted from myJewishLearning.com and PJLibrary.org