Other Celebrations

What is Shavuot?

Shavuot is a minor, ancient pilgrimage festival that marked the harvest of barley. Shavuot literally means "weeks," so named because the festival is exactly seven weeks (plus one day) from the second night of Passover. It is also called Festival of First Fruits, Hag Habikkurim, Pentecost, and the Feast of Weeks. This feast, one of three pilgrimage festivals, marked the end of the barley and beginning of the wheat harvest. In ancient times, it was probably a midsummer festival taken over from the Canaanites.

On this festival in Temple times, according to the book of Leviticus, two loaves (shetei halehem) were "waved before the Lord." These had to be offered only from the best new wheat, from produce grown that year in Israel. Shavuot was associated with the bringing of the bikkurim, "the first ripe fruits," to the Temple of Jerusalem.

In rabbinic times a radical transformation of the festival took place. Based on the verse from the book of Exodus: "In the third month after the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai," the festival became the anniversary of the giving of the Torah at Sinai. In the traditional liturgy Shavuot is "zemanmattan toratenu" ("the time of the giving of our Torah"). The ancient agricultural feasts were recreated into festivals marking the anniversary of significant legendary events in the life of the people. Both Passover and Sukkot are connected with the Exodus as well.

Unlike Passover and Sukkot, Shavuot has just a few special rituals. In modern Israel, some kibbutzim have tried to revive some of the harvest ceremonies. In the synagogue, it is customary to read the Book of Ruth on Shavuot. It is customary in some congregations to decorate the synagogue with plants and flowers. It is also customary to eat dairy products in the home on Shavuot. In some communities triangular pancakes stuffed with meat or cheese are eaten because the Hebrew Bible has three parts (Torah Prophets, and Writings). Also, in modern times Shavuot has become a day for confirmation ceremonies and religious school graduations.

For Humanistic Jews, Shavuot is a wonderful day for picnics with fresh loaves of challah and is also a time to honor educational achievement, such as graduation from Sunday School.

(source: Society for Humanistic Judaism website)

What is Tu Bi'Shevat?

Tu Bi'Shevat (literally the 15th day of the Jewish month of Shevat) has a long history. Some scholars believe that in its most ancient form, the holiday celebrated the Near Eastern goddess Asherah (also known as Astarte and Ishtar), whose symbol was a tree, was a popular fertility deity and consort of the Canaanite God El. Asherahs are mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, though they are not described in detail, and were likely symbols, poles or wooden objects made from trees.

During the Temple period (until 70 CE), farmers of fruit were taxed in the form of tithes. Tu Bi'Shevat was likely a tax collection day for fruit, whereupon it was agreed that the tax year would begin and end. Tu Bi'Shevat become the "new year for trees." It is unknown whether other festivities accompanied the tithing. After the destruction of the Temple (70 CE), when tithing was no longer possible, little is known of how the day was recognized, except that in Ashkenazi synagogues special Psalms were added to the liturgy. The idea that Tu Bi'Shevat was something more than a simple legal requirement, that it marks the end of the heavy rain season in the land of Israel when the sap starts to rise in the trees and the earth begins its slow emergence from deep winter, may account for why the festival stayed in existence among the Jewish folk.

It was during the flourishing era of Jewish mysticism, around the 16th century, that Tu Bi'Shevat re-emerged as a more popular and meaningful festival, first among Sephardi Jews. Mystical significance was attributed to ideas of the rebirth of the natural world in spring, and the Tu Bi'Shevat seder, a service of ingesting symbolic foods around a festive meal was created. The symbolic cups of wine and food are associated with the mystical worlds of creation. The festival gained popularity and spread throughout the Sephardic world and eventually became part of Ashkenazi custom as well.

Since the rise of Zionism and the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, Tu Bi'Shevat also has come to be associated with planting trees in Israel. Like the mystical rebirth of earth celebrated in the most ancient roots of the holiday, Tu Bi'Shevat is now associated with the birth of the Jewish state. Most recently, as awareness of the environment has become a more pressing concern for many people, Tu Bi'Shevat has become a "Jewish Arbor Day,"a day on which we recognize our ethical obligations to care for the planet and its inhabitants.

For Humanistic Jews the theme of a new year for trees, a time of recognizing our connection to the earth, is a most popular Tu Bi'Shevat theme today.

(source: Society for Humanistic Judaism website)