Shavuot 2022 - All You Need to Know

PREPARE AN ERUV TAVSHILIN
When the Sabbath follows immediately after a day of Yom Tov, food may be cooked for the Sabbath if the preparation was started before Yom Tov and continued on the Holiday.  To enable us to do so, we prepare before Yom Tov, a symbolic dish which is called “Eruv Tavshilin” and it must be completed on Thursday, May 25th. 

Ceremony and Blessing:
Take a plate with one whole challah and either a piece of cooked fish, cooked meat or a hard-boiled egg on it, (it is a good idea to wrap the challah and fish, meat or egg in aluminum foil to easily keep them apart from the rest of the foods in your home). Recite the following blessing:

BA-RUCH A-TAH ADO-NAI E-LO-HE-NU ME-LECH HA-OLAM ASHER KID-E-SHA-NU BE-MITZ-VO-TAV VETZI-VA-NU AL MITZVAT ERUV.

Then recite: "By virtue of this Eruv, we (the members of this household), shall be permitted to cook, bake, keep food warm, carry, light candles and do all preparations on Yom Tov for Shabbat."

Put the foods you used for the Eruv away, and eat them on Shabbat. NOTE: The Eruv Tavshilin allows you to cook on Friday for Shabbat,  It is permissible to cook only from a pre-existent flame, one that was lit before the onset of the Holiday on Thursday before sunset.

The Torah was given by God to the Jewish people on Mount Sinai more than 3300 years ago. Every year on the holiday of Shavuot we
renew our acceptance of God’s gift, and God “re-gives” the Torah.

In biblical times Shavuot also marked the beginning of the new agricultural season and was called Chag HaKatzir, which means
“The Harvest Holiday.” Other names Shavuot is known by are “The Feast of Weeks” which marks the completion of the seven week
counting period between Passover and Shavuot and Chag HaBikurim, meaning “The Holiday of First Fruits.” This last name comes
from the practice of bringing fruits to the Temple on Shavuot.

After the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE the Rabbis connected Shavuot with the Revelation at Mt. Sinai, when God gave the Ten Commandments to the Jewish people. This is why Shavuot celebrates the giving and receiving of the Torah in modern times.

The giving of the Torah was a far-reaching spiritual event, one that touched the essence of the Jewish soul for all times. Our sages have compared it to a wedding between God and the Jewish people. Shavuot also means “oaths,” for on this day God swore eternal devotion to us, and we in turn pledged everlasting loyalty to Him. It is a Shavuot tradition to adorn the synagogue and the home with greenery, fragrant flowers, leaves, boughs and trees.

The holiday of Shavuot is a two-day holiday, beginning at sundown on the 5th of Sivan, May 25th and lasting until nightfall of the 7th of Sivan, May 27th. Women and girls light holiday candles to usher in the holiday, on both the first and second evenings of the holidays. Candles on the first night are lit at 8:11 PM and on the second night must be lit from an existing flame before 8:12 PM. As on other holidays, special meals are eaten, and no “work” may be performed.

The Ten Commandments combine two sets of relationships: Duties between man and God, and our duties from person to person. Come with your children to the Synagogue to hear the Ten Commandments.

Many Jews commemorate Shavuot by spending the entire night studying Torah at their synagogue or at home. This all-night gathering is known as Tikkun Leil Shavuot.

It is customary to eat dairy foods on Shavuot. Among other reasons, this commemorates the fact that upon receiving the Torah, including the kosher laws, the Jewish people could not cook meat in their pots, which had yet to be rendered kosher.

On the second day of Shavuot, the Yizkor memorial service is recited.