It occurs to me that, of all the Jewish holidays, Shavuot is one of the least well-known, the least prominent, the least observed here in America (next to Succot, perhaps). Why is that? My personal guess is that it's perceived as lacking any of the three elements that tend to make Jewish holidays popular: similarity to a Christian holiday, temporal proximity to a Christian holiday, and focus on food. Actually, nothing could be further from the truth.
Shavuot certainly is related to a Christian holiday, albeit one that's not quite so popular itself. The Feast of Pentecost, which occurs fifty days after Easter, is related both in time and historical origins to Shavuot (which occurs fifty days after Passover). And food, specifically all sorts of dairy delights as well as the first fruits of the fields in Israel, is an important element of the celebration. But so what? Why should any of that matter?
A lot of schools are closed on Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur, and when they aren't, Jewish parents often keep their kids home. Television and radio programs commonly acknowledge the arrival of those holy days, as well as Hanukka and Passover, which even the most secular families tend to gather and celebrate in one way or another. But by Succot, both non-observant Jews and the general population have had enough of Jewish holidays for a while, and when Shavuot comes around in late May or early June, it always seems (again, to the non-observant and those who have not been counting the omer) like a small blip on the radar screen (unless you have a child graduating from Sunday school).
What's up with that? The fact is that, without Shavuot, none of the other Jewish holidays would even exist. Jews wouldn't exist. Passover may mark our exodus from physical bondage to freedom, but Shavuot marks an even more important spiritual event and the true blossoming of the faith and community of the Jewish people. Without the giving of the Torah, we would have no history, no law, no understanding of ourselves as a nation. We would have no feasts, no festivals, no conquests or defeats, no country, no language, no relationship to God. We would have dispersed into nothingness long ago, like chaff in the wind.
My mother, who is visiting her step-son in Manhattan Beach, couldn't find a place to study Thursday night (as if she doesn't miss Jerusalem enough when she's in the U.S.). The nearby Conservative synagogue was basically ignoring the holiday -- apparently for lack of interest. This is troubling.
And so I've been thinking about all of this over the holiday and realizing that maybe I should write it down and try to make a point of remembering it myself next year.
Shavua tov.
