The holiday of Passover begins a seven-week period of time in the Jewish calendar known as the “Sefirat Ha-Omer, known in English as “The counting of the Omer.” There are forty-nine days between Passover and the holiday of Shavous. On the second day of Passover, we begin counting the Omer. On each day of the counting, we make a special blessing. There are some people who say a special prayer after the blessing as well.
During these forty-nine days, there are many customs of mourning that are kept such as not listening to music or getting married, and etc. The reason for this is because during the time of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, the students were not behaving properly towards one another and there was a plague which killed 24,000 students. These were Rabbi Akiva’s students. On the thirty-third day of the Omer, the dying stopped because the Jews did Tshuva, Repented.
There are many customs as to which part of the Sefirah is kept. Some people keep the whole Sefirah, because if you count the days of Passover, and the six Shabbos in between, plus the day of Lag B’Omer, and the last 3 days before Shavuos, you come up with 49-7-6-1-3 =32 days, so that would make sense. There are others who count from Rosh Chodesh Iyar until the end, and others who keep from Passover until Lag B’Omer. The thirty-third day is known as Lag B’Omer which is taken from the Hebrew letters that make up the numerical value of thirty-three.
This is also a very special day in Jewish history. There was a very famous Rabbi, Shimon Bar Yochai, who ran away from the Romans and lived in a cave for 1 3years with his son, Eliezer. He is known as the author of the Kabbalah or Zohar. This is a very mystical text which deals with the mysteries of creation and the purpose of this world. He passed away on the thirty-third day of the Omer. He told his students that the day of his passing away should be a day of rejoicing, and filled with music and bon-fires. Many people go to his grave-site on this day and cut their little boy’s hair for the first time when they are three years old. This is the one day during the whole Sefirah in which many people get married, and play music.
Shavuos is the holiday in which the Jewish people received the Torah on Mount Sinai. When G-d came down and gave the Jewish people the Torah, He first asked all of the other nations if they wanted the Torah. When they were told what it was, they rejected it. When the Jews were asked, they said, “Na’aseh V’Nishma.” First we will do, then we will listen.” G-d asked who gave His secret away to the Jews because normally people ask what you want them to do and then they decide if they want to or not. In this case, the Jews automatically accepted it without questioning. Moses went up on the mountain three times. The first was on Shavuos to receive the Torah after they heard G-d say the Ten Statements which everyone has mistranslated as the “Ten Commandments.” There are actually thirteen commandments that were given. The Torah contains six hundred thirteen commandments. There were seven more given by the Rabbis at a later date. There are six hundred twenty words in these statements.
The second time Moses went up the mountain was to ask G-d to forgive the Jewish people for sinning with the Golden Calf. He came down the first time on the seventeenth day of the Jewish month of Tammuz. This is another important date in the Jewish calendar This days begins a three-week mourning period culminating with the fast of Tisha B’av (The Ninth of Av) which is the day that both Temples in Jerusalem were destroyed, and many other sad events happened throughout Jewish history. The third time that Moses came down from the mountain was on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year. This is the day that G-d forgave the Jews for sinning with the Golden Calf.
On Shavuos, it is a custom among many people to eat dairy foods. This custom came about because when the Jews were in the desert, their dishes and pots were not Kosher. They became obligated to keep all of the six hundred thirteen commandments once G-d gave them the Torah. Another reason that we have the custom of eating dairy is because we became “like a newborn” nation. Just like a newborn only eats dairy, we also eat dairy. Another reason is the numerical value of “milk” in Hebrew is equal to forty. This symbolizes the forty days and nights that Moses was up on the mountain with G-d receiving the Torah.
It is also a custom to eat meat on a Yom tov (holiday) so that we have a problem here. One is not allowed to eat milk and meat at the same meal. However, one may eat dairy and then wait a little bit, (custom varies to the time that is waited between eating milk and then meat) then eat the meat meal. One waits longer between eating meat before milk except for certain foods like hard cheeses. Hard cheeses come under a special category of food in many communities where they wait the same amount of time as before eating meat. Blintzes are another commonly eaten food on Shavuos. The blintzes are shaped like the Two Tablets were. Most people think of the Tablets as being round. However, they were rectangular with a straight top and bottom.
The Tablets were very special according to many Rabbinical opinions. One thing that was unique about them was that one could read the statements from any direction that they were reading from. The second set of Tablets were brought down from the mountain on the Day of Yom Kippur. Another thing that made the Tablets very special was their weight. When Moses was bring them down, they were very light. Once he saw the Golden Calf, and the Jews worshipping it, they became very heavy and he dropped them.
The Sin of the Golden Calf was so great that G-d wanted to destroy the Jews and to rebuild the nation through Moses. However, Moses pleaded with G-d not to. This showed the great love that Moses had for the Jews even though they were a stubborn people and went against G-d wishes so many times in the desert. The way that this came about was through the “Erev Rav,” ‘1he mixed multitudes.” When the Jews left Egypt, there were many non-Jewish people who believed in God. However their faith was not complete. These were the people who doubted G-d many times, and brought trouble on the Jews as a result. They were the ones who said that Moses died on the mountain and that he wasn’t coming back because they had miscalculated the days. Aaron, Moses’s brother tried to stop the Jews from building the Golden Calf by collecting the gold from many of the people. He thought it would take a lot of time for him to collect all of the gold, and thereby buy time. However, the men were so eager to do this, that it was collected in a short time.
The women and the tribe of Levi didn’t participate in this. The reward that the women got was the holiday of “Rosh Chodesh”, The beginning of the new month. Many women have the custom not to do laundry or to sew or to any other special thing in honor of this day. The Levi’im were rewarded by being able to work in the Temple. Aaron tried his best to prevent the Jews from making the Golden Calf. However, he was not successful. The Jews were afraid that Moses had died on the mountain and wanted a special connection to G-d. So they had Aaron make something for them out of the gold that was collected.
Another important thing that is done on the holiday of Shavuos is the reading of the Megillah of Ruth, the Story of Ruth in many communities. King David was born and died on the holiday of Shavuos. Just like we became “converts” to the Jewish religion, we read the story of Ruth, who was the great-grandmother of King David who converted to Judaism. King David is well-known for the Psalms that he wrote. He was a warrior who fought many battles to free the land of Israel from her enemies. He established the city of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. He was not able to build the Temple because he had fought in the wars. His son, Solomon, Shlomo built the Temple. Through this family, the Messiah will come and redeem the Jewish people from exile. May it be very soon, immediately in our days.
