GUT YONTEV

According to Jewish tradition, the Ten Commandments were given to Moses on Mount Sinai on Shavout. That is why this holiday is called "Zman Matan Toratenu" - the Time of the Giving of Our Law. Shavuot, which means the Festival of Weeks, and occurs seven weeks after Passover, also commemorates the early wheat harvest in Palestine.

So we decorate our homes and synagogues with flowers and greens. Shavout has still another meaning. It is the Festival of New Fruits, when each man brought the first of his barley, wheat, grapes, figs, olive-oil, pomegranates, and honey to the Temple in Jerusalem. There, everyone took part in the Bikkurim (First Fruits) ceremony, which has been revived in new dress in modern Israel.

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