SHAVUOT:

First Fruits, Flowers and Green Plants

Shavuot is a multifaceted holiday celebrating the giving of the Torah and the pilgrimage to the Temple to offer the first fruits of harvest. Both aspects of this holiday can be celebrated in ways which highlight Judaism’s deep connection to the land and to the cycles of the natural year, from decorating your home and synagogue with flowers and green plants to partaking of the “seven species” of the Land of Israel.

Decorate your home and your synagogue with flowers and green plants in honor of Shavuot. It is written in the Aggadah that when the Torah was given at Mount Sinai, the mountain suddenly burst into flower and was covered with trees, flowers and grass. You can replicate this natural celebration of the giving of Torah in your own community. One particularly nice custom is the adorning of the Sefer Torah with roses.

During the days of the Temple, Shavuot marked the bringing of the first fruits to Jerusalem. Tens of thousands of people would make the journey up to Jerusalem, carrying with them the first fruits of the new harvest, specifically the Shiv'at Haminim, or the Seven Species.

"For the Eternal your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills: A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and dates." (Devarim 8:7-8)

Giving gifts of these Seven Species is a wonderful way to share the bounty of earth with friends and family, and to take a moment to remind both them and yourselves that God has blessed us not only with the Torah, but also with the fruits of the earth.