SHAVUOT
A Commanded Holy Day


THE FEAST OF SHAVUOT/WEEKS/FIRSTFRUITS

    This feast is also known as the Latter Firstfruits, occurring in May or June.  Another name for this festival is Atzeret, which means stop, cease, or conclusion, as in the conclusion of the forty nine days of counting.  Besides being a time when dedicated harvest is offered to Adonai, Shavuot is traditionally viewed as the time when the Torah was given at Mount Sinai. 

    If this tradition is indeed accurate, a good spiritual principal can be drawn from it.  First, Adonai required of the people of Israel a simple act of faith resulting in trust--the blood on the doorpost.  They had to realize that, essentially, they could do nothing to save themselves from certain Divine judgment.  They had to trust in His word that the lamb's blood would save them.  After their deliverance, Moses led them through more miracles and into the Sinai wilderness where they would meet with G-d.  In other words, they trusted in G-d and accepted His salvation; they acted on that faith; and they obeyed.  G-d first demonstrated His love for them before they displayed obedience, and certainly, when they were unworthy.  First, He entered into a relationship with them, protecting, upholding, and guiding them.  Afterward, He required their obedience according to Torah. Relationship first, then law. 

    Without a right relationship with HaShem, observance of the Torah has no lasting worth.  And, without obedience to G-d, there is no true relationship.  These things are interlocked.  One cannot be without the other.  However, the sequence is important.  G-d put relationship with His people first, building their trust in Him.  Without this trust, they would not have been prepared to obey. 

    However, once they were a redeemed people, Torah-living became essential: not to achieve right standing with G-d, but to obtain His blessings and continued protection in life.  It is the only way to truly love Him, the only way He wants to be loved and worshiped.  They were redeemed by the blood of the lamb in Egypt.  Their continued faith and trusting, which without works is dead, is what made them eligible for the covenant promises.  Just because they were covered by the blood of the Lamb, so to speak, did not make them exempt from a life under G-d's laws.  This is because redemption is one thing and salvation is another.  Messiah redeems us when we accept His sacrifice, but salvation is a thing which must be worked out daily with fear and trembling.  So it has been from the very beginning. 

    Torah is to the collective people of G-d our most precious heritage.  Without it, we have no understanding of Divine nature and no foundation for the work of Messiah.  Without Torah, there is no Messiah.  Without Messiah, there is no Living Torah. 


MODERN OBSERVANCE OF SHAVUOT

    In Temple times, the Feast of Weeks was one of the three times during the year all males were to be present in Jerusalem.  Today, observance of Shavuot is focused on reawakening and strengthening personal relationship with G-d.  There is a custom of keeping vigil all night with the reading of Torah, particularly the Ten Commandments, and prayer.  Traditionally, the book of Ruth is also read, the reasoning for this will be explained later.  Our family reads it together and dramatizes it, each person taking a part in the dramatic reading.  This is often great fun and a good way to internalize and personalize the story. 

    Shavuot is a major food-centered holiday.  What good celebration isn't?  Of primary importance is dairy.  There is debate as to the reason this custom was started, but some suggest it is in remembrance of the giving of the Promised Land, a land flowing with milk and honey.  Cheese blintzes are very popular at this time.  Many even plant a tree as a memorable family event.  Business work is prohibited; only that work which must be performed in preparation for the holiday is permissible.

    Two braided challah loaves can be made, or two round loaves.  This is also traditional, in remembrance of the bread that was waved before HaShem in the Temple. 
 


SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STORY OF RUTH

    The story of Ruth takes place at the end of the barley and wheat harvest, corresponding to the time of the Omer and Shavuot.  As a Gentile, Ruth was not commanded to return to the Land with her mother-in-law and keep Torah.  Ruth chose to lose her social standing in Moab, her friends, any family she may have had, and the customs of the people she knew when she decided to follow Naomi. 

    She was blessed for her sacrifices; she became the great-grandmother of King David and ultimately, the ancestor of Messiah.  It is even said that the prophet Daniel was a notable descendant.  She was possibly the first and only Moabite proselyte to join the nation of Israel and embrace the Torah.  Ruth chose to obey even though it went against her upbringing and own traditions. 

    Ruth’s marriage to well-to-do kinsman redeemer Boaz is an interesting picture of the Gentile Believers joining the nation of Jewish Believers in marriage to Messiah.  Boaz himself was half Gentile, the son of Rahab the proselyte.  Perhaps he could identify with Ruth’s conversion because of his mother.  However, it is very likely Boaz was a young elder, a highly respected man of Torah.  His wife would have to be a worthy woman of Torah as well. 

    Ruth denounced her Moabite traditions.  She was henceforth no longer considered a stranger in Israel.  When Gentiles accept Messiah, they, too, must give up their former identity and paganism.  They automatically join the House of Israel, G-d’s one and only chosen people, not as Jews but as proselytes like Ruth and Rahab.  King Messiah, descendant of Boaz, had Gentile blood in Him, albeit He was a Jew from the tribe of Judah.  And, for two thousand years He has been cloaked in Gentile apparel, hidden from His Jewish brethren.  The people of Israel cannot recognize Him with blonde or red hair, blue eyes, white skin, fringeless robes, and a kippah-less head.  They cannot see their Messiah in the pictures of often beautiful European men posed on the stained glass windows of obviously Gentile sanctuaries, standing with a halo around his flowing sun-kissed locks. 

    Israel cannot possibly see a Jewish Messiah in a man who supposedly was against Torah.  They cannot see Him in a man who supposedly set up a new Catholic or Protestant institution.  Nor should they see this kind of man as Messiah.  The Jews know for whom they are looking; it is the people who are able to see Messiah in the above descriptions who are yet blind.

    The Scriptures prophecy of the Messiah as a Jew from the tribe of Kings who has Torah in His innermost being.  That is Who Israel looks to.  They wait for a man who is not comely of appearance, but one who, like Boaz, is an elder of Torah.  A man who, like Boaz, fully embraces his Torah identity and expects his bride to do the same.  A man who, like Boaz, will be their Kinsman Redeemer and purchase back the Land rightfully theirs.  They are looking, as they should be, for a man who will unite them as a people with all nations on earth under the banner of G-d’s everlasting covenant of Torah.  Should you be looking for, or worshiping, anyone different?