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Today is Shavuot aka Pentecost



Shavuot began on May 23 and ends on May 25. In Judaism it is known as the "Feast of Weeks" and in Christianity it is called “Pentecost.” In The Torah Shavuot is mentioned in connection with Passover and with bringing offerings from the harvest.  “You shall count off seven weeks [from Passover]…then you shall observe the Feast of Weeks, offering your freewill contribution according to how Adonai your God has blessed you.” (Deut. 16:10). During the Temple Period, two additions were made to the observance of Shavuot.  First, the priests would make a special offering of two loaves of bread on behalf of the nation.  Bread was an unusual offering, since it is made by human hands.  In general, offerings were animals or grain, raw materials coming directly from the earth to God.  This offering of bread, representing a human-Divine partnership in giving food to the world, would soon become important in the rabbis’ radical re-interpretation of Shavuot. The second special feature of Shavuot during the Temple period was the bringing of first fruits of the harvest, fruits of any of the seven species, to the Temple.  Each family travelled to Jerusalem, carrying their first fruits, to make a special offering at the Temple. Read the complete article at -- http://www.heschel.org/page.cfm?p=445

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