Guide to Jewish
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Shavuot Shavuot is the Hebrew name for “weeks,” and re fers to
the Jewish festival marking the giving of the Torah at
Sinai. The Torah teaches that it was a seven-week pil-
grimage from the life of slavery in Egypt to the free-
dom at the foot of Mount Sinai. At this time, we read
the “Book of Ruth,” the story of a young Moa bite
woman who left her land and people to go with her
Jewish mother-in-law, Naomi, to the Land of Israel.

This holiday originally celebrated the completion of
the barley harvest, and occurs in late May or June. It
is traditional to decorate the home with fresh flowers
and leaves, as well as to eat dairy foods, such as
blintzes, cheesecake and ice cream. Confirmations cel-
ebrating the completion of additional years of Jewish
education beyond Bar or Bat Mitzvah are traditionally
held on Shavuot.

Tisha B’Av
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THE GUIDE 2015/2016
Tisha B’Av means the “Ninth of Av,” the Jewish month,
and refers to the day of fasting and mourning. It is the
darkest of all days in Jewish history, commemorating
the destruction of both the First and Second Temples
in Jerusalem, in addition to other calamitous events in
Jewish history. Tisha B’Av is marked by a 24-hour fast,
as well as by certain customs common to shivah, the
period of mourning following a death in a family. This
holiday occurs in the middle of summer, and is often
poignantly observed at Jewish summer camps.