Shauvout, Succoth and Simchat Torah

Shauvot (The festival of Weeks)

Although it was originally a festival to celebrate the summer harvest. Shauvot was soon linked to the giving of the law to Moses on Mount Sinai. Jews look upon the Torah as God's greatest gift to them.

During the original festival all the farmers would have brought their first fruits to the temple, where they offered them as a sign of their thankfulness to God. As they did they said;

My ancestor was a stranger when he went down to Egypt but there he became a great and strong nation. Then the Egyptians enslaved us. So God brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and glorious miracles to the land flowing with milk and honey. And now, behold, I have brought the first of the fruit of the land which God has given me.

This link with the land stays with the festival of Shauvot today and the synagogue will be beautifully decorated with fresh fruit, flowers and plants for the festival.

The giving of the law

Today however the link of Shauvot with the giving of the law is much more important than the link with the harvest. This is because it was at Mount Sinai that a group of ex-slaves was changed into a nation. The whole basis of Judaism are the laws that Moses received at Mount Sinai. There were 613 laws given to Moses, but the most important and the most well known are the 10 commandments.

Celebrating Shauvot

Traditionally Jews stay up on the night of the Shauvot reading the Torah. To keep themselves awake they drink coffee and eat dairy produce, especially sweet cakes to remind the Jews that the Torah is sweet to the spiritual taste.

Apart from the reading of the Ten Sayings all Jews all Jews also read the book of Ruth on Shauvot. This beautiful love story tells how Ruth was converted to the Jewish faith after helping with the harvest. This makes it, of course, a very appropriate reading for this particular festival.

Shauvot also known as the 'festival of first fruits'. In Israel today many farmers bring baskets of bikkurim (ripe first fruits) to a central area. They are expressing their joy and pride in the fruitfulness of the land that God gave to His people centuries ago.

The Ten sayings

• I am the Lord your God who brought you out of slavery from the land of Egypt
• You shall have no other gods before me
• You shall not make any graven image
• You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain
• You shall remember and keep the Sabbath holy
• Honour your father and mother
• You shall not kill
• You shall not commit adultery
• You shall not steal
• You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour
• You shall not covet your neighbour's wife, nor anything that belongs to your neighbour

  (Exodus 20 : 1-17, translated for the Jewish prayer book)

Sukkot and Simhat Torah

In ancient Israel there were three 'pilgrimage' festivals which drew the scattered Jews together to the temple in Jerusalem. The autumn harvest festival of Sukkot is one of these. The festival of Sukkot celebrates the years that the Jews spent wondering in the wilderness, and together with Shauvot and Pesach tells the complete story of the Exodus until the return to the promised land.

Pesach - The escape from Egypt and the crossing of the Red Sea

Shauvot - The giving of the law on Mount Sinai

Sukkot - The wandering in the wilderness for 40 years

Sukkot - Living in shelters

Sukkot begins five days after Yom Kippur and continues for seven days. Many families spend some time living in a tent during the festival to remind them of the time when the nation had no permanent home. Other families will 'camp out' in a tent in the local synagogue. The word Sukkot means tent or temporary shelter. The festival of Sukkot also reminds Jews that life is fragile and no-one stays long on the journey through it. We are all dependent on God every step of the journey through life. This is symbolised by having a hole in the roof of the Sukkot so that you can always be open to God

'On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the feast of Booths for seven days unto the Lord. On the first day is an assembly to the Lord and you shall do no work. On the eight day is also an assembly to the Lord and you shall do no work'. (Leviticus 23 : 34-36)

Simhat Torah

The festival of Simhat Torah takes place immediately at the end of the festival of Sukkot. It is on this day that the annual cycle of readings from the Torah ends and a new cycle begins. The last reading of the Torah is the final chapters of Deuteronomy and the first chapters of Genesis to show that the Torah has no beginning and no end, but is eternal.

During the service the scrolls of the Torah will be carried around the synagogue, and sometimes into the surrounding streets, accompanied by great rejoicing and happiness. Children kiss the scrolls, carry banners and receive sweets.