Shavuot

Shavuot is a two-day Jewish holiday that always starts fifty days after Passover, during the Hebrew month of Sivan. It’s the Jewish First Fruits Festival, when the spring wheat is harvested in Israel- a time of thanksgiving for the grains and fruits of the earth. This is the beginning of the harvest season in Israel, which continues throughout the summer and ends with Sukkot in the fall. 

Shavuot also celebrates the giving of the Torah to the Jews.

Agenda Today:

Cheesecake Parfaits

1. Decorate the house
2. Make cheesecake parfaits
3. First Fruits Meal and Prayer
4. Read the Ten Commandments

1. Decorate the house:

In order to maintain a link with the agricultural nature of the festival, I decorate the house with flowers and greens. One year we made vases with recycled peanut butter jars, and filled them with flowers for the table.

Supplies: Glass jars, acrylic paints, brushes, bubble paint

1. Clean the jars and remove the labels. Dry well.

2. Plan a simple greenery design- leaves, ferns, or vines- to go with the theme of the holiday. Paint the basic shapes onto the jar with different shades of green acrylic paint. 

3. As soon as it is mostly dry, outline the shape with black bubble paint, squeezed directly from the tube.

2. Make cheesecake parfaits:

Cheese cake and cheese blintzes are traditional treats on Shavuot, because of a passage in the Song of Songs, "honey and milk under your lips." It implies that the words of the Torah energize our spirits as milk and honey strengthen and sweeten our bodies.

I really like this simple cheesecake parfait recipe, with caramel sauce. Last year I just crumbled some brownie in the bottom, but this year I made graham cracker crumble.

Ingredients:

• 1 soft cookie or brownie (or see graham cracker recipe below)
• 8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 1/4 c. half and half
• 1/2 tsp. lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 c. caramel sauce

Graham cracker crumble:

• 4 graham crackers
• 1 Tbsp. butter
• 1/4 c. sugar

Yield: 2 parfaits-

1- Melt the butter and combine with the graham crackers and sugar in a food processor. Pulse until crumbly.

2- Set out 2 clear bowls or wine glasses. Add half of the graham crackers or crumble up the cookie to evenly fill the bottom of each glass. 

2- Cream together the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. 












3- Slowly add the cream, beating until well combined. Stir in the lemon juice and vanilla.

4- Scoop about a quarter of the cheesecake filling into each bowl and spread it across the crumb layer. 

5- Warm up the caramel sauce just enough to pour. Drizzle about a tablespoon over the filling.This year I added another layer of graham cracker before topping it with the last of the cheesecake.

6- Chill for an hour or overnight before serving. Enjoy!

3. First Fruits Meal and Prayer:

Menu- Lettuce salad (from our garden), chicken sandwiches, and cheese cake parfait!

Prayer:

Barukh atah AdonAi, 

eloHAYnu melekh ha’olam, 

she-hakol nih'yeh bi-d'varo.

Blessed art Thou, our God of the Universe, 

by whose word everything comes into being.

4. Read the Ten Commandments:
One Shavuot custom is to stay awake the entire night of Shavuot studying texts, singing songs, telling stories, and then reading the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:2-17) at the first rays of the sun. 

I did not stay up all night but I did read these:

1. I am the Lord your God who took you out of the land of Egypt. 

2. You shall have no other gods before Me. 

3. Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. 

4. Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy. 

5. Honor your father and mother. 

6. Do not murder. 

7. Do not commit adultery. 

8. Do not steal. 

9. Do not bear false witness. 

10. Do not covet.