Torah, Torah, Torah...

So by next week we will have counted the 49 days from Passover till Shavuot. The word "Shavuot" means "weeks" since it is 7 weeks after Passover (counting of the Omer). We celebrate this holiday because of the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai. We celebrate the "giving" of the Torah rather than the "receiving" of it since we are constantly "receiving" the Torah, but this was the first time we were "given" the Torah so it is a very special day.
On Wed May 19 2010, everyone including children should go to a synagogue to hear the 10 commandments.
Some traditions that accompany Shavuot:

• The eating of dairy foods- 2 reasons that we indulge in blintzes and cheesecake are: 1) The Israelites did not know the laws of Kashrut yet in separating milk and meat so they kept their meals dairy and simple.
  2)A reminder of the promise of Israel being a land flowing with milk and honey.



• Flowers and Plants- Many synagogues and homes fill areas with pretty flowers and greenery since Mount Sinai, the desert, bloomed with flowers when the Torah was given.



• All night Torah study- It is customary to stay up all night and learn Torah before the 1st day of Shavuot to show G-d our excitement to receive the Torah.

We also recite Akdamut, a beautiful Aramaic poem extolling the greatness of G-d and the Book of Ruth since it describes barley and wheat harvest seasons and Ruth's strong desire to accept the Torah as being a part of the Jewish People.

A fun thing to do with the kids would be to build a Mount Sinai dessert (not desert) pictured above.
Using different shaped cookies, pretzels sticks, colored sprinkles, chocolate chips, and peanut butter or fluff. Build a beautiful mountain of cookies held together with the peanut butter/ fluff and then make a fence around the mountain with the pretzel sticks. You can then stick the sprinkles and chips in flower designs on top of the mountain using the pb/ fluff "glue."
Enjoy digging into your masterpiece!

Celebrate Your Mother (and next month- your father)

Mother's Day for some is a holiday and for some it is not, but there's nothing wrong with having a day to reflect on everything our mothers have done and continue to do for us.
Many would say that Mother's Day is absolutely not a Jewish holiday, but I would have to disagree.
The 5th commandment is to honor your father and mother. What's interesting about this is that the 10 commandments were engraved on two tablets- 5 on the first and 5 on the second.
The first tablet contains mitzvot that are "between man and G-d," while the commandments on the second tablet are those "between man and man." This means that the 5th commandment of honoring your parents belongs to the category of "between G-d and man."
This can be explained further... There are three partners in man: G-d, his father, and his mother. When a man honors his father and his mother, G-d says: "I consider it though I had dwelt among them and they had honored Me." This is an extremely powerful statement that by honoring your mother and father can we then only fully appreciate our relationship with G-d.
We are required to view our parents not only with love, but with awe as well.
It is for these reasons that every one of us must strive to truly honor our parents. That means that we make an effort to look after their needs , as well as treating them with the utmost respect, whether we agree with them or not. It is not just a nice thing to do; it is a direct commandment from G-d!
So go ahead and celebrate Mother's Day! In fact I came across an article that has ideas for unique gifts just for your Jewish mother.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/739805/10_unique_mothers_day_gifts_for_jewish.html