6-7 SIVANTuesday sunset, May 30 until

Thursday nightfall, June 1, 2017

SHAVUOT INSIGHTS

2

MONTREAL TORAH CENTER BAIS MENACHEM

CHABAD LUBAVITCH

Joanne and Jonathan GurmanCommunity Center

Lou Adler ShulMarcia Gillman & Michael Flinker

Early Childhood CenterThe Kenny Chankowsky Memorial Torah Library

Rabbi Moishe New Rabbi Itchy Treitel

Nechama New Pre-School & Day Camp DirectorZeldie Treitel: Program Director

Rabbi Levi New Jewish Student Community

Rabbi Getzy Markowitz TFS Young Leadership

Rav Maimon Pinto Division Francophone

Velvel Minkowitz: AdministratorIta New: BMC Director

Naomi Azoulay, Tanya Davis, Esty Rosenfeld, Miriam Smith

Youth ProgrammingChanie Teitlebaum, Rochi Yarmush

Administration Yehuda Gottesman, Shaya Zirkind

Accounting

Publication Mail Agreement No. #40030976

Questions or return undeliverable Canadian addresses to:

The Montreal Torah Center28 Cleve Road

Hampstead PQ H3X 1A6Tel. 514-739-0770 Fax 514-739-5925

Email: mtc@themtc.comwww.themtc.com

This Shavuot Edition of the MOSAIC is distributed to:

Akiva School, Batshaw Foster CareDepartment, Batshaw Youth & Family

Services, Bialik High School, B'naiB'rith House, Free Hebrew for Juniors,

Jewish General Hospital, JewishPeople’s & Peretz School, MaimonidesGeriatric Centre, Maimonides Hospital,

Merton School, Residence Solomon,Royal Vale School, Solomon Schecter,Sunshine Club, United Talmud Torahs,

Waldorf Residence Home

Our thanks and appreciation toPonctuation Grafix

WHAT IS SHAVUOT?Shavuot is the second of the three major festivals(Passover being the first and Sukkot the third) and comesexactly fifty days after Passover. The Torah was given byG-d to the Jewish people on Mount Sinai 3,329 years ago. Every year on this day we renew our acceptance of G-d’s gift.

The word Shavuot means ‘weeks’. It marks the comple-tion of the seven weeks between Passover and Shavuot(the ‘Omer’ period) during which the Jewish people pre-pared themselves for the giving of the Torah. During thistime they cleansed themselves of the scars of slavery andbecame a holy nation ready to enter into an eternalcovenant with G-d with the giving of the Torah.

THE GIVING OF THE TORAHThe giving of the Torah was a far-reaching spiritual event – onethat touched the essence of theJewish soul then and for all time.Our Sages have compared it to awedding between G-d and theJewish people. One of the manynames of Shavuot is the Day of the Great Oath, (the word

‘shavuah’ also means oath). On this day G-d swore eternal devotion to us, and we in turn pledged everlastingloyalty to Him.

On this day we received a gift from Above which we couldnot have achieved with our own limited faculties. Wereceived the ability to reach and touch the Divine; to benot only cultivated human beings, but human beings connected to G-d, above and beyond the limitations of nature.

WHAT IS THE TORAH?The Torah is composed of two parts: the Written Lawand the Oral Law. The written Torah contains the FiveBooks of Moses, the Prophets and the Writings. Togetherwith the Written Torah, Moses was also given the OralLaw which explains and clarifies the Written law. It wastransmitted orally from generation to generation andeventually transcribed in the Talmud, Midrash and Zohar.

The word Torah means instruction or guide. The wordmitzvah means both commandment and connection.There are 613 commandments. The positive command-ments (‘do’), numbering 248, are equivalent to the number

of organs in the human body. The 365 negative command-ments (‘don’t do’) are equivalent to the number of bloodvessels in the human body.

Through the study of Torah and fulfillment of mitzvahs weconnect ourselves and our environment to G-d. G-d’s purpose in creating the world is that we sanctify all of creation, imbuing it with holiness and spirituality.

WHY WAS THE TORAH GIVENIN THE WILDERNESS AND NOTIN THE LAND OF ISRAEL?The Torah was given freely, in anownerless public place. If it hadbeen given in the land of Israel,the nations of the world wouldsay that they have no portion init. Anyone who wishes to prop-erly accept it is welcome to doso. Why was Mount Sinai chosento be the site for the giving of theTorah? The conventional answer is that the choice ofMount Sinai was to teach us humility, since Mount Sinaiis a small and, therefore, ‘humble’ mountain. However, ifso, why was it not given in a low lying valley? Surely thatwould have been a stronger lesson in humility?

Hence we learn, that a Jew must be able to distinguishbetween being proud and being arrogant. Arrogance isdistasteful. Being proud of one’s Jewishness is a virtueand necessary. The Torah therefore, was given on a hum-ble mountain.

WHAT ARE THE OTHER NAMESOF SHAVUOT?

Shavuot is also called Atzeretmeaning The Completion, be causetogether with Passover it forms thecompletion of a unit. We gainedour freedom Passover in order toreceive the Torah on Shavuot.

Another name for Shavuot is YomHabikurim or the Day of the First

Fruits. In an expression of thanks to G-d as commanded inthe Torah, beginning on Shavuot, each farmer in the Landof Israel brought to the Holy Temple in Jerusalem the firstwheat, barley, grapes, figs pomegranates, olives anddates that grew in his field.

3

Finally, Shavuot is also called Chag HaKotzir, theFestival of the Harvest, because wheat, the last of thegrains to be ready to be cut, was harvested at this time ofthe year.

ALL NIGHT LONG...On the first night of Shavuotthroughout the world, Jewsobserve the centuries-old customof conducting an all-night vigil dedicated to Torah learning. Oneexplanation for this tradition isthat the Jewish people did not riseearly on the day G-d gave the Torah, and that it was necessary for G-d Himself to awaken them. To compen-sate for their behavior, Jews have accepted upon them-selves the custom of remaining awake all night.

WHY IS IT CUSTOMARY TO EATA DAIRY MEAL ON SHAVUOT?There are a number of reasons for the custom of eating adairy meal on Shavuot:

With the giving of the Torah the Jews now become obli-gated to observe the laws of Kashruth. As the Torah wasgiven on Shabbat no cattle could be slaughtered nor couldutensils be koshered, and thus on that day they ate dairy.

Another reason that the Torah is likened to milk. The wordin Hebrew for milk is ‘cholov’ – BMI. When the numbervalue of each of the letters in the word cholov are addedtogether – I =8; M =30; B =2; – the total is forty. Forty isthe number of days Moses was on Mount Sinai receivingthe Torah.

THE BOOK OF RUTHIn many synagogues the book of Ruth is read on the second day of Shavuot. There are several reasons for thiscustom: A) Shavuot is the birthday and yarzeit (day ofpassing) of King David, and the book of Ruth records hisancestry. Ruth and her husband Boaz were King David’sgreat-grandparents. B) The scenes of harvesting, des -cribed in the book of Ruth are appropriate to the Festivalof Harvest. C) Ruth was a sin-cere convert who embracedJudaism with all her heart. OnShavuot all Jews formallyentered into the covenant withG-d by accepting to ob serve theTorah and all of its precepts.

WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF FLOWERS AND GREENERYON SHAVUOT?

It is customary on Shavuot toadorn the home and synagoguewith fruits, flowers and greens.The reason is that in the time ofthe Holy Temple, the first fruits ofharvest were brought to theTemple on Shavuot. As well, ourSages related that al thoughMount Sinai was situated in a

desert, when the Torah was given the mountain bloomedand sprouted flowers.

Ingredients1 pkg. flaky pastry dough (2 pieces)

12 oz. whipped cream cheese

5 tablespoons sugar

1½ teaspoons vanilla sugar

Regular and white mini chocolate chips

Directions | Yield: approx. 1 ½ dozen swirls

Roll out each piece of dough into a large rectangle. Mix cheeseand sugars in a bowl and smear on dough. Sprinkle with choco-late chips. Roll up jellyroll style. Slice 2 to 1 ½–inch thickpieces. Lay flat on cookie sheet, swirl side up. Bake at 350° forabout 20 minutes, or until it starts to turn golden.

When you’ve finished rolling up the dough, make sure it’s closedtight so it won’t open during baking.

Candle Lighting Times and BlessingsTuesday, May 30Sivan 5Light candles at 8:16 pm*Blessing 1 & 2

Wednesday, May 31Sivan 6Light candles after 9:32 pm**Blessing 1 & 2

Thursday, June 1Sivan 7 • YizkorYom Tov ends 9:33 pm

BlessingsBaruch Atah Ado-nai Elo-heinu Melech Haolam Asher Kiddishanu Bemitzvotav Vetzivanu Lehadlik Ner Shel Yom Tov.

Blessed are You, G-d our L-rd,Sovereign of the universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments, and commanded us to kindle the Yom Tov lights.

Baruch Atah Ado-nai Elo-heinu Melech Haolam She-heh-cheh-yanu Ve-kee-ma-nu Ve-he-geyanu Lizman Hazeh.

Blessed are You, G-d our L-rd,Sovereign of the universe, who has granted us life, sustained us and enabled us to reach this occasion.

*If lighting after sunset, light from a pre-existing flame.**Light from a pre-existing flame.

(A pre-existing flame is a flame burning continuously since the onset of the festival,such as a pilot light, gas or candle flame.)

1

2

Choco-Cheese Swirls

Our Sages relate that before G-d gave the Torah to the Jewish people, He required guarantors that would guarantee that the Jewish people cherish and

observe the Torah. The Jews offered a number of suggestions, however all were found unsatisfactoryby G-d. When they declared “Our children will be our guarantors”, G-d acceptedtheir offer and gave us the Torah.

Each year G-d gives us the Torah anew. The wisdom of the Torah is Divine andtherefore infinite. Each year on Shavuot, G-d reveals to us yet another, deeperlayer of His infinite wisdom contained in Torah. Therefore we are endlessly ableto discover new insights in Torah. So in a sense, each year, Shavuot celebratesthe giving of the Torah in a way that it has never been given before. This spiritualgiving of the Torah happens primarily when we read the Ten Commandments onthe first day of Shavuot in the synagogue.

That is why it is so important that every Jewish man, woman and child be thereon Wednesday, May 31, the first day of Shavuot.

PM40

0309

76

Be in Synagogue: Wednesday Morning, May 31 andHEAR THE TEN COMMANDMENTS LIVE!

Thanks to our

children

BUT ABOVE ALL, IT IS THE CHILDREN,FROM THE YOUNG EST AGE, THAT G-D

WANTS TO SEE IN SYNAGOGUE.

AFTER ALL, THEY ARE OUR GUARANTORS.

The Ten Commandments1. I am G-d your L-rd 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 G-d your L-rd in vain.

4. Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy.5. Honor your father and mother.

6. Do not murder.7. Do not com mit adultery.

8. Do not steal.9. Do not bear false witness.

10. Do not covet.