North County Jewish community celebrates Shavuot
Art by Sefira Lightstone.
Community celebrations to include communal reading from Torah scroll, cheesecake and dairy buffet
– The Jewish community of the North County will celebrate Shavuot — this year, beginning at sunset on Tuesday, June 11, and concluding at nightfall on Thursday, June 13.
Shavuot commemorates the Jewish people receiving the Ten Commandments and the Torah at Mount Sinai, 3,336 years ago. Celebrations include gathering to hear the reading of the Ten Commandments from a Torah scroll handwritten on parchment, with Chabad of Paso Robles holding a family-friendly reading on the afternoon of Wednesday, June 12 at 5 p.m., followed by a dairy buffet celebration.
“Shavuot is the time when the Jewish people received the Torah together at Mt. Sinai as ‘one person with one heart,’ so it’s important that the North County’s Jewish community will gather as well, to commemorate this day in the same spirit,” said Rabbi Meir Gordon, who directs Chabad of Paso Robles. “During this trying time, joining together in unity as we hear the Ten Commandments read from the Torah is more meaningful than ever.”
Chabad of Paso Robles is also welcoming the community for the Yizkor memorial prayer (a special memorial prayer for the deceased) on Thursday, June 13.
The reading of the Ten Commandments has become a family tradition around the world at the urging of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory. He said that there is special significance to bringing children, even infants, to hear the Ten Commandments in synagogue on Shavuot morning: “By listening to the Ten Commandments on Shavuot morning,” the Rebbe explained, “the words of Torah will be engraved in the hearts and minds of the children. And through them, the Torah will be etched within their parents and grandparents with even greater intensity.”
Shavuot literally means “weeks” and marks the completion of the seven-week counting period between Passover and Shavuot called the Omer. Shavuot customs include all-night Torah study, listening to the recitation of the Ten Commandments read from a Torah scroll in Synagogue, reading from the Book of Ruth, eating dairy foods, and adorning the synagogue and home with greenery and flowers.
For everything you need to know about Shavuot visit ChabadPaso.com/Shavuot2024.
