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Shavuot (2026)

Shavuot

Dvar Torah
Shavuot is well known for the famous custom of eating dairy foods. Cheesecake, blintzes, and other “milchig” dishes have become part of the atmosphere of the holiday.

Many explanations are given for this custom. One, quoted by the Mishnah Berurah, is that when the Jewish people first received the Torah at Mount Sinai, everything was suddenly new. They had just learned the laws of keeping kosher, and preparing kosher meat involved many detailed and complex laws. Since they did not yet know how to keep all those laws in practice, they chose to eat simple dairy foods instead.

On Shavuot, we do not merely remember the giving of the Torah — we try to relive it.

That is why we stay up learning Torah through the night. In the morning we hear the Ten Commandments read in a majestic melody that recreates the awe of Sinai. And even our dairy meals become part of that experience — almost as if we too are encountering Torah for the very first time – without yet knowledge of it, but with thirst and wonderment.

The Torah is not meant to be old or routine. To the contrary, our sages teach us (c.f. Deu. 26:16) that every single day we should look at it with novelty. Every single day should be “day-one”. Shavuot reminds us that Judaism is not only about preserving tradition, but about renewing our sense of wonder, excitement, and discovery in it again and again.

 

Shavuot candle lighting/Havdalah times
Note that the holiday starts tonight and concludes on Saturday night
Jerusalem 18:53/20:15
Kiryat Shmona 19:05/20:18
Tel-Aviv 19:14/20:18
Paris 21:16/22:37
NYC 19:54/21:02
Denver 19:55/21:02
Vancouver 20:39/22:02
More times available here



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