Chevre, tonight/tomorrow is Shavuot (שָׁבוּעוֹת). As I write this today, I’m an severly torn between emotions. On one side is the rescue of 4 hostages and Chag Shavuot where we celebrate the giving of The Torah. On the other side, I’m still impacted by the death of a former neighbor last week and this morning’s announcement of the death of the son of one of AWS Israel’s SAs (the 2nd SA to lose a child in this war). Once again what should be a happy celebration for all of Am Yisrael is marred by sadness. My heart goes out to our colleague and her family.

Shavuot - 2024 is the holiday of the giving of The Torah. It is traditional to stay up late (all night?) learning. Synagogues often have classes throughout the night. We read the book of Ruth, the grandmother to King David. This book is special in Gush Etzion since we can often see the Moav mountains in Jordan (where Ruth came from) and we have an area called Sde Boaz (the field of Boaz) which is the area around Beit Lechem where Ruth came to Israel. It is also traditional to eat dairy foods on Shavuot instead of meat foods. There are many reasons given. I prefer that before the giving of The Torah, the rules of Kosher Meat were not known. After the giving of The Torah, the Jews needed time to kasher their utensils properly for meat. Therefore, on the holiday of the giving of The Torah, we eat dairy.

May we all be zoche (privileged) to experience holidays of Joy again speedily. Chag Sameach.