The holiday of Shavuot begins Sunday night. Shavuot is one of the three biblical pilgrimage festivals along with Passover and Sukkot. The Torah instructs us to count 49 days -- seven complete weeks -- from Passover, making the day following the count -- the 50^th day -- the day of Shavuot. It is also when we celebrate the giving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai (here is a catchy short video about the Ten Commandments). Shavuot is also the day that King David died in 837 BCE and the Baal Shem Tov, founder of the Chasidic movement, died in 1760.

Shavuot is often the “forgotten festival.” The original biblical rationale for the holiday was an agricultural one, an offering of "new grain" in the form of two loaves of bread. But once the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed and such offerings ceased, it was not clear what role Shavuot was to play in the Jewish festival year. 

What "hurts" Shavuot is that it does not have a cool back story, like Passover with the ten plagues and the exodus from Egypt. It also does not have any special rituals to enliven it like Sukkot, which has the sukkah, lulav, and etrog. Shavuot has, well, lots of dairy (cheesecake, blintzes, and bourekas).

There are a number of reasons offered for this custom, but perhaps the best-known is that the Israelites became obligated on Shavuot in the laws of keeping kosher, including the prohibition on eating meat and dairy together. After they returned to the camp following the revelation of the Torah, they discovered that the previously prepared meat could no longer be eaten, since it was not prepared in accordance with the newly given dietary laws. Instead, they ate the dairy food that was immediately available.

Another Shavuot custom, first started among the Kabbalists in the 16^th century in Safed, Israel, is for people to do late-night/all-night communal study sessions called Tikkun Leil Shavuot. Interestingly, the late Jewish historian Elliot Horowitz suggests that the nighttime religious vigil of Shavuot only became popular once and where coffee became available: “These study vigils began to spread through the Ottoman Empire during the 16th century, the same century in which coffee (kahwa in Arabic) first arrived, changing the possibilities, both sacred and profane, of nightlife in such cities as Cairo, Damascus, and even Safed.” 

This is a famous photo at Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem, taken 80 years ago at a Shavuot service in the liberated Buchenwald camp in Germany. One of the youngest survivors in the picture is Israel Meir Lau (young boy in front row), who was just eight years old when Buchenwald was liberated by the Allied Forces.

Leading the service was Rabbi Herschel Schacter, a Jewish chaplain who was amongst the camp’s liberators. Afterwards, Rabbi Schacter stayed in the camp to aid with the renewal of Jewish life and traditions, including celebrating Shavuot. Little did Rabbi Schacter know that the young boy would grow up to be Chief Rabbi of Israel.

I should also point out that 82 years ago today, May 30, 1943, Dr. Josef Mengele, who earned the nickname “the Angel of Death,” began working at Auschwitz. Upon arriving at the death camp, he experimented on live Jewish prisoners, including horrific studies on twins.

I shared with my colleague what I was writing this week and they told me that 81 years ago this week (by the Hebrew calendar), their father and his large extended family were deported to Auschwitz. Once at the death camp, it was Mengele who sent the father one way and the family to the gas chambers. Shavuot is always used to mark their yahrzeit.

The Oregonian reported this week that Oregon has more residents over 65 (900,000) than it does people under 18 (821,000). In fact, only 20% of Oregonians are under 18. That is the smallest share of children in any state west of the Mississippi River.

Forty years ago, Oregon had more than twice as many children as seniors. But the state’s birth rate has fallen sharply — it is among the nation’s lowest. Oregon’s education rates are high and college-educated people tend to have fewer kids (and Jews have even higher education rates and even lower birth rates). Oregon also has a less diverse population than other West Coast states, and white people tend to have smaller families.

By 2035, they forecast Oregon will have 40% more seniors than kids. This means demand for elder care and services geared towards the elderly will increase rapidly.

This information is important for Jewish organizations to plan how to best serve this fast-growing population and an opportunity for the new Robison Foundation for Jewish Elders, which will provide funding for this demographic. Also, these trends will have an enormous impact on our Jewish schools, camps, and synagogues as the number of children declines dramatically.

Please join the Jewish Federation for its 105^th Annual Meeting on Thursday, June 12 at 4:30 p.m.. We will share our accomplishments for the year and honor Mindy Zeitzer for her three years of service as our Chair of the Board. Plus, come to hear about a new major community initiative. Register here.

On a happier note, Sunday, June 1 will be my 31^st anniversary in the Jewish Federation world. I love this work as much today as I did in June 1994. I continue to learn every day from community members and professionals around me, especially as the Jewish world goes through its own evolution. Moreover, I believe in Federation's efforts to serve as the trustee and guardian of the Jewish community as a whole.

This also happens to be my 750^th Marc's Remarks. When I came to Portland, I made the decision (like rabbis and other Federation executives) to write a weekly column. My wife always chides me that no one told me I had to write weekly, but I feel obligated – in a good way.

In no way do I consider myself a writer – instead, I see myself as a “sharer.” I hope these weekly columns give you insights into who I am, what is going on in the Greater Portland Jewish community and the Jewish world, and perhaps a few interesting facts along the way. Thank you for reading and your comments/replies are always appreciated.

Shabbat shalom and have a meaningful Shavuot holiday.



PS – The Jewish Federation office will be closed Monday and Tuesday in observance of Shavuot.