Celebrating Shavuot Today

The word Torah means teaching, and many Jews stay up the entire first night of the holiday in study sessions. Reflecting the wide tent that contemporary Judaic thought and practice covers, these sessions now range from all-male groups who study traditional selections of the Torah and the Talmud to feminists focusing on issues of friendship and female bonding as exemplified in the Book of Ruth to coed havurahs (informal worship and study groups) who explore the personal commandments the community lives by and what it means to be a Jew today. Some of the participants bring special Shavuot foods to sustain the group as they discuss and learn throughout the night.