BRATTLEBORO — On Tuesday, June 3, from 7 p.m. to midnight, Brattleboro Area Jewish Community (BAJC) will offer a fun evening of study for the holiday of Shavuot and to mark June as Gay Pride Month in Brattleboro.
Spiritual Leader Kate Judd and BAJC member/teachers Janet Athens, Andi Waisman, David Arfa, and Kate Tarlow-Morgan will conduct a creative Shavuot night of study (Tikkun Leyl Shavuot) with art, song, story, movement, and text study, and a chance to enjoy traditional dairy sweets.
Shavuot is a festival marking the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. It began, like so many other Jewish holidays, as an ancient agricultural festival, marking the end of the spring barley harvest and the beginning of the summer wheat harvest.
The holiday's name means “weeks.” The Torah tells us it took precisely 49 days (seven weeks) for the Israelites to travel from Egypt to the foot of Mount Sinai where they were to receive the Torah. Shavuot symbolizes the completion of a seven-week journey begun on Passover when Israelites were freed from their enslavement to the Pharaoh; seven weeks later, on Shavuot, they were given the Torah and became a nation committed to serving God.
On Shavuot, it is customary to stay up all night to study Jewish texts. One text read at Shavuot is the Book of Ruth, from the Hebrew Bible. This text will be BAJC's primary study this year as members delve into the themes of “Difference” found in this story.
In honor of Gay Pride Month in Brattleboro, the community will study the contemporary midrashic (interpretive) reading of this text as a story of lesbian love and commitment between Ruth and Naomi. They'll also consider Naomi as a stranger in a foreign land, Ruth as a convert, and Ruth and Naomi as powerful women who use gender relations to their advantage.
In this year that BAJC is focusing on expanding its relationship with the land on which their synagogue sits, they will also explore Jewish ideas around land and agriculture as expressed in the Book of Ruth.
No art, movement, or music experience is required to attend this fun evening, nor do you need a background in Jewish text, organizers say. For that matter, you don't need to be Jewish:
“Bring a spirit of play and exploration, and a desire to deepen your relationship with this major Jewish holiday and with the wonderful story of Ruth and Naomi,” reads an event announcement.
Participants can drop in for any part or all of the evening. This evening is designed for adults and teens, as the Book of Ruth contains mature subject matter. The event is free to BAJC members - for others, a donation of $18 to $36 is requested. For more information, write Judd at Kate@bajcvermont.org.
BAJC will also offer a Mincha and Yizkor service for Shavuot on Thursday, June 5, at 6 p.m. A light dairy supper will be provided after the service.
Yizkor, a memorial prayer for the departed, is recited in the synagogue four times a year - on Yom Kippur, Shemini Atzeret, the last day of Passover, and the second day of Shavuot.
Yizkor, in Hebrew, means “Remember.” In this prayer, God is implored to remember the souls of one's relatives and friends who have passed on. In addition to reciting Yizkor for one's parents, one may recite Yizkor for any Jew who has passed on, including relatives and friends, and those who died in the Holocaust. When Yizkor is recited, the connection with loved ones is renewed and strengthened.
For more information and for supper-planning purposes, including assurance of a minyan, please contact Faith Schuster at 802-464-2632 or faith@bajcvermont.org.