Shavuot

Meet the Israeli author making Jewish texts accessible for children

The first book I received of Dina’s series of three was her Scroll of Ruth, most appropriate since Shavuot was only a week away.

Dina Gavriely: ‘My task was clear – create vibrant and joyful texts.’
Jews at the Western Wall, 1870s.

The beauty and frustration of Shavuot at the Western Wall

An Israeli settler argues with a Palestinian farmer, during olive harvesting in Silwad, near Ramallah, October 29, 2025.

Israeli society must reclaim the Torah’s moral core - opinion

A child is carried as Muslims prepare for the holy month of Ramadan in Damascus, Syria, February 18, 2026.

From Shavuot to Ramadan: Living in the guidance of sacred scriptures - opinion


Shavuot 2025: Why do we group Jewish holidays together?

By adding Purim to the duo of Passover and Shavuot, this trio reminds us that hiddenness is not static. It is dynamic.

 PRESIDENT ISAAC HERZOG attends a ‘Book of Esther’ reading wearing a protective mask, at the Ahavat Tzion synagogue in Beit Shemesh in 2022. ‘God is hiding His face, and we are experiencing a world in which it seems that God is absent,’ says the writer.

Shavuot in 1948: Harvesting the first fruits of Israeli statehood under siege

It was the collision of Israel’s past with its present and future. The offerings may have been meager. The dairy dishes improvised. But the spirit was resolute.

 SHAVUOT, ONE of the three pilgrimage festivals, marked the wheat harvest in biblical Israel. It concludes the seven-week period beginning at Passover

Reaccepting the Torah: Looking back the first Shavuot after the fall of Nazi Germany

For many Holocaust survivors, May 18, 1945 was the first Shavuot they were able to celebrate after years of war.

 AMERICAN CHAPLAIN Rabbi Herschel Schacter conducts religious services at the liberated Buchenwald concentration camp in 1945

Snapping Tel Aviv: Alex Levac on capturing the city that never sleeps - interview

Israel’s city that never sleeps was founded over Passover, 1909, during the counting of the Omer leading up to Shavuot.

 CANINE GRACE personified

Confirmations on Shavuot's first day helped preserve American Jewish identity

Most Atlanta synagogues held a confirmation on the first day of the Shavuot holiday - unusual by then for many American Jewish communities.

 CONFIRMATION AT the Orthodox Temple Beth Shalom in Wilmington, Delaware, in 1954. Center, Rabbi Jacob Kraft. Fourth from left, Ruth Weinstein.

Festive for Shavuot: Yeast pastry with sweet cheese and fruit

For the holiday evening itself, or maybe for an afternoon coffee, it really doesn’t matter with this fragrant and wonderful pastry.

 Yeast pastry with sweet cheese and fruit

Shavuot's special significance: Recognizing those who converted to Judaism

This identification of Israel with the Almighty is so profound that Shavuot was transformed into the concept of a spiritual marriage between God and the Jewish people.

 READING FROM the Torah in synagogue: Shavuot celebrates the giving of the Ten Commandments. These commandments, like the Torah, offer stories, insights, values and actions as ways in to God

Delicious old fashioned cheesecake: Experiencing the Shavuot holiday on a higher level

Here are two recipes for delicious cheesecakes and coffee cakes to celebrate the holiday of Shavuot.

 Illustrative photo of a cheesecake

Beware of cheese and yogurt this Shavuot: It may impact your weight loss

With the advent of Shavuot, it’s time to take a deeper look at how dairy products affect our bodies – for better or for worse.

 CHEESE FOR Shavuot is laid out on a family table last year in Kibbutz Mishmar David, 38 km. from Gaza. This holiday is a wonderful opportunity to try something new and check out whether dairy products are right for you, says nutritionist Aviv Gil.

Wine talk: Celebrating Shavuot in white and pink

Many wine folk will be organizing wine & cheese parties for Shavuot, and for this a variety of white and rosé wines are recommended.

THOUGH WHITES are the norm, choose red if that is what you prefer