My First Real Shavuos...

Shavuos? What's that? I think I saw it on my calendar...I had better go "google" it to find out what it is.

Yes, these truly were my thoughts last week. Last Friday, as usual, I joined my friends for Shabbos dinner. I remembered reading online that it is customary to have flowers for Shavuos so I headed to Trader Joe's to get some fresh flowers. We cut the flowers up so that we could make a bunch of small vases with the blooms for both of the large tables. Then, six of us lit candles together while we waited for the guys to come from shul.

As some of you know, I did not grow up like this. My family was reform. Sure, we lit Shabbos candles now and again, we went and sat in temple on Shabbos occasionally, but we didn't have that Shabbos spirit that I get at these dinners.

During dinner we talked a little about Shavuos and my friends asked me if I was coming Sunday for Erev Shavuos. Since I am officially unemployed (looking for a new teaching position) I of course readily agreed since I had nowhere to be early Monday morning. Sunday's dinner turned into my very first time celebrating Shavuos on any real level.

After dinner, as tradition has it, six of us (women) stayed up until 2:00am learning. We discussed what inspires us, how we learned or connected to Judaism. We discussed the Tanya and how we have two souls and the significance of Mount Sinai and when we,as Jews, received our Jewish souls. Overall, I learned a lot on Friday/Saturday.

Monday morning I went to shul and for the first time really experienced Shavuos. It was all so new to me but it felt great. I listened to the ten commandments being read, ate ice cream, then headed over to friend's for lunch. (if you're counting this is large meal number 3 between shabbos and Monday morning. I went home for a nap and then returned for dinner AGAIN. (meal 4)

Today I again went to shul, although very late this time. The day before a different rabbi invited me to his home for shavuot lunch, so after shul I again headed for lunch.

All in all the last couple of days have been very nice for me. I've been surrounded by community, prayer, and a level of spirit that I don't have in my usual everyday life. I can only hope that everyone gets the opportunity in their lives to be part of a community. I can't say everything was perfect (I drove, used electricity and such when I was home, I shopped and watched tv), but I can say that I had a wonderful new experience. One thing I did discover is that I need to at some point take a class or something that really explains the "why's" of certain prayers and rituals. I mean, I can read the siddur, I can follow the explanations; however, while in shul, I am missing the deeper meanings. When I noticed myself just reading to read, I tried to focus a little more on the words or just the energy. But, I do want to understand the deeper explanations and thing that this is something that will be present in my future (amongst other things, like working off all this food and dairy stuff I ate :( ).

(if you read this far, thanks, I kinda rambled and I must say, this wasn't the most exciting post to read...it definitely doesn't relay my lovely few days)