Chag Sameach (Happy Holiday) from the Digital Library of Georgia this Shavuot.
From Sunday, May 16 to Tuesday, May 18, Jewish people worldwide observe the holiday of Shavuot fifty days after the first day of Passover. On Passover, the people of Israel were freed from their enslavement to Pharaoh; on Shavuot, they were given the Torah and became a nation committed to serving God.
The word “Shavuot” means “weeks.”
Across the Jewish diaspora, the holiday is celebrated by going to synagogue to hear the Ten Commandments, having festive meals of dairy foods, which may include cheesecake, blintzes, or kugels, and reading the Book of Ruth.
The Jerusalem Post just published an article by the writer David Geffen on this holiday. Geffen notes that the Daily News and Herald (Savannah, Ga.) and the Atlanta Georgian and News both refer to the holiday as “The Feast of Weeks,” and explores the initiation of confirmation in Reform Jewish temples in the United States. These confirmations were held on or around Shavuot. The article also includes engaging photographs held by The Breman Museum in Atlanta. Both articles represent Georgia’s established Jewish communities in Savannah and Atlanta.
The two newspaper articles, available through the DLG’s Georgia Historic Newspapers site are here:
https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/sn85026946/1868-05-27/ed-1/seq-3/
The Daily News and Herald. (Savannah, Ga.) 1866-1868, May 27, 1868, Image 3
Atlanta Georgian and News. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1907-1912, May 20, 1907, Image 7
Happy holiday!
