Erev Shavuot – Food & Evening Learning

Sunday, June 11th starting at 6:30 PM – led by Rabbi Navah!

Session 1: Praying from the Ruins

How and why do we continue to pray when surrounded by glaring evidence that God is not listening, or has shouted a resounding “No”? Does it matter where, or how, or when one prays? Does it matter if God is hearing us? We will explore these and other questions as we study together a famous passage from the Babylonian Talmud, in which a rabbi enters ruins in the destroyed Jerusalem to pray. In the ruins, he has a transformative interaction with… Elijah!

BREAK for Maariv and pizza, pasta, ice cream and cheesecake!

Session 2: Learning to Follow, Participate in (and Lead!) The Torah Service

Erev Shavuot is the time when we prepare ourselves to receive God’s Torah. Tonight, post-cheese cake, our night will continue with study related to the Torah service (our ritualized Torah study). We’ll begin with an overview of the structure and key elements of the Torah service, followed by learning in pairs or small groups (‘hevruta’ learning). Among the learning options will be: the Torah blessings, singing the introductory passages, the service choreography (‘why is everyone standing and pointing their pinkies?!’), a crash refresher in Hebrew reading for those who just need a tune-up, and for newbies, beginning to learn your alef-bet.