08.06.2011                      6.Siwan, 5771                      Schawuot 1

Judentum:

Why Judaism is a ‘square’ religion

Shavuot and the partnership with God.

Perhaps the most outstanding feature of Shavuot – along with the reading of the Ten Commandments and the eating of cheesecake – is the custom of staying up long into the night, or all the way through it, studying Torah. This practice is called tikkun leil Shavuot, or “rectifying the night of Shavuot.”
According to tradition, the Jews at the time the Torah was given were rather complacent about that cataclysmic event, even falling asleep before the great moment when God descended upon the mountain to award the Tablets of the Law. And so, to make up for that insensitive act, we demonstrate our love and zeal for the Torah by embracing it into the wee hours….