Shavuot

In smoke and fire, concealed and revealed, the Torah comes to us as a gift from God. On Shavuot, we open ourselves at night to receive the Torah, and enact our presence at Mount Sinai in the morning with Torah reading and celebration.

Learning sessions both overnight and the following afternoon, as well as a community picnic and ice cream truck!

Join us too for festival prayers, joyful and song-filled Hallel, and chanting of the Ten Commandments. Hear the once-a-year sacred poetry of “Akdamut” the four-chapter, four-handkerchief love story of Ruth. Yizkor will be held on Day 2 to honor and bless the memory of our deceased family and friends.

Quick Links:

Tikkun Leil Shavuot

Day 1 Services and Learning Opportunities

Day 2 Services and Community Picnic

Tikkun Leil Shavuot — All Night Torah Study!

Sunday June 1, 9:30 PM, through Monday June 2, 7:00 AM
Ma'ariv at 9:30 PM
Classes from 10:00 PM to 5:00 AM
Early Shacharit Service from 5:00 to 7:00 AM
Location: Fort Washington Collegiate Campus

Fueled by caffeine and cheesecake, light-headed from lack of sleep, we enter an altered state of mind and body that can open us up to new insights. New friends may also be revealed as we gather, laugh, and learn.

This year's theme: "Becoming the Mountain" -- In times of dislocation and disorientation, what Torah do we need that can help us to be steadfast and grounded, resistant and resilient? Even in the wilderness, what qualities of the mountain enable it to be the anchor for receiving the Torah? In learning how to embody endurance for the long run, how do we distinguish between self-care and self-indulgence, between consistency and complacency? Our learning this year will gather around these themes, as well as other topics relating to Shavuot, Torah, the Book of Ruth, and more.

Coffee, cheesecake, and other treats will be available.

Space will also be available for independent learning on one's own or with a study partner.

9:30 PM            Ma’ariv

10:00 PM          Dr. Yedidah Koren: “Wrestling with Angels and Receiving the Torah”

In our session we will learn together a story from the Babylonian Talmud that tells of the moment that Moshe came up to Mount Sinai and was met with resistance from the Ministering Angels who tried to convince God to keep the Torah in heaven. Moshe argues with the angels and manages to convince God that the Torah was meant for humans and that it is human failings that make them worthy of receiving it.

Dr. Yedidah Koren teaches in the department of Religion at Princeton University. She specializes in ancient Judaism and rabbinic literature, but also enjoys teaching about halakha and Jewish practice.

11:00 PM          Rabbi Vincent Calabrese: “Exploring the Theology of Conversion”

How does a mode of religious belonging based on choice fit into a religion centered around the story of a nuclear family? Theologically speaking, are converts paradigmatic Jews, or marginal ones? Beginning with a Mishnaic dispute about whether converts can read the First Fruits declaration on Shavuot, we'll learn a range of texts that cast light on the meaning of conversion and the role of converts in Am Yisrael.

Rabbi Vincent Calabrese is a teacher of Jewish studies at the Abraham Joshua Heschel School.

12:00 AM         Rabbi Jessica Spencer: “Failure and Succession”

Faced with the mistakes of rabbinic leadership, the rabbis of the Talmud turn to their mythic past—patriarchs, high priests, exile and return. They remember biblical moments of collective crisis in order to assert an idea of radical continuity: that the community can never die. But what responsibilities come along with our community's legacy?

Rabbi Jessica Spencer has taught in synagogues, Limmud UK, and at Azara, the UK’s cross-denominational yeshiva which she co-founded, and is currently studying for a PhD in religion at Columbia University.

1:00 AM            Liora Finkel: “Embodying Matan Torah: A Bibliodrama Experience of Revelation”

In this session, we time travel back to the moments when we had first-hand experience of standing at Har Sinai and receiving the Torah. Using methods developed by Peter Pitzele and others based on approaches to Psychodrama therapies, we will analyze the text describing Matan Torah to explore our own relationships to the event, to Torah, and ourselves.

Liora Finkel is a newly-minted graduate of the Davidson School of Jewish Education at JTS and certified experiential educator by the Pardes Institute.

2:00 AM            Dr. Phil Keisman: “Flexible yet unmoving: Torah as a Waterwheel”

How can we stay rooted in our Judaism when "Judaism" itself becomes contested? Together we will learn with some thinkers who understand the giving of Torah as a moment simultaneously fixed in time and also filled with future potential. This model -- where God at Sinai spoke an eternal stream of Torah lasting through the present day -- may allow us to newly understand our own fraught moment in Jewish history.

Dr. Phil Keisman is a historian of modern Jewish history and has thought learners of all ages at JTS, there Abraham Joshua Heschel School, The New School, and elsewhere.

3:00 AM            Noam Blauer: “Revealing Relationships”

A true relationship is never static. Over time, it evolves, and in its most intense moments, it might totally transform. This class will be devoted to exploring the potential for shifts and transformations in the relationship between Israel and God, changes already hinted at in the very beginnings of this relationship at Sinai. At the heart of our study will be a careful reading of a remarkable theological reflection by the Kli Yakar.

Noam Blauer is entering his final year of rabbinical school at JTS.

4:00 AM            Rabbi Guy Austrian: “Out from Under the Mountain?”

In the covenantal relationship, is there any way to understand the religious validity of only partially fulfilling the mitzvot? Can obligation be anything other than coercive or merely voluntary? A dramatic but overlooked teaching by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai offers a potential way forward.

Rabbi Guy Austrian has been the spiritual leader of FTJC since 2013.

5:00 AM            Shacharit

Shavuot Day 1

Morning Services
Monday June 2, 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Children's programming as usual at 10 and 10:45 AM in classrooms.
Location: Fort Washington Collegiate Campus
Featuring “Akdamut” (“Introductory Words”) — a strange and beautiful Aramaic poem that introduces the Shavuot reading of the Ten Commandments with sweeping theology and a vision of redemption. Please note the early version of the service offered at 5:00 AM following the Tikkun Leil Shavuot (see above). All are welcome at either.

Daytime Torah Learning and Childcare
Monday June 2, 3:00-5:00 PM
Location: Fort Washington Collegiate Campus
Learning for grownups, and supervised activities for kids of all ages! Weather permitting, both will take place outside in the Garden; if not, we'll move inside to the Nursery and North Room. A great opportunity for all who can't do the late-night study but would like to partake in Torah discussion on Shavuot! 

3:00 PM            Rabbi Tali Adler: “That Which I Cannot Yet Believe: Rav Yitzchak Hutner on What We Don't Really Believe”

The world was created for me. All men are created equal. We say we believe these things, but do we really? Join us to study a piece from the Pachad Yitzchak on what we don't (yet) believe and what it might take to get us there.

Rabbi Tali Adler is the proud mother of Bella and Tantan and teaches at the Hadar Institute.

4:00 PM            Rabbi Amalya Volz: “The Weighty Mountain of Empathy: When Caring About People is Hard”

We tend to hear about empathy as the primary or ‘correct’ way of having compassion for other people. Realistically, we live in times where this is increasingly difficult to muster. We will explore the challenges created by this narrow framework of care and identify more accessible alternatives.

Rabbi Amalya Volz is a chaplain at Lincoln Hospital.

Shavuot Day 2

Morning Services, with Megillat Ruth and Yizkor
Tuesday June 3, 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Children's programming as usual at 10 and 10:45 AM in classrooms.
Location: Fort Washington Collegiate Campus

Join us for Megillat Ruth, the original classic of love and loyalty — taking us from the harvest origins of Shavuot, through wrenching human relationships, to the footsteps of Messiah. We’ll also hold a Yizkor service around 10:30 AM – with psalms, readings, and the liturgy of mourning, we call to mind those who have left our world. Donations in honor of Yizkor may be made to FTJC by clicking here.

Day 2 Community Picnic
Tuesday June 3, 12:30-2:30 PM
Location: Cafe Lawn in Fort Tryon Park
Join us after morning services. Bring your own dairy/pareve lunch, as well as blankets to sit on and games to play. (Weather permitting.)

Ice Cream Truck
Tuesday June 3, 2:00-4:00 PM
Location: Next to Javits playground, Fort Washington Ave near Margaret Corbin Circle.
Come to the Mr. Softee truck that parks right outside the Jacob Javits playground. Vouchers will be available there from FTJC volunteers, as well as at our Shavuot learning and services. These are pre-paid vouchers that you can trade in for either one free serving of soft serve (chocolate or vanilla in a cone or cup with your choice of sprinkles) or a vegan icee. The vouchers can be used on Thursday June 13 between 2:00-4:00 PM. Kashrut note: Although the truck is not supervised, Mr. Softee ice cream mix, cones, and sprinkles have a hechsher.