Post #2 – Wednesday, June 12, 2024.
Jewish Festival of Shavuot – a 2 day festival.
The gathering of the first grains grown in the gardens.
Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks, is celebrated seven weeks after Passover, commemorating the first fruits of the harvest and associated with the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai! It’s taken from Leviticus 23 and Numbers 28, where two wheat loaves were offered In the tabernacle, representing the “choicest fruits”—an offering of thanks to God for Israel’s bounty—a festival of first fruits!
On the morning of the first day (today, June 12) of Shavuot, many gather in the synagogue to read Exodus 19 and 20, which describes the giving of the Law (Torah that contains the 10 Commandments) to Moses on Mount Sinai. The people had just left Egypt where they had been enslaved. It was the ending of the Taurus Age (leaving Egypt) and the beginning of the Aries Age (thus the New Laws & Principles). The Jewish people were in the desert & needed guidance. So the Torah (the Law, Aries is the Age of the Law) was given them. In the synagogues all stand when the Ten Commandments are read—commemorating this important day in the Jewish tradition & history. On the altars of the synagogues are breads of gratitude, the grains gathered & milled & made into breads.

God gave Moses the Torah – the Rules for the Aries Age. The Torah is the five books in the old Testament (Bible). Their names are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. This week we read Deuteronomy – the last book of the Torah in the Old Testament. The Torah & Ten Commandments are the Aries Age Laws.

In the Pisces Age, there was a new “book” – the New Testament – stories gathered by Four Disciples (Matthew Mark Luke & John) concerning the life of Jesus who became the Christ. The Laws of the Pisces Age was “to love one another.”

More on the Jewish Harvest Festival.
Shavuot, a two-day celebration, means weeks (seven), the anticipatory counting of seven weeks from Passover to Shavuot. On Passover, the Hebrew people were freed from enslavement (desire, Age of Taurus in Egypt). On Shavuot, the people were given the Torah (Ten Commandments, Laws ruling the Aries Age) and they became a nation committed to serving, no longer their desires or the Pharaoh, but to serving God.

Shavuot is also the Feast of First Fruits (ancient wheat harvest in Israel), celebrated by lighting candles, remaining awake all night to learn the Torah, reading of the Ten Commandments in synagogue, feasting on dairy – milk, cheese, etc.

The Torah is compared to milk by King Solomon, who wrote: “Like honey and milk (Israel, land of milk & honey, Exodus 3:8), it lies under your tongue” (The Song of Songs)

Homes are filled with greenery during this festival. In the Jewish Bible exegesis, “Mount Sinai suddenly blossomed with flowers, anticipating the giving of the Torah on its summit.’

And Moses wore a golden robe and the robe shone forth as a five pointed star and touched the gateways to the five sense of the Hebrew people. And the people were covered with a pentagon (Venus, the spiritual ruler of Capricorn, bringing all things polarized into a unity).

Today in the Temple the Hebrew people “remember” the giving of the laws from G-d to Moses as the people walked from Egypt to Canaan, their long walk preparing the way for humanity to enter into the Age of Aries (the Age of the Laws).

A beautiful story, a beautiful festival.
Making bread today for the altar in the Ashram.
love, Risa