Shavuot

• Tikkun Leil Shavuot. Many Jews stay awake on the first night, studying until dawn. The fixed order of readings, the Tikkun, was arranged by the mystics of Safed in the sixteenth century. It includes passages from all parts of the Bible, the opening and closing of each section of the Mishnah, and the Zohar. Once mostly a practice of adult men, it has spread to nearly every community.
• The Ten Commandments. The Torah reading on the first morning includes the Ten Commandments. In some Moroccan synagogues, this reading was reserved for the chief rabbi.
• The Azharot. Where Ashkenazi Jews read the poem Akdamut, Sephardic Jews chant the Azharot, rhymed poems listing the 613 commandments. Several medieval Spanish poets wrote Azharot, including Solomon ibn Gabirol. In Morocco, the version by Rabbi Isaac ben Reuben of Barcelona was read at the afternoon service, with worshippers taking turns.
• The Book of Ruth. Ruth's story is set during the barley and wheat harvests, and it ends with the family line of King David.

A marriage contract for Shavuot

In many Sephardic congregations, before the Torah is read on the first day, the congregation hears a ketubah, a marriage contract between God and the people of Israel. It is dated the sixth of Sivan, the day of the giving of the Torah. God is the groom, Israel is the bride, the Torah and its commandments are her dowry, and heaven and earth serve as witnesses.

The best known version was written by Rabbi Israel Najara, a poet born in Safed around 1555 who later lived in Damascus and served as a rabbi in Gaza, where he died. His Sabbath hymn Yah Ribon Olam is sung by Jews around the world. In some communities the Shavuot ketubah was also read in Ladino.

A festival of water. In Morocco, Shavuot afternoon became a day of water. A man honored with a certain verse might be doused with buckets as he left the synagogue, and after lunch people held water battles in the streets of the mellah, the Jewish quarter. Some used a homemade pump called a batito to spray passersby. A 1943 photograph from Morocco shows children on rooftops pouring water on people below. Libyan Jews kept a similar custom.

Why water? The explanation most often given is that the Torah is to the Jewish people what water is to the world, a source of life. Some also connect the custom to Moses, who was drawn from the water as a baby. Today, splashing water is a popular Shavuot custom across Israel.

Greenery and flowers. Many communities decorate synagogues and homes for Shavuot. Greek Sephardic Jews hung green branches and flowers in the synagogue, and Bukharian Jews decorated with red roses.

A child's first letters

In medieval Germany, Shavuot was the day a young child began Torah study: the teacher put honey on the letters so that learning would taste sweet. Rabbi David Golinkin notes that Jews of Arabic speaking lands kept a similar custom into modern times, as in the Todra valley of Morocco, where a child of five was brought to the synagogue and the Hebrew alphabet was written in honey on a wooden slate.

In a related custom from the Tafilalt region of southern Morocco, not tied to Shavuot in the source, a boy's entry into school, called Liktahb, was celebrated as a symbolic “wedding” to the Torah, with a parade, a feast, and a young “bride.” In Yemen, children ate cakes shaped like Mount Sinai or the Torah.

Morocco

Besides the water battles, Moroccan Jews chanted the Azharot in turns, read Najara's ketubah in some synagogues, and stayed up for the night of study. A worshipper chosen by lot to read the Azharot received a special title.

Iraq

On Shavuot morning, Baghdadi families ate kahi, a flaky, layered pastry of buttery dough, served with date syrup or sugar and with qeimar, a thick clotted cream. Some made a pilgrimage to the tomb of the prophet Ezekiel. Baghdadi Jews who settled in India brought kahi with them.

Iran

Persian Jewish families serve dairy dishes for the holiday, such as polao mastin and koltcha shiri.

Syria

Syrian Jews enjoy atayef, small stuffed pancakes served with sweet syrup. Atayef is popular across the region among Jews and non Jews alike.

Kurdistan

Kurdish Jews serve kadeh, a filled bread, together with zizik.

Libya

Families made necklaces of cookies or pretzels for children to wear, and like their Moroccan neighbors, sprayed water on passersby.

Ottoman Sephardic (Greece, Turkey)

Mothers baked pan de siete cielos, “bread of the seven heavens,” a round loaf with a central mound for Mount Sinai ringed by seven circles. In Salonica it was baked until the Second World War. Families also ate sutlag, a cinnamon rice pudding.

Yemen

Children ate cakes shaped like Mount Sinai or a Torah scroll. Yemenite Jews also ate zalabiyya, a fried pastry, on Shavuot.

In the public school classroom

• Compare Shavuot with harvest and first fruits festivals in other cultures.
• Read the Book of Ruth as literature: a story of loyalty, immigration, and belonging.
• Study Najara's ketubah as a poem: why might a community describe its relationship with God as a marriage?
• Discuss the water customs as culture and history, but do not stage water splashing or other activities that imitate the ritual, and do not have students recite blessings or prayers.
• Explore Shavuot foods, following school allergy rules (many recipes use dairy, nuts, and sesame).

In Jewish schools and communities

• Read Najara's ketubah aloud in English, Hebrew, or Ladino, and have students design their own illustrated version.
• Hold a Tikkun night with readings from the Azharot and the Book of Ruth.
• Write the alef bet in honey for the youngest learners, as in the Todra valley.
• Bake kahi, atayef, or pan de siete cielos for a Shavuot table.

At home and with family

• Ask relatives: What did your family eat on Shavuot? Did anyone throw water?
• Read the Book of Ruth together and talk about what it means to choose a people.
• Watch JIMENA's Mizrahi Shavuot video together and try one recipe.
• Record an elder's Shavuot memories for JIMENA's oral history project.