The festival of Matan Torah, the Giving of the Torah

We have been learning about the festival Shavuot. "Shavuot" means "weeks" because it falls exactly seven weeks after the second day of Passover. Seven weeks is counted because after leaving Egypt, the Israelites reached Mt. Sinai and camped there. The holiday celebrates 3 different events.

First is the giving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai. Based on this aspect of the festival, we talked about the Ten Commandments in class. I told the kids the biblical story of Moses's assent to the peak of Mt. Sinai, and his receipt there of the Ten Commandments written on two tablets. And about those tablets, we made replicas in class, which the kids already brought home and which are also shown in the photographs below.

Second is the harvesting of wheat in Israel. We talked about the wheat harvest in Israel, and how in ancient times wheat was brought to the Temple as part of the Shavuot festival.

Third is the ripening of the fruits in Israel. Like the wheat, in ancient Israel, the best fruit was also brought to the Temple during Shavuot. I also showed the kids pictures of the "seven species" (shevat ha'minim) of fruit and grains that were primarily grown and consumed in ancient Israel. The traditional shevat ha'minim are:

Olives (zayit in Hebrew)

Grapes (geffen)

Figs (te'enah)

Pomegranates (reemon)

Dates (tamar)

Wheat (cheeyta)

Barley (se'ora)