Torah Stories By Hannah Shavuoth

This coming week, we celebrate Shavuoth. Shavuoth is one of the most important days of the Jewish year.

On Shavuoth the whole nation stood together at Mount Sinai and God gave them the Torah. The same Torah we have today!

A wonderful thing happened when they stood together at that mountain. They felt an awesome unity. In the presence of God, everyone forgot their selfish feelings and they all cared about each other just as much as they cared about themselves. They were like "one person with one heart."

Every year since then, for over 3000 years, we try to recreate these feelings of unity on Shavuoth. We try to appreciate the special gift of the Torah, and remember that when we all look out for each other, amazing things can happen.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday! Remember to help Mum in the kitchen, and to help clean up!

Chag Sameach!

Hannah

The Story of Ruth

The Story of Ruth begins with a famine in the land of Yisrael. Elimelech and his wife Naomi and their two sons, Machlon and Kilion, leave from Bethlehem in Judah to live in Moab.

Elimelech fled from Bethlehem during the famine. Elimelech died in Moab, leaving his righteous wife Naomi a widow.

His two surviving sons, Machlon and Kilion, should have returned to Bethlehem, but they did not. They stayed in Moab and married Orpah and Ruth, two Moabite princesses. The two sons also died, and then there were three widows. Having lost her family and her fortune, the righteous Naomi turned her sights back to Bethlehem where she had belonged all along.

Both daughters-in-law wanted to accompany her, but Naomi said no. Why go to a strange land, to a life of loneliness and poverty? Orpah kissed Naomi good-bye and went back to Moab, but Ruth clung to Naomi with a fierce loyalty and the words we will always remember:

Wherever you go, I will go; where you stay, I will stay; your people are my people and your G-d is my G-d; where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried (1:16-17).

Naomi and Ruth went back to Bethlehem where they lived as paupers.

Young Ruth cared for her aged, broken mother-in-law, begging and scrounging in the fields. There she met Boaz, who had just lost his wife.

He saw Ruth gathering neglected sheaves in the field, and he admired her honesty and modesty, not to mention her devotion to Naomi, his relative. Boaz recognized his responsibilities, not only to help the two women but to preserve their self-respect while doing so.

Boaz was Naomi’s only living relative who could redeem Ruth and marry her. Naomi decided that the best course of action was for Ruth herself to approach Boaz very privately and remind him of his responsibility to the family of his dead uncle, Elimelech. In a personal confrontation Boaz might be convinced that her motives were sincere and his compassion for her might be evoked.

Naomi was right, and Boaz married Ruth and she conceived. Their child’s name was Obed, grandfather of King David, first of the royal family of Israel—the House of David. The Talmud calls Ruth Ima Shel Malchut, (mother of royalty), because her line leads to David and Solomon, and the future Moshiach who will end all exiles, return Israel to its greatest glory, and lead the entire world to the destiny for which it was created.

Tasks:

1. Learn the Ten Commandments below. Then take a big piece of cardboard, and cut out a card in the shape of stone tablets. Write the commandments on it.

2. Learn the Shavuoth Hebrew words.

3. Learn the months of the year, and do the word search.

4. Write the Shavuoth story or the story of Ruth from the Tanakh in your own words. Take a page for each event, and draw a picture.

5. Do the Shavuoth colouring pages from Torah Tots.

6. Help Mum make some cheesecake J

1. I am HaShem, your G-d

2. You shall have no other gods before me.

3. You shall not take the name of HaShem in vain.

4. Remember the Shabbat and keep it holy.

5. Honor your father and your mother.

6. You shall not kill.

7. You shall not be unfaithful to your wife or husband.

8. You shall not steal.

9. You shall not bear false witness.

10. You shall not desire what is your neighbor's.

Shavout: Hebrew Vocabulary     (From Aklah)

Shavuoth "Weeks"
Z'Man Matan Toratenu Time of giving our Torah
Hag Habikkurim Festival of First Fruits
Hag Hakatzir Harvest Festival
Aseret Hadibrot Ten Commandments
Megillat Ruth  Book of Ruth
Bikkurim First Fruits

Months of the Jewish Year

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Tishrei	Tevet	Nisan	Tammuz
Heshvan	Shevat	Iyar	Av
Kislev	Adar	Sivan	Elul