Friends!

Friends! Today in Israel people celebrate Shavuot - the day when the union between God and man was concluded.

On the 50th day after the Exodus from Egypt, at Mount Sinai Moses was given the tablets of the Covenant with the Ten Commandments, which we follow up to this day. Also in the Jewish tradition, it is assumed to think that at the same time, Moses received from God the oral commandments, some of which he wrote himself – it is so-called Pentateuch, or the written Torah. The rest of the Commandments was kept verbally and were recorded only 1500 years after the destruction of the Second Temple. Today we call this book the Talmud.

Shavuot is celebrated on the 6th day of the Hebrew month of Sivan. On this day in all the synagogues a solemn reading of the Torah and the Ten Commandments is held. On the streets of Israel on Shavuot day you can see children with wreaths on their heads and with baskets full of fresh fruit: a symbol of the seven kinds of fruit, granted to Jews by God - wheat, barley, grapes, fig, pomegranates, olives and dates. It has long been the custom to decorate the home and synagogue with greenery, flowers, and branches of trees, reminiscent of greenery that grew around Mount Sinai when the Jews received the Torah. In Jewish tradition, it is believed that the exodus from Egypt was not a complete liberation from slavery. Only after receiving the Torah, Jews became completely free people.

In the evening, with the coming of the feast the large meal is arranged. Before it the kiddush ceremony is carried out (a blessing recited over a glass of wine). On this day it is accepted to eat dairy foods - in memory of the fact that, when Jews received the Torah, the laws of kosher meat and the separation of meat and dairy product were difficult and unusual for them and they ate only dairy foods for some time. Since then, paying a tribute to the past, on Shavuot before dinner people eat something dairy and only then holiday meat dishes are served in a separate bowl.

I congratulate all Jews on the holiday and wish you today and always to feel the support of the Almighty. Chag Shavuot Sameach!