Strassfeld Shavuot - Assignment Example

Strassfeld Shavuot Summary of the most interesting ideas Shavuot as a marriage The marriage between God, the bridegroom and the bride, the Israelites took place at Mount Sinai. When God gave Moses the Ten Commandments on a tablet, it signified the union and a formalized marriage. This meant that the bride from then was to show loyalty to the groom. However, upon return, Moses found the Israelites worshiping a calf, consequently dropping the tablet with the commandments. This prohibited the unification of the two parties in the marriage.

In fact, by God holding the mountain of Sinai over the heads of the Israelites over their heads was a romantic moment of the unification between the parties. The most concrete expression of this imagery is the Sephardic writing of the ketubah between God and the Jewish people. The promises of the bridegroom are to remain loyal to the bride, and carry them in favor. They were to reciprocate this through his love. The morning of Shavuot Because of the peoples’ eager attitude to receive Torah on the morning of Shavuot, people stayed up late at night.

Even those who did not stay up arose early in the morning for the shaharit morning service. The rereading of the Ten Commandments in the morning of revelation to the Torah service over shaharit portrays the interest of the people to hear them. This is different from other events such as the Shabbat or the festival. A custom observed during the Shavuot is the shift from the norm culture of carrying the Torah scroll in procession around the synagogue. On this particular day, the scroll passes from one hand to another.

Not until everyone touches the scroll, it cannot rest on the reading table. Why I find the marriage between God and the Israelites interesting over Shavuot The depiction of God as the groom and the Israelites as the bride is a form of imagery that shows the actual relationship existing between God and people. The condition of a marriage is for the wife to remain loyal to the husband, who provides her with anything she requires. This in actual sense is what God does to people. His expectations are that people will respect the Ten Commandments, which is a symbol of union in the marriage.

After they honor the commands, God then shows unwavering love to His people. Just like a wedding scene, full of romantic moments and events, God held Mount Sinai over the Israelites, thus creating the romantic moment in his wedding with the people of Israel.