“As morning dawned, there was thunder, and lightning, and a dense cloud upon the mountain, and a very loud blast of the horn; and all the people who were in the camp trembled…Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke, for the Eternal had come down upon it in fire; the smoke rose like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled violently. The blare of the horn grew louder and louder. As Moses spoke, God answered him in thunder” (Leviticus 19:16, 18-19).
This is the scene in which we find the Israelites just before the Ten Commandments are revealed to them.
It is this noisy, mighty, powerful, and eternal revelation that we recall and celebrate each Shavuot, the holiday that begins tonight at sundown and lasts until Saturday evening.
As the Jews wander through the desert, disoriented and confused, they receive wisdom and reassurance, in the form of the Torah, to guide them on their path toward a bright future.
We at JCP want to provide you with our collective wisdom, our own Torah, share what we have learned about ourselves and about this community during this unprecedented moment in history.
Here are our very own “Ten Commandments” of Community:
- We can get through anything when we remain connected to each other.
- Community doesn’t dissipate in the absence of a physical space.
- The simplest acts are often the noblest.
- Watching family, friends and neighbors rise to the challenge of caring for others is an endless source of inspiration.
- Zoom is the best and worst innovation of the 21st century.
- We are all responsible for each other’s health.
- Doing our part for the greater good, even when separated, can bring us all together.
- We all need far less than we thought we did to be happy.
- We were baking challah before baking bread was cool.
- Live in the now, call on the past, and look to the future. We’ll get there together.
We wish you a holiday filled with discovery, introspection, and your own moments of revelation. We hope you will celebrate with us at our events listed here!