Vox Tablet

All Night Long: Preparing for Shavuot’s Study Sessions

We asked four people we admire—a novelist, a musician, a rabbi, and a theologian—what they’d like to read in the wee hours

June 6, 2011
(Flickr/Andy Logan)
(Flickr/Andy Logan)

The holiday of Shavuot brings with it unique forms of observance. In addition to the consumption of dairy-rich delicacies, many people participate in a tikkun layl Shavuot, an all-night study session. During a tikkun, it’s traditional to peruse and discuss a portion from the Bible, the Talmud, or the Mishneh. To mark Shavuot this year, Vox Tablet host Sara Ivry asked novelist Nathan Englander, musician Alicia Jo Rabins, Rabbi Phil Lieberman, and theologian Avivah Zornberg what text they’d most like to think about in the early-morning hours, and what makes those hours particularly well-suited to explorations of the mind and spirit. [Running time: 11:40]

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Vox Tablet is Tablet Magazine’s weekly podcast, hosted by Sara Ivry and produced by Julie Subrin. You can listen to individual episodes here or subscribe on iTunes.

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