Shavuot 2011

Shavuot FAQ: Everything you ever wanted to know about the Festival of Weeks, by the Editors

Frum Farmer: Though born to a family of cattle dealers, Bill Berman is an anomaly among South Florida’s dairymen, few of whom start their day by putting on tefillin, by Tablet Magazine

Inheritance: First as cattle dealers and now as dairy farmers, the author’s family has long been defined by their cows. A trip back to their Bavarian homeland revealed this legacy to be more unusual—and fraught—than she’d ever imagined. By Daphna Berman

All Night Long: Shavuot is celebrated with all-night study sessions. We asked four people we admire—a novelist, a musician, a rabbi, and a theologian—what texts they’d like to read in the early-morning hours. By Vox Tablet

Fading: The one custom for celebrating Shavuot is to stay up all night and study Jewish texts. But will we continue celebrating the printed word as more and more of what we read is electronic? By Beth Kissileff

Full Bloom: Bella Meyer traces her love of flowers to time she spent with her grandfather, Marc Chagall. Now as the owner of a Manhattan shop, Fleurs Bella, Meyer is creating her own art with blossoms as her medium, by Shoshana Olidort and Jake Marmer

Field Study: Why the holiday of Shavuot is all but ignored across America, by Marissa Brostoff

At Sinai: A recent convert to Judaism discusses why Shavuot is her favorite holiday, by Siân Gibby

Mothers’ Little Helpers: Guidebooks quell the anxieties of raising up a child, by Lynn Harris

DAWN 2010 Celebrates Shavuot: At the mystical intersection of Judaism and science, by Marissa Brostoff

Food

Got Milk? The complicated history of Jews and dairy, by Liel Leibovitz

Dairy Heirs: Shavuot and cheese, past and present, by Joan Nathan

Light and Sweet: A slice of life at a Bronx cheesecake factory, by Blake Eskin

Blintz Binge: One woman’s search for the perfect cheese-filled pancake, by Katie Robbins

Cheese, Glorious Cheese: A taste of Shavuot, by Sara Ivry