Shavuot means weeks and it is one of the feasts of the LORD mentioned in the Torah. The Torah does not tell us much about Shavuot other than that it comes seven weeks after the wave sheaf offering which took place on the second day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The wave sheaf was the first grains of the harvest. They were lifted up to heaven in a show of thanksgiving for the harvest to come. The spring harvest would then commence and last seven weeks until. It is from this sevenweek time period that Shavuot gets its name. In Greek it is called Pentecost from the Greek word penta, meaning fifty. Seven weeks is forty-nine days; when you include the day of the wave sheaf it is fifty days. In Biblical times people came to the Temple in Jerusalem and gave the tithe and offerings of their harvest to the LORD.

Out of the tears of the Shoah God birthed the modern nation of Israel.  On May 14, 1948 David Ben-Gurion proclaimed Israel an independent nation.  Israel's Independence Day, Yom Ha-Atzmaut, is celebrated each year on the fifth day of the Hebrew month of Iyar.  In 1897, Theodor Herzl called together the first Zionist Congress in Basle, Switzerland to promote the idea of the Jewish people having their own country in the land of Israel.

•    2 eggs separated
•    3 Tablespoons oil
•    1/2 cup buttermilk
•    1/4 cup sugar
•    1/3 cup matzah cake meal
•    1/8 cup potato starch

The Passover is a very important Holy Day in Jewish history.  The Passover, begins the day before the feast of unleavened bread, on the 14th  day of the Hebrew month of Nissan.  It commemorates God's deliverance from the bondage of Egypt.  God had commanded Moses to go to the pharaoh of Egypt and demand that he let God's people go free.  The pharaoh refused and God brought 9 plagues upon the Egyptian people.

(From the Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle)
Servings: 6
•    1 cup mashed potatoes
•    1/3 cup matzo meal
•    2 TB potato starch
•    1/2 small onion, finely chopped
•    2 egg whites *note
•    1/2 teaspoon black pepper
•    1/4 teaspooon salt
•    1 cup steamed broccoli, finely chopped
•    A few drops of oil (optional)
*note - Or use 1/4 cup Passover egg substitute

Exo 12:3   Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying: In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household;