During the joyous Jewish holiday of Shavuot, many special foods are eaten to commemorate the Zman Matan Torah—"the season of the giving of the Law." The rabbis believed that the Torah was given on the day of Pentecost, fifty days after the second day of Passover. Never before had the Israelites had the Word of God written down to read and remember.

Shavuot reminds us to be thankful for God's Word and to delight in it. As the Word is read, it should bring joy, sweetness and happiness. This is why we eat sweet dairy things like cheesecake or blintzes (crepes or pancakes with a sweet cheese filling inside) on Shavuot. These foods help us remember that "honey and milk (God's Word) are under your tongue" (Song of Solomon 4:11).

As Shavuot falls in the spring, right around the time of the first harvest, people often decorate their homes and synagogues with fresh greens, flowering plants and floral arrangements. Children weave stems together to make flower crowns. All this is done to remember the thanksgiving offering brought to the Lord as thanks for providing the first harvest and provision after the winter. The Lord provided a written Word for His people to be better able to obey, and as an expression of gratitude, His people brought Him the first of the springtime harvest.

On Shavuot, most synagogues are open all night long for a special reading of the book of Ruth, one of the five megillot (scrolls, including the Song of Songs, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes and Esther, that are read on special holidays). The message is about a young woman who relied on the Lord to provide for her and her widowed mother-in-law’s basic needs. Ruth gleaned in the harvest fields as she hoped for her kinsman-redeemer to marry her. Although Ruth was not Jewish, she believed in the God of Israel and was rewarded for her faith. Shavuot shows us many examples of how the Lord provides for His people—in both practical and spiritual ways. As dawn approaches, you can find Jewish people walking home, having stayed up all night, ready for a little sleep and looking forward to a Shavuot brunch!

Ashkenazi Jews only eat dairy on Shavuot, but many Sephardic Jews from the Middle East, North Africa and Southern Europe eat dairy for brunch and a big meat meal later in the evening. Sephardic foods contain more punchy, zingy spices, couscous, chickpeas, eggplant and dried fruits such as apricots and dates. Below, we've shared a traditional Jewish Moroccan chicken recipe with dates, apricots, honey, cinnamon and a delicious hot/spicy taste. This dish can be made quickly and served over couscous or rice for an authentic Sephardic Shavuot evening meal. Enjoy!

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Moroccan Chicken

Prep time – 10 minutes
Cooking time – 30 minutes
Serves 8-10

Ingredients:

• 2 large chicken breasts
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1-2 onions
• 1 14.5 oz can chickpeas
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/8 tsp spicy chili
• 2 14.5 oz cans stewed tomatoes
• 2 cans water
• 1 1/2 Tbs honey
• Apricots and dates
• 1 tsp ginger (or ginger powder)
• Pine nuts for topping
• Salt
• Pepper

Preparation:

1. Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces and fry it in olive oil with the onion and garlic. Transfer to a pot with stewed tomatoes and water, and bring to a boil.

2. While simmering, add honey, cinnamon, ginger and spicy chili. Add the chickpeas and salt and pepper to taste.

NOTE: This dish is supposed to be a nice blend of sweet and savory, though usually the sweet taste is a little more dominant. If you prefer less sweetness, just add pepper and a little spicy chili, but sparingly—you can always add more later!

3. Fifteen minutes before serving, add 1/3 cup dried fruit. The dates will dissolve and the apricots will blow up like balloons.

4. Serve over rice or couscous with pine nuts as an optional topping.

The Apostle Paul writes that Yeshua's resurrection, which we celebrate at Easter, is the most significant event in history for believers (1 Cor. 15), as our faith would be meaningless without it (15:14).

Paul says that Jesus' resurrection represents the firstfruits of those who have already died (I Cor. 15:20-23). Paul intentionally chooses the word "firstfruits" as an allusion to the Jewish holiday by the same name. God commanded the Nation of Israel to offer the firstfruits of their harvest to Him on the first day following the Sabbath of Passover (Lev 23:9-14).

When God commanded the nation of Israel to offer the firstfruits of their harvest, He was asking the nation to make a sacrifice of faith. If God had already provided the nation a bountiful initial harvest, then the nation could expect an even more bountiful harvest in the coming months. In the same way, Jesus' resurrection gives us hope that we too will experience the resurrection in the future. For us as believers, the resurrection is not simply an historical event, but also a foretaste of what is to come in the future, when God gives us new, redeemed bodies.

Charoset

Ingredients:

• 3 medium apples, peeled, cored and quartered
• 1/2 cup walnut halves, lightly toasted (optional), and coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup sweet red wine such as Manischewitz or concord grape juice
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Instructions:

1. Grate or chop the apples very finely into a bowl

2. Add all dry ingredients and stir together

3. Add the wine or grape juice and stir

4. Let sit in refrigerator overnight until the apples turn brown

Nana's sweet and sour cabbage soup

Ingredients:

• One head of green cabbage
• 2 medium yellow onions
• 4 medium size carrots
• 64 oz. chicken stock
• 16 oz. beef stock
• Two 16 oz. cans diced tomatoes
• Two 16 oz. cans of tomato sauce
• 8 oz. raisins
• 1 tablespoon garlic
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 oz. red wine vinegar
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 Challah Bread

Directions

1. Bring chicken and beef stock to a boil in a medium stock pot

2. Slice onions, carrots and cabbage and add to stock pot

3. Cook on medium heat for 30 minutes

4. Add raisins, garlic, chopped tomatoes and tomato sauce

5. Cook for 30 more minutes on medium heat (slight boil)

6. Add sugar, vinegar, salt and pepper

7. Simmer for 1 hour

8. Serve in bowls with sliced challah bread

Mom's Homemade Brisket

Ingredients:

• 1 4-5 lb. brisket
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 large onions, thinly sliced
• 1 large (12 oz.) can of tomato puree
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees

2. Lay thinly sliced onions on the bottom of a deep roasting pan

3. Place the brisket on top of the onions

4. Spread the garlic on top of the brisket

5. Cover brisket with the tomato puree

6. Salt and pepper to taste

7. Cover the pan and cook for 4 hours (basting the meat every hour)

8. Remove from oven and let stand for 1 hour before slicing

9. Mix the onions and juices and serve over the top of the brisket slices

Light & Fluffy Matzo Ball Soup

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

Soup:

• 1 large roasting chicken
• 32 oz. chicken broth
• 3 carrots – diced medium
• 1 onion – diced medium
• 1/2 bunch of celery – diced medium
• 2 turnips – diced medium

Instructions:

1. Place chicken in large stockpot and add the chicken broth. Add enough water to cover the entire chicken.

2. Bring to a boil, scraping off the foam that rises to the top.

3. Add the vegetables and simmer for 4 hours.

4. Remove chicken and let cool, then cut into bite size pieces.

5. Strain the stock to make a clear liquid, then pour back into the stockpot and bring to a simmer.

Matzo Balls

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups matzo meal
• 6 large eggs (separate the yolks from the whites)
• 3 tablespoons chicken fat (optional)
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

Instructions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine matzo meal, egg yolks, chicken fat (optional), and kosher salt. Mix well.

2. Whip the egg whites until firm, and fold into matzo meal mixture.

3. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.

4. Bring chicken soup to a slow boil.

5. With wet hands, roll out matzo meal mixture in 1 oz. balls and place in simmering chicken soup. Balls should be golf-ball sized, but don’t squeeze them tightly! They should double in size as they cook. Cook for about an hour.

6. Add the cut-up chicken.

7. Serve soup with matzo balls.

Coconut Macaroons

This recipe is easy and delicious! Egg whites are used as a substitute for flour, which is not eaten during Passover. This recipe makes 24 macaroon cookies.

Ingredients:

• 6 egg whites
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 cups shredded coconut

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

1. Mix the coconut, sugar and vanilla in a bowl.

2. Beat egg whites until fluffy.

3. Fold the egg whites into the coconut mixture.

4. Take a teaspoon of the mixture and roll in your hands until firm.

5. Line up 3 rows of 4 cookies on a prepared baking sheet and bake in a 325 degree oven for 12-14 minutes or until the edges are brown.

Every year, Jewish people gather in family dining rooms around the world to celebrate the Passover Seder and remember God's redemption of Israel from slavery in Egypt. The Seder is designed to involve all five senses in the retelling of the Exodus story to the next generation. As we celebrate, we imagine that we too were once slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, because "if the Eternal God had not brought our forefathers out from Egypt, then even we, our children, and our children's children might still have been enslaved to Pharaoh in Egypt" (from the traditional Passover service).

We tell our children the story of our deliverance from Egypt so that they can remember the severity of our people's slavery and the wonder of our redemption. According to Rabbi Gamaliel, who tutored the apostle Paul when he was a student, any father who has not taught his children about the Passover lamb, the unleavened bread, or bitter herbs (typically horseradish), "has not fulfilled his duty."

Horseradish – normally used as a garnish – completely overpowers the senses when you eat it on a small piece of matzah. According to Jewish tradition, one must eat enough bitter herbs (maror in Hebrew) to bring tears to the eyes. The tears and the bitter herbs remind each Seder participant how the great affliction the Jewish people endured brought tears to their eyes.

If we fail to remember the bitterness of our slavery in Egypt, we might be tempted to return to the source of our enslavement. Shortly after the Israelites left Egypt, they began to romanticize their affliction and complain to Moses about their perceived lack of food (Ex. 16:1-3). Even though their rations in Egypt were meager, they remembered that "we sat by the pots of meat and… ate bread to the full!" (Ex. 16:3). Their brief adversity in the desert caused them to forget their suffering in Egypt (Ex. 3:7-9; 4:31), not to mention the abundance of plunder they received as a result of their deliverance (Ex. 12:32-38). This is why it is vital to recall the anguish we endured under Pharaoh during the Passover Seder.

If our ancestors, who had personally experienced the bitterness of slavery in Egypt, were so apt to forget the goodness of their redemption, how much more do we tend to overlook the great disparity between our previous anguish and our present deliverance? In the same way, if we don't remember the bitterness of our enslavement to sin, we will not appreciate the wonder of our redemption, which Yeshua the Messiah provided through His death and resurrection. This is why Paul instructs the Ephesian church to remember how they were previously alienated from the covenants of promise and without the hope of God in a desolate world (Eph. 2:11-12).

By "suffering" symbolically through the consumption of horseradish, we remember the bitterness of our slavery and recall the joy of our redemption.