Cheesecake, coffee and Jewish learning: It’s time for Tikkun Leil Shavuot
Push bedtime back on June 1, bedrock of Pittsburgh Jewish life returns
A hallmark of Pittsburgh Jewish life is returning for an evening of education, cheesecake and coffee. Complete with speakers and participants representing the breadth of Pittsburgh’s Jewish community, Tikkun Leil Shavuot will occur on June 1 between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m. at the Squirrel Hill branch of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh.
This year’s program, which is sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, features “exciting new teachers, as well as the trusted and terrific teachers who have been with us for a number of years,” organizer Rabbi Danny Schiff said. During the evening’s three-hour span there will be nine speakers who did not present last year as well as five “who have never presented at Tikkun for us at all.”
The plethora of willing and able presenters is a testament to the “tremendous enthusiasm” held for the program, he continued. “I think that that comes across in the evening. It really has become the centerpiece of Torah learning for the community.”
Shavuot, which begins the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan, falls seven weeks after Passover. Originally deemed a harvest festival, Shavuot is cherished as the day the Torah was given at Mount Sinai.
For nearly 500 years, Jewish people have skipped or delayed bedtime to study sacred writings on Shavuot. The practice, according to My Jewish Learning, was first recorded by Safed mystics, including Rabbi Isaac Luria and Rabbi Joseph Karo.
Pittsburgh’s June 1 program seeks to maintain the nighttime Jewish learning practice by offering three one-hour slots featuring a diversity of topics and teachers. Among the eight presenters treating Pittsburghers to new insights at 10 p.m. are Cantor Laura Berman and Rabbi Sam Weinberg. Whereas Berman’s class is titled, “Are You a Good Witch or a Bad Witch? — Samuel & the Witch of Endor,” Weinberg is covering the story of Shavuot and its lessons for combatting the “Corrosive Effects of Social Media.”
One hour later, Rabbi Seth Adelson is inviting interested parties to reread “Classic Zionist Texts Post-October 7,” while Rabbi Hindy Finman is encouraging people to explore today’s polarization by finding respectful ways to disagree “with the people we love.”
Rounding out the final 12 to 12:50 a.m. slot are speakers including rabbinical student Maddie Herrup, who will discuss how to transform “our fear into awe through the revelation at Mount Sinai,” and Rabbi Levi Langer, whose class is titled, “Thoroughbred Racing & Violent Sports: A Torah Ethics Discussion.”
Along with the teachers mentioned are 16 presenters ranging in age, background and religious affiliation.
The diversity is by design, Schiff said. “I want to ensure that in every hour of the three hours that there is someone who is presenting that represents something different, so that people have a really compelling range of choices.”
Schiff, the Federation’s H. Arnold and Adrien B. Gefsky Community Scholar, expects between 400-450 people to attend the educational program.
Studying together in person on the holiday offers a richness virtual learning lacks, he said. “The opportunity to be in the same space as people from across the Jewish spectrum doesn’t come at any other time of the year.”
With no need for registration, Schiff only has one request for Pittsburghers: “Come. It’s a once-a-year opportunity to really take one’s Jewish identity seriously in terms of the learning aspect, and to be together with the Jewish community in its broader sense.” PJC
Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
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