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The Jewish calendar reminds us where we’ve been — and what’s next
This story originally appeared on My Jewish Learning.
(JTA) — The Shavuot holiday that we observed last month commemorates two different kinds of harvests. Originally an agricultural festival, Shavuot marked the culmination of the wheat harvest in the ancient land of Israel. Only later did the rabbis layer on the receiving of the Torah to the holiday. Just as we celebrate the bounty of the land, we celebrate the bounty of Torah — the sustenance that feeds our hearts and nourishes our souls.
In ancient days, as the wheat blossomed in its golden fullness, the sheaves would be gathered into bundles and waved in celebration of what had been tended in the fields. Similarly, the celebration of revelation is a kind of harvest as well. All year we’ve studied and contemplated the Torah, turning over ideas to see how they speak to the conditions of our lives right now. Revelation is thus not a disembodied, momentary insight, but rather the bounty of this particular year’s harvest of insight. Both kinds of kernels — of grain and Torah understanding — need to be nurtured and processed to be useful.
Shavuot marks not only the culmination of these processes, but new beginnings as well. In Exodus, Shavuot is referred to as the feast of the bikkurim, the first fruits that appear on trees in the springtime. According to Deuteronomy 26:2, these first barely ripe fruits must be offered to God. Much like the new learning birthing with us, we offer these early insights to God to be guided in what they need to come into their full, juicy sweetness.
Shavuot starts the season of sweet sugars that will delight our tongues and decadently run down our chins; that we will feed to children eager for their reds, purples, blues and pinks bursting with deliciousness in the summer sunlight; that we will arrange artfully on platters and transform into pastries and pies to bring to neighbors and loved ones in friendship and with care. Like the fruit of the tree, the revelations that come to us on Shavuot are meant to be nourishing, sweet and shared.
First fruits — those gems of juice and succulence that we hold in our hands — are brought into being through the intimacy and mutuality of sunlight and soil, pollinator and pollen, patience and anticipation, cultivation and surrender. Cells transform and combine, assembling themselves together into figs and apples and berries.
On Shavuot, we too assemble, the many parts of our people coming together as one. When the Israelites prepared to receive at the foot of Mount Sinai, the Torah tells us that they entered the wilderness vayichan sham— and encamped there. The biblical commentator Rashi asks why this verb, vayichan, is written in the singular. He answers: As one person with one heart the people camped at the base of the mountain. To prepare for revelation is to assemble ourselves from many diverse spaces and places and become one, at least for a moment.
Plant, animal, insect and fungal worlds uniting, intertwining for weeks, months and even years to become one fruit. On Shavuot, the fruiting body of their tangled web of co-creation recalls for us the many intertwining systems of life and connection that constitute who we are, individually and collectively, in all our dazzling, fruity, sweet magnificence. So too does Torah yield a particular kind of sweetness when we celebrate our holy entanglement as one.
The wheat harvest reminds us where we’ve been, what we’ve been counting towards and waiting for. It blesses us with a coming to completion. The first fruits remind us of the sweetness that is just beginning, tantalizing our tongues for the very first time, whetting our appetite for more.
And so, as we return from this holiday of revelation, we ask: What is it that we’ve been tending that we are now harvesting? What joy and sweetness are we just coming to know? And what disparate parts of who we are — individually and collectively — might we join together as one so that the sweet knowing of our connection can find voice?
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The post The Jewish calendar reminds us where we’ve been — and what’s next appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Defense Minister Moves to Shut Down Israel’s Historic Army Radio Station
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz looks on, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Jerusalem, Nov. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, said he plans to bring a proposal to the government on Sunday to close Galei Tzahal, the Israel Defense Forces’ radio station, ending a broadcast operation that has been on the air for more than seven decades.
If approved, the shutdown would take effect on March 1, 2026.
The announcement has triggered sharp backlash from journalists, legal experts, and civil society groups, who warn the move could have far-reaching implications for press freedom. Tal Lev-Ram, the station’s commander, has already signaled that Galei Tzahal’s leadership intends to challenge the decision in the High Court of Justice. Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara also voiced concern, cautioning that the plan could amount to political intervention in public media and pose risks to freedom of expression.
Criticism has also come from the Israeli Press Council, headed by former Supreme Court justice Hanan Melcer, which labeled the proposed closure unlawful.
The council argued that dismantling a public broadcaster requires explicit legislation passed by the Knesset, not a government decision alone. Advocacy organizations, including the Movement for Quality Government, said they are preparing legal petitions as well.
Katz defended the initiative by citing the findings of a professional review committee, which concluded that a military-run radio station broadcasting political and current affairs programming to the general public represents a “democratic anomaly.”
He argued that Galei Tzahal has moved beyond its original mandate of serving soldiers and their families.
The committee examined a range of alternatives, such as converting the station into a music-only outlet or partially privatizing its operations.
Ultimately, it recommended either closing the station altogether or significantly scaling it back by removing political content. Katz noted that Galgalatz, the popular music station operated by the army, would continue broadcasting under the proposed plan.
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Trilateral Summit: Israel, Greece, Cyprus to Discuss Regional Security
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu participates in the state memorial ceremony for the fallen of the Iron Swords War on Mount Herzl, Jerusalem on Oct. 16, 2025. Photo: Alex Kolomoisky/POOL/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – Jerusalem will host a trilateral summit tomorrow, bringing together leaders from Israel, Greece, and Cyprus to discuss strengthening security cooperation in the eastern Mediterranean.
The summit follows reports by Amichai Stein of i24NEWS last week that the three countries are considering the formation of a joint rapid-response military unit.
The Israeli Prime Minister is scheduled to hold bilateral meetings with each of his counterparts before convening the full trilateral session, which will conclude with a joint press statement outlining the summit’s outcomes.
Media reports indicate that the initiative is driven in part by concerns in Athens over Turkey’s growing military activity in the region. The proposed rapid-response force is expected to enhance coordination, readiness, and overall security among the three allies.
Analysts say the meeting could solidify Israel, Greece, and Cyprus’s strategic partnership and signal a more unified approach to regional defense challenges.
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Justice Department Restores Trump Photo to Public Database of Epstein Files
An exterior image from the U.S. Virgin Islands property on Little St. James once owned by Jeffrey Epstein. via U.S. Justice Department
A photo of US President Donald Trump that had been removed from the cache of Jeffrey Epstein files released by the Department of Justice was restored on Sunday after officials determined none of Epstein’s victims were in the image, the department said.
The photo showing a desk with an open drawer containing a photo of Trump with various women was flagged by the Southern District of New York for review to protect potential victims.
“After the review, it was determined there is no evidence that any Epstein victims are depicted in the photograph, and it has been reposted without any alteration or redaction,” the Justice Department said on X on Sunday.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said earlier on Sunday his office removed the photo because of concerns about women in the photo. “It has nothing to do with President Trump,” Blanche said during a Sunday morning appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press with Kristen Welker.”
The Justice Department released thousands of documents on Friday related to Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender who committed suicide in 2019. But it has drawn criticism, including from some Republicans, over extensive redactions and few documents mentioning Trump despite his well-publicized friendship with Epstein.
During an ABC News interview on Sunday, Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called for a “full and complete investigation as to why the document production has fallen short of what the law clearly required.”
Up to 16 photos, including the desk drawer Trump image, were removed on Saturday from the Justice Department website, according to The New York Times, NPR and the Associated Press, although Reuters could not independently confirm the removals.
The Justice Department said on Sunday it acted with an abundance of caution after receiving requests from alleged victims and their lawyers to remove information.
Trump has not been accused of wrongdoing and has denied knowing about Epstein’s crimes.