By COLlive reporter
By nature, a two day holiday like Shavuos does not generate as much attention, detail and literature as the High Holidays or Passover.
But does it deserve more? After all, the celebration is all about receiving the Torah on Mount Sinai.
The first book we found at Kehot Publication Society’s Shavuos Marketplace was the Tikun Leil Shavuos, a compilation of verses from Torah, Mishnayos and Zohar customarily read during the first night of Shavuos.
The Tikun has been freshly printed in a new clear type-face with many corrections. This handsomely bound edition also includes a collection of Chabad customs related to the month of Sivan and Shavuot – part of the Otzar Minhagei Chabad series.
Edited by Chasidic researcher Rabbi Yehoshua Mundshein of Jerusalem, it goes on to describe Shavous as it took place by all Chabad Rebbes.
A good read in English is The Complete Story of Shavuot by Dr. Nissan Mindel. This 1991 reprint, illustrated by Shmuel Graybar, eloquently tells the tale of the Jewish nation receiving the Torah in the dry desert in the year 2448 after creation.
Mindel continues to review the Torah itself, how it was orally delivered to future generations (an unfolding color pull-out chart of Torah and Tradition is included on page 81). He also profiles the Shavous players: Ruth, King David, Prophet Eekiel and Prophet Habakkuk.
The Quiz Page is as much for useful brushing up your knowledge as it is for testing children. Which Sidrah is never read in Shul on Shabbos, it asks. Answers appear on page 99.
And there is an audio version of The Complete Story of Shavuos on Audio. A CD by Rabbi Levi Goldstein of the Living Sidrah includes 20 entertaining tracks, such as “Children having fun Schmoozing about Matan Torah.”
Tikun Leil Shavuos, Heichal Menachem, 314 pages, $15.95 – HERE
Complete Story Of Shavuot – Hard Cover, Nissan Mindel, Kehot Publication Society, 108 pages, $12.30 – HERE
