Shabbos & SHAVUOS Schmooze: Not Another Cheesecake Recipe!

Shabbos is just hours away here in the western part of the country with Shavuos beginning tomorrow night; three day chag, here I come! When I was growing up, I knew Shavuos only as 'The Cheesecake Holiday,' and to this day my grandmother's cheesecake is the best I've ever had. While we certainly celebrate the variety of delicious cheesecake recipes out there this time of year, as well as scrumptious blintzes, ice cream and other dairy treats, there is more to Shavous than strategically plotting one's route around the buffet line. We celebrate Shavuos to commemorate the giving of the Torah to the Jewish people for the very first time at Mount Sinai. Even though it is hard to imagine our ancestors so long before us, it is said that every Jewish soul was present at the time the Torah was given; past, present, and future. Additionally, by celebrating Shavuos, it is as though we receive the Torah again each and every year.
Dairy products certainly are a significant aspect of the holiday. There are a variety of explanations for this, but the one I am most familiar with is that because the Jews were given the laws of kashrut (dietary laws) for the first time at Mount Sinai, they were not able to access kosher meat right away and instead ate dairy foods in order to keep that mitzvah. Other Shavuos traditions and customs include:

•  decorating one's home with greenery and flowers to represent the greenery and flowers that G-d adorned Mount Sinai with
• attending services at synagogue to hear the Aseret Hadibrot, the 10 Commandments
• for some, staying up all night on the first eve of Shavuos to learn Torah (in some communities only men do this)
• hearing certain Torah readings and Megillas Rut (The Book of Ruth)

This is a joyous time of year and even as an adult, I still really look forward to the cheesecake. Nonetheless, I will not be posting yet another cheesecake recipe. Instead, I will share with you a cute little project I did this morning with my preschool students.
Since it is customary to decorate our homes and tables with flowers, I wanted the children to have something special to make and take home to their families. I work with a mixed age group and wanted a project they could all do according to their own ability as well as something that might hold their attention on a day when they are all very excited for the upcoming holiday!
I stopped by the craft store yesterday without a whole lot of inspiration and grabbed some materials, but I had no idea how well they would turn out or, more importantly, how much the kids would enjoy it. I wish now that I'd photographed the projects the kids all did as they were so creative and unique. Unfortunately, I only photographed my 2-second hodgepodge of a demo that I made to see if it would work.

The materials used were:

• a small plastic planting pot
• wooden flower shaped craft sticks (available at Joann Fabrics & Crafts, though you could create your own as well)
• Crayola Model Magic Clay in green (again, you could also make your own clay that air dries)
• Flower themed foam shapes with adhesive backing (purchased at Joann's as well)
• crayons
• construction paper
• wooden craft sticks
• white glue

In terms of encouraging a great deal of imagination on the little artists' part, this project isn't ideal. However, in terms of easy clean-up and supervision (or having something for the little ones to do while you're scrambling to get food into the oven and prepare for three days of holiday!), this is a real winner. Plus, the kids all felt very proud of what they got to bring home. I had them start by picking out a couple flower shaped craft sticks. They used crayon to color them and when they seemed to be getting a bit bored with that, I added some sticky foam flower shapes to the table. I also gave each child a small plastic planting pot. Older children (or grown-ups) could certainly use a clay pot, but for this age group, plastic was definitely safer. One student had the idea that he'd like to write "Happy Shavuos" on his project, and so came the idea to get out some extra wooden craft sticks, construction paper and glue in order to make a little flag (or tag) for the kids to write a Shavuos greeting. After the flowers and flag were all complete and the pots decorated to each little artists' liking, I gave each student a ball of green Model Magic and let them enjoy playing with it for a bit before putting it into the bottom of their pot and sticking the flowers and greeting inside. The Model Magic air dries after a while, thus securing the flowers in place.

I wish my Jewish friends and family a Good Shabbos and Chag Sameach. May you have a meaningful and sweet Shavuos. I hope everyone has a great extra long Memorial Day weekend!