Shavuot

the 5th day of Sivan , fifty days after Passover (Jewish world)
　
The Yom Tov begins at sundown of the 5th day of Sivan, exactly fifty days after Passover .

Shavuot, the Feast of the Weeks, is the Jewish holiday celebrating the harvest season in Israel. Shavuot, which means "weeks", refers to the timing of the festival which is held exactly 7 weeks after Passover. Shavuot is known also as Yom Habikkurim, or "the Day of the First Fruits", because it is the time the farmers of Israel would bring their first harvest to Jerusalem as a token of thanksgiving.

Shavuot also commemorates the anniversary of the giving of the Ten Commandments to Moses and the Israelites at Mount Sinai.

Many of the traditions and customs of Shavuot have evolved from the legends and stories describing the experiences of the Israelites at Mount Sinai. According to tradition the Israelites actually overslept on the morning of God's visit. To compensate for this negligence, Jews hold a vigil on the eve of Shavuot. They stay awake from dusk to dawn, keeping themselves busy with the readings of the Torah  and the Talmud. A digest of readings has evolved called Tikkun Leil Shavuot, the "Restoration of Shavuot Eve," which includes selections from the Torah, the Prophets, the Talmud, and the Zohar.

Another Shavuot custom is the eating of dairy foods. One explanation states that this comes from a passage in the Torah which reads: "And He gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey".

Another explanation comes from a legend stating that before the visit from God the Jews did not keep kosher or follow the Kashrut (dietary) laws. It was on this first Shavuot that they found out that their utensils were nonkosher and thus unfit for use. So finding themselves without kosher meats or utensils the Israelites were forced to eat only dairy foods. Today Jews celebrate Shavuot by eating blintzes, cheesecake, and other dairy dishes.

Another legend tells the story of the Israelites finding Mount Sinai blooming and lush with greenery and flowers. From this legend grew the custom to decorate the Jewish home and synagogue with tree branches and flowers. Some temples decorate the Torah scrolls with wreaths of roses.

Notes:

Sivan: n. 息汪月，即犹太教历三月，犹太国历九月，在公历五、六月间，共三十天    Passover: n. 犹太教的逾越节
Moses: n. 十戒，犹太教、基督教的戒条          
Mout Sinai: 西奈山，基督教《圣经》中记载的上帝授予摩西十戒之处
vigil:值夜，守夜
the Torah:  律法，圣经旧约之前五卷
the Talmud: 犹太法典
the Zohar: 《光明篇》，犹太教神秘主义对摩西五书的注疏
kosher:  指食物、食品店等合理的，符合犹太教规戒律的
blintz: n. 一种热薄饼
greenery: n. 绿树；绿色植物
synagogue: n.  犹太教会堂　

mohammad zahir

   shahAfghanistan's ex-king(1914-)

Afghanistan's ex-king, Mohammad Zahir Shah（1914-）, stepped onto the soil of his homeland Thursday after 29 years exile in Italy, carrying on his frail shoulders hopes for a sea change in the nation's warring politics.

The historic return of the 87-year-old Zahir Shah, as an ordinary citizen who will not take back the throne, placed the ailing former monarch into a possibly significant political role.

Six government ministers went with Karzai to Rome to escort home Zahir Shah and his family. Young children presented flowers to a monarch described as an ascetic who ruled Afghanistan as a modernizer for 40 years until deposed by a cousin while on holiday in Italy in 1973. During his three-decade absence, the land of 23 million people, once a safe and popular stop on the Asian hippie trail, descended into a hell hole of death and devastation.

The king stepped onto home soil on a day of tragedy and violence for Afghans and international troops pursuing Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda fighters and ousted Taliban leader Mullah Omar, who gave him sanctuary.

"The last few years of my life, I'd like to dedicate that to the people of Afghanistan and to my country," Zahir Shah told CNN in an interview hours before he left Rome.

Karzai has gambled the monarch's return will not upset a delicate balance of power that has ruled since the fundamentalist Taliban were driven from power.

Ethnic Tajiks from northern Afghanistan, who were in the forefront of the U.S.-led war against the Taliban, control the powerful defense, interior and foreign ministries even though they are a minority.

Pashtuns, mainly from southern Afghanistan, hope the king can become a rallying figure for them, particularly at a Loya Jirga, or grand council, in June that will either endorse Karzai's Western-backed administration or choose a new government.

Zahir Shah went from living in an ancient palace filled with retainers and priceless art to the seclusion of a villa in Rome when he was overthrown by a cousin in 1973. He now takes up residence at a two story house in Kabul's most exclusive suburb.

The ex-king's reign was marked by women getting the vote and establishment of the first modern university.

The king, fluent in French, English and Farsi, studied in France.

But opponents dismiss Zahir Shah as an ineffectual ruler who was off hunting and fishing while the storm clouds that led to Afghanistan's decades of war were gathering.

The former king has said he will never leave Afghanistan once he returns.

ANNOTATION:

sea  change: 翻天覆地的变化

escort: v. 陪同
ascetic: adj. 禁欲主义者；苦行者          
depose: v. 罢黜
seclusion: n. 隐居地                                
rally: n. 重整，集合
endorse: v. 认可，赞同

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP)- Dancers in white tunics swirled to drums. Men in turbans sang and waved Afghan flags. Women stood by windows inside homes, all hoping to catch a glimpse of Afghanistan's former king.

King Zahir Shah proposed to send the UN troops in Afghanistan when the Taliban regime downed.

Afghanistan's former king urged the new government to guarantee women's rights, saying they had an important role to play in rebuilding the war-torn country.

Afghan ex-king, anti-Taliban group reach accord . The former king of Afghanistan struck a deal on Monday with the country's main opposition force, the Northern Alliance, designed to oust the ruling Taliban and establish a moderate government in Kabul.

THE Harrovian investment broker who would be the next king of Afghanistan barely paused when asked if he would succeed his ageing father.

"I couldn't not accept," Prince Mirwais told The Daily Telegraph yesterday. "A few days ago my father said to me, 'Be ready, soon you will have a very heavy weight on your shoulders'.

"It was strange. He had never said this kind of thing to me before, even though I have spent so many years now beside him."
As the focus of the war against terrorism shifts from Lower Manhattan to Afghanistan many in Central Asia and the West are once again viewing Zahir Shah, the king in exile, as a figure of unity.