Celebrating the Fiftieth Day Where There’s No Night

In a place where night never falls and the sky stays stubbornly bright, Shavuos for the shluchim in Alaska poses its own kind of halachic challenges, yet they are preparing for a big dairy buffet and the reading of the Aseres HaDibros, with a special focus on bringing children, all held during the daylight hours they mark for yom tov.

By Karen Schwartz – Chabad.org

Shavuos looks a little different in places where it never gets dark. The two-day yom tov marks the 3,337th anniversary of the Jewish people receiving the Torah at Sinai. It’s a time when dairy treats such as cheesecake, blintzes and ice cream are served, but more central to the yom tov is hearing the reading of the Aseres HaDibros and studying Torah until dawn on the first of its two nights.

In places like Iceland, this can present a unique set of challenges.

The night of study takes place in preparation for receiving the Torah, explains Rabbi Avi Feldman, who directs the Jewish Community Iceland – Beit Tovah Chabad-Lubavitch, together with his wife, Mushky. “Every year we receive it again, and there’s a new energy that comes every year.”

But the tradition of staying up until daybreak learning Torah gets more complicated when it never gets dark enough for daybreak to occur. Anywhere approaching the Arctic Circle has different patterns of light and dark throughout the year, which means Shabbos can start well after midnight in the summer, and in the early afternoon in the winter, when it’s light only a few hours a day.

“Iceland is the land of the midnight sun,” says Rabbi Avi Feldman. “This creates really epic Shabbos experiences and Shavuos experiences, because basically you’re starting the yom tov or Shabbos super late, and the sun is still shining like it’s the middle of the day. Same with the ending of Shabbos and Shavuos, it ends at a really strange time too.”

Even though there’s no night, they’ve found ways to make the yom tov special, he says.

The Rebbe explained that there is special significance to bringing children, even the youngest of infants, to hear the Aseres HaDibros on Shavuos morning.

Before Hashem gave the Torah to the Jewish people, He asked for guarantors. The Jews made a number of suggestions, all rejected by Hashem, until they declared, “Our children will be our guarantors that we will cherish and observe the Torah.” Hashem immediately accepted them and agreed to give the Torah.

“By listening to the Aseres HaDibros on Shavuos morning,” the Rebbe explained, “the words of Torah will be engraved in the hearts and minds of the children. And through them, the Torah will be etched within their parents and grandparents with even greater intensity. Thus, the Aseres HaDibros, which include within them the entire Torah, will become a part of our lives throughout the entire year.”

Thanks to the Rebbe’s urging, Shavuos at the shul, replete with ice cream parties and games, is an increasingly popular part of Jewish childhood in communities across the world, and that’s exactly how Iceland will mark Shavuos.

“The highlight is reading the Aseres HaDibros from the Torah, and our cheesecake party on the first day of Shavuos,” Rabbi Avi Feldman says. Chabad will also have a party for kids, where they’ll make their own ice cream treats.

The more people who join for Shavuos, and hear the Aseres HaDibros as Hashem gave them to the Jewish people all those years ago, says the rabbi, “the more who will be inspired to explore more and to learn more of the wisdom of the Torah in the coming year.”

When Shavuos Starts Late

There’s no night anymore and no halachic nightfall where Rabbi Heshy and Chani Wolf live. The northernmost Shluchim, they run Fairbanks Jewish Center – Chabad in Fairbanks, Alaska. This will be their first Shavuos there.

Serving military personnel, a local community and Jewish students at University of Alaska Fairbanks, as well as tourists, he says they’ll be welcoming everyone on Monday for the reading of the Aseres HaDibros, followed by pasta, soup and fish, as well as cheesecake, he says.

Notably, Shavuos candle lighting will be Sunday at 11:59 p.m. and nightfall, the next dawn, at 1:50 a.m. And while halacha permits starting Shabbos early, Shavuos comes seven full weeks after Pesach, 49 days after starting the second night. “It has to be taken in on time,” he says. That means clarifying some significant halachic questions about when to make kiddush and the like, since it never gets dark.

Even counting the Omer, the 49 days that kicks off the second night of Pesach, comes with a twist, because the counting is traditionally done after nightfall. “I’ve been counting the Omer after sunset because there’s no nightfall,” he explains.

While most people will finish Shavuos Tuesday night, in Palmer, Alaska, Shavuos ends at 2 in the morning Wednesday, says Rabbi Mendy Greenberg, who serves as co-director of Mat-Su Jewish Center with his wife, Chaya.

On Monday, in addition to having a big dairy buffet and reading the Aseres HaDibros, they’re putting a big emphasis on having the community’s children present, Rabbi Mendy Greenberg says. “The Rebbe talked about the importance of children, and made a big campaign that children should come to shul to hear the Aseres HaDibros at Shavuos.” Children attending will take part in a program that includes making Lego flowers as a craft, he adds.

The yom tov is the completion of Pesach, he adds. “Yetzias Mitzrayim was the beginning and the goal was Sinai,” he says, “The whole point of being free is actually to be Jewish, so we can live like a Jew to actualize our purpose, to be a light unto the nations.”

Jack Green, of Anchorage, Alaska, says he will be at shul for the Aseres HaDibros on Shavuos. Being in a smaller community, he says, everyone plays a role in making the yomim tovim special, adding that his local Chabad center in Anchorage creates a welcoming environment, complete with amazing food, that helps elevate the yom tov even further.

“Chabad does a great job of connecting with people,” he says of the awareness it has raised around Shavuos and its significance. “I’m born and raised here, and every year I’m here, I go to receive the Torah anew.”