Two views of Jerusalem on two holidays

Election of Nir Bark as mayor has yet to produce any tangible proof of a change in the demographic figures that point to Jerusalem becoming, a decade or so from now, a city split between an Arab side and an ultra-Orthodox Jewish side.

The ancient Jewish tradition of tikun leil Shavuot, studying Torah the entire night on the eve of the holiday commemorating the reception of the 10 commandments on Sinai, has been rapidly taking on a new form in recent years. It is no longer just a religious custom, but an integral part of the annual calendar for many secular Israelis as well.

Dr. Micah Goodman, a lecturer on Jewish philosophy at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and director of the Ein Prat Academy, is one of the speakers who will appear at half a dozen venues on Shavuot night, speaking and leading study sessions with a wide variety of audiences.

"It is clear to me that the religious have lost their monopoly on Shavuot," he says. A decade or so ago, Shavuot night study took place almost exclusively in synagogues, but now nearly every community and cultural center in the city has a full plate of pluralistic lecturers on offer.

"Secular people don´t usually feel comfortable in a synagogue," says Goodman, "but they have no shortage of places to go anymore. Every where I go is packed.

For the entire article

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/letting-go-of-jerusalem-1.290297

 

 

• שבעים פנים לתורה