[Avodah] Adorning the Shul with Greenery on Shavuos: Minhag Yisrael or Chukos HaGoyim?

[Prof. L. Levine]

Please see the article at

https://ohr.edu/this_week/insights_into_halacha/9889

Festooning with Foliage

In many shuls around the world, Chag HaShavuos represents ‘going green.’ I am not referring to becoming environmentally friendly, but green in a more literal sense. In honor of Shavuos, many shuls, such as Rav Breuer’s K’hal Adas Yeshurun (KAJ) in Washington Heights, New York, and Shomrei HaChomos in Ramot, Yerushalayim (Rabbi Fuch’s shul), receive entire forest-like makeovers. With branches forming a Chuppah-like canopy over the bimah, trees set up next to the Aron Kodesh, and greenery abounding, many entire shuls are festively festooned for Zman Mattan Torah.


Yet, we find that other shuls do perform some adorning, but in a much more minimalist manner, using only flowers and grasses. And of course, there are shuls where no special Shavuos decorating is done at all. Indeed, there is quite a varied spectrum of minhagim, with each Kehillah and shul following its own traditions.[1]<https://ohr.edu/9889#_edn1> This article sets out to explore the main prevailing minhagim customary throughout Klal Yisrael in relation to this inyan, as well as their halachic background.

See the above URL for much more.

Professor Yitzchok Levine




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