Thanks to Rabbi Rachel Kahn-Troster for this guest post.  Rabbi Kahn-Troster is Director of Education and Outreach for Rabbis for Human Rights North America.

Growing up, Shavuot for me meant lasagna – a delicious, cheesy creation that my mother would make for the one Jewish holiday on which we did not eat meat. (Actually, I was an adult before I realized that non-kosher lasagna was made with meat). I loved the lasagna, and Shavuot wasn’t bad either. Special food, staying up late the first night with my friends- Shavuot was a hit, and I didn’t think about it more than that.

One synagogue I went to hosted a “bikkurim (first fruits) procession:” they had people bring in baskets of produce and leave them on the bimah. I’d never seen a community mark Shavuot through any way but through a Tikkun Leyl Shavuot (staying up all night to study) and by eating blintzes, and I didn’t really know what to make of it. It seemed a little pagan.

Over the years, however, I’ve come to appreciate celebrating the agricultural aspects of Shavuot, which arrives as spring becomes summer. Shavuot is called Chag HaKatzir (The festival of reaping) and Yom HaBikkurim (The day of the First Fruits). The bikkurim referred to are the Seven Species of Israel (grapes, olives, wheat, barley, pomegranates, dates, and figs) for which the Land was known—kind of like a biblical version of eating locally.

These days, I am inspired by the fact that it is around Shavuot that I begin to see in my farmers’ market the fruits and vegetables I have been ignoring all winter: asparagus, rhubarb, strawberries, radishes, and the first leafy greens and herbs. My mouth explodes with forgotten tastes and smells, with their connected memories. Eating the strawberries reminds me of picking them with my grandmother in rural Ontario, and the crisp asparagus evokes roadside stands in New Jersey.

While I haven’t harvested them myself, their new-ness to me makes me grateful to God for the blessing of God’s harvest and grateful to the farmers for bringing me this produce in its season. I can choose to eat strawberries all year—but waiting until their season keeps me from taking them for granted.

The Torah understands this journey.

In Deuteronomy 26:1-11, we read a text that is actually familiar to most of us from the Passover seder, “My father was a wandering Aramean.” What this text actually is, is a statement that each person would make when they brought their bikkurim to the Temple. With the produce in a basket on their shoulder, they would recite their communal history. But the communal history was also a personal journey.

After describing how, “God has brought us into this place, and has given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey,” the Israelite would stake his or her place in the narrative: “And behold, now I have brought the first fruits of the land, which you, God, have given me.”

Each year, the farmer’s story is renewed not via sacrifice or prayer, but through the connection to the land and the new life that springs from it. The thanks to God are personal and tangible. Shavuot is not just about the Law we receive at Sinai, but the covenant that connects us to our planet and the harvest that springs from it. Just like the farmer, we rejoice.
And this Shavuot, I’ll still be having lasagna, which isn’t so local or seasonal, but is what makes Shavuot special for me. But I’ll surround it on the plate with this summer’s first fruits and vegetables and the memories they evoke, and give thanks to God.

Kahn-Troster Family Lasagna (Adapted and spiced up from Second Helpings Please!)

Sauce
2 medium onions, minced
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 diced green pepper
8-10 oz fresh mushrooms, sliced
2-3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
2 tsp salt
fresh basil or 2 tsp dried
fresh oregano or 2 tsp dried
4-6 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1-2 tsp Tabasco sauce
1 14oz can tomato sauce (I prefer Muir Glen not just for being organic, but also for the taste)
1 12 oz can tomato paste
½ cup water.

Saute vegetables in oil. Add remaining ingredients. Cover and simmer for ½ hour. Add more water if necessary.

Lasagna
12 oz package lasagna noodles
1 pound grated mozzarella
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 ¾ cup ricotta
Leftover fresh herbs from Step 1, if using

Prepare noodles according to package directions. In an oblong baking dish, alternate layers of sauce, noodles, ricotta, mozzarella, and parmesan. Repeat until all ingredients are used up, ending with sauce. Scatter fresh herbs on top. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Serves 6.