The annual Jewish festival of Shavuos begins this-evening—but the Canary Wharf business community is already ahead of the game.
Canary Wharf Group invited pensioners and others from east London Jewish centres including Beaumont Grove in Stepney Green for a celebration before the bank holiday, ahead of the formal festival.
A luncheon was given at the financial services offices of Clifford Chance with a choir entertaining from north London’s Menorah primary school, followed by Mincha prayers.
The Shavuos ‘Festival of Weeks’ is traditionally celebrated as an agricultural festival at the end of the spring barley harvest and the beginning of the summer wheat harvest.
The holiday commemorates the Torah given to the Jewish nation at Mount Sinai, originally taking place seven weeks after Passover.
Dairy foods such as milk, cheese and cheesecake are usually served, while homes and synagogues are decorated with fresh flowers and greenery. This year’s festival beginning at dusk tonight runs until Thursday evening.
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