This is a very special time on the Jewish calendar, as we count the remaining days between Passover and the holiday of Shavuot.

It is said that the birds guided the Jewish people and kept watch over their crossing during the splitting of the Red Sea, following the first Passover.

For seven weeks after the Exodus, the people travelled through the desert.When they encamped at Har Sinai, G-d summoned Moshe and told him to assemble the people, to whom He declared the 10 Commandments, “heralded by an awesome display of thunder, lightning, shofar blasts and fire . .  . “ (Artscroll Chumash).

This time, “ . . . not a bird chirped, not a fowl flew, not an ox lowed . . . The sea did not roll and no creature made a sound. All of the vast universe was silent and mute.” (Shemot Rabba 29).Jews worldwide will celebrate Matan Torah and Shavuot next week by reading the Biblical Book of Ruth, engaging in all-night learning, reciting special prayers, and eating traditional foods.