Tonight begins the festival of Shavuot, one of the most meaningful Jewish holidays dating back to the Torah (along with Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Passover, its significance is actually far greater than that of Chanukah or Purim, even though the latter are much more widely observed here in America). The holiday is both a celebration of the spring harvest (and hence the custom of eating dairy products like cheesecake and blintzes), but most importantly the holiday marks the time when the Jewish people received the Torah at Mt. Sinai.