Two Torah study groups involving 11 congregations will mark this year’s observance of Shavuot.

“It’s the first in West County’s history,” said Rabbi Seth Gordon of Traditional Congregation, which will host the inaugural study session for six of the synagogues. “It’s modeled after others that have been done in U City and elsewhere in the country trying to bring the community together.”

Congregants from Traditional, B’nai Amoona, Shaare Emeth, Temple Emanuel, Temple Israel and United Hebrew will gather for an evening of prayer and learning from 7:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. Tuesday, June 3.

Meanwhile, congregations further east will meet for a similar program in the Delmar Loop. Bais Abraham is set to host Central Reform Congregation, Shir Hadash Reconstructionist Community, Neve Shalom and Kol Rinah in an event that will also include Next Dor, an organization for Jews in their 20s and 30s. 

“It is very nice just to be learning together with lots of different rabbis and other teachers who have interesting takes on a lot of things,” said Kol Rinah’s Rabbi Mark Fasman, who taken part  in the event for its eight-year run since Kol Rinah’s predecessor synagogue, Shaare Zedek, was one of its participating institutions.

This year, for the first time, the study session last until sunrise for prayer, and it will feature special guest teachers Chava Evans and Dasi Fruchter of New York’s Yeshivat Maharat, a Jewish study institution for women. 

Fasman said that the transdenominational nature of the gathering is a Torah lesson in and of itself.

“How we think about or study Torah may be a little bit different from movement to movement,” he said. “But the idea of celebrating Torah and what it means to us, and the celebration of learning and how central that is in the Jewish worldview, is something that can be a very powerful message.”

Involving multiple synagogues also has a practical advantage.

“It tends to be a somewhat smaller segment of the congregation that is willing to stay up that late at night and learn,” Fasman said. “By having these congregations together, it gave us more of a critical mass in order to do learning together, having more people interacting with each other.”

Bais Abraham’s Rabbi Hyim Shafner said the idea of unity is central to the holiday itself.

“If any day is appropriate for everyone to be together and put aside our differences, that would be Shavuot,” he said. “That was the goal, to make it as wide an array of Jews as possible. That also, I think, makes it accessible to Jews who would otherwise not necessarily be at a Shavuot celebration.”

Next Dor is participating for the first time and will be a part of the hourly classes during the course of the evening as a dozen educators, seven of them rabbis, speak on topics ranging from revelation in Judaism to connections between Ruth and Judges.

“There are people who are not officially connected with congregations that much but are connected with Next Dor,” Shafner said.  “I think they want to be part of Shavuot learning.”

Rabbi Randy Fleisher of CRC lives near Bais Abe and plans to walk to the event. He’ll be teaching a session on social responsibility in Judaism.

“I think it is mostly the learning and the community, the idea that we’re just sharing knowledge with one another and having revelation,” Fleisher said. “That’s the whole point of Shavuot, to make sure we don’t lose that notion that there is knowledge, truth and holiness to be revealed, and this is one of those nights when we open our hearts to that idea.”

In West County, Rabbi Gordon of Traditional Congregation said organizers hope more than 200 people will turn out. He said planning has gone well for the kickoff.

“We’ve been meeting for several months,” he said. “It has been a good give-and-take and a real sense of respect and balance. That, in itself, is worth celebrating.”

Rabbi Carnie Rose of B’nai Amoona has been one of the driving forces behind the event.

“I’m eager for us to be studying Torah across the community from a variety of different perspectives,” he said. “We have so many congregations in such a small area that it just seemed like a natural way to get the community together around one of the most profound holidays.”

Rose’s congregation has been doing an overnight Torah study event every year but only now is looking to expand it to other institutions. He said the event is likely to begin with a gathering of all participants, followed by breakout sessions that will feature different styles of worship, some with a focus on text, others with a spotlight on discussion.

“There will be services, singing and food, but the main emphasis will be the study of Torah,” Rose said. “Study is something that unites us around Torah and the wisdom of the revelation. Maybe even some people will break out in dance. You never know.”

Rose said his favorite part will be the evening study in which the Ten Commandments will be read in a re-creation of the event at Sinai.

“We’re going to do that under a canopy, a chuppah, because there is a tradition that this is sort of a wedding ceremony between God and the Jewish people,” he said.

Rabbi Elizabeth Hersh of Temple Emanuel said she’s felt energized about the event from the start.

“It has been exciting to sit with my colleagues around the table and plan the program,” said Hersh, who will teach about Ruth and relationships between women. “The fact that we are bringing together Reform, Conservative and Traditional congregations to celebrate Shavuot, there is no better way of receiving Torah. This is the epitome of standing at Sinai, all Jews standing together.”

She said that all too often rabbis, cantors and Jewish educators don’t have the opportunity to learn from one another.

“Rather than having individual programs, I think there is beauty and strength in doing it as a whole,” Hersh said.

For more information or to RSVP for the West County Tikkun Leil Shavuot, contact Debbie Bram at 314-692-5345. For more information on the Shavuot events at Bais Abraham, call 314-721-3030. See this week’s ChaiLights calendar on pages 18-19 for more information on each event.