INTRODUCTION:

On Erev Shavuot, the holiday that celebrate receiving the Torah, it is traditional to pull and all-nighter studying Torah (or more expansively, Jewish text/teachings/etc…)! This is often called a Tikkun Leil—literally translated as “repair night.” According to a midrash, when the Torah was given, some of the Israelites were asleep! A Tikkun Leil on Shavuot is a way to “make amends” or “repair” that mistake by staying awake and studying. This program invites your MoHo to learn about the Torah (defined expansively) that your community has to share! Community members will present pre-made PowerPoint presentations on something they know a lot about! This could be an overtly Jewishly topic (ie. their favorite Torah portion) or a sharing or on how a Jewish topic intersects with a pop-culture (ie. Jews and Tattoos or the Jewish History of Timothée Chalamet) or it could just be a bunch Jews gathering to celebrate Shavuot by learning about random topics on which they are stupidly knowledgeable (ie. Your most recent internet rabbit hole, a retrospective on your middle school self, why “Zillennials” are a legit generation, etc…) This is a great way to learn more about your community and celebrate this ancient Jewish tradition with a modern spin!  

NOTE: Consider applying for the Jewish Culture and Holiday Grant to help cover costs for tech needs or themed food. 

MATERIALS:

• Laptop (on which to collect all the PowerPoints)  
• All the PowerPoints  
• TV or Projector and Projection Screen 
• Cables to connect Laptop to TV/Projector 

PROGRAM OUTLINE (~90 min):

• Welcome and Framing (10 min)  
• Round 1: PowerPoint Presentations (30 min)  
• Snack/Shmoozing Break (20 min) 
• Round 2: PowerPoint Presentations (30 min) 

PRE PROGRAM PREP:

This program requires some advance planning in order to collect all the PowerPoints. Here are detailed instructions for how to prepare!  

• When you advertise this event, explain that community members will come together for a Shavuot Tikkun Leil PowerPoint Party to present 3-minute-long PowerPoints on a topic of their choice responding to the prompt or your choice.  
  • Example Prompts: What’s your Torah hot take? What’s a hill that you’ll die on? What’s your “Torah” that’s not actual Torah? Reach out to your JLS if you need help zeroing in on a good prompt for your community!  
  • In the advertising, feel free to give examples of how you want your community to respond to that prompt. For example, it could be a Jewishly related topic or a Jew-ish topic, or a practical skill that community members can share with one another or an area of personal growth or a niche fact or a topic about which people are particularly passionate or any of the above!   
• Send out a link to a PowerPoint sign-up. Have people sign up (it’s recommended to have twelve slots or fewer so that the evening doesn’t go on too long) so you know who is presenting and have them share the title and a sentence or two on their topic so you know what to expect.  
• Be sure to articulate a time limit for the length of the PowerPoint presentations. 3 minutes is the recommended length. 
• Create a Google Drive (or equivalent) folder for people to share their PowerPoints (or Google Slides–you do you) with the hosts ahead of the party.  
• Be sure to set a deadline for the PowerPoints to be submitted so you can organize them and check that the content of the PowerPoints is appropriate for your community.  
• Consider putting all the slides into one big PowerPoint or organize them in a way that works for you so you can have easy access to all the slides on the night of the event.  

Welcome and Framing (10 min)

• Welcome everyone and thank them for coming.   
• Consider having some Shavuot themed snacks or drinks (it is traditional to serve dairy on Shavuot so think cheesecake, ice cream, Lactaid, etc…) for people to enjoy as they settle in.  
• Explain the program:    
  • Example of what you could say:    
    • On Erev Shavuot, the holiday that celebrate receiving the Torah, it is traditional to pull and all-nighter studying Torah (or more expansively, Jewish text/teachings/etc…)! This is often called a Tikkun Leil—literally translated as “repair night.” According to a midrash, when the Torah was given, some of the Israelites were asleep! A Tikkun Leil on Shavuot is a way to “make amends” or “repair” that mistake by staying awake all night and studying. Tonight we are going to do a more modern take on Torah learning and hear the “Torah” (expansively defined) of our community! We’ll see epic PowerPoint presentations from X number of community members, then have a little snack break and then hear from X number of community members! [Then transition to inviting up the first presenter.] 

Round 1: PowerPoint Presentations (30 min)

• Approximately six community Members will present their 3-minute-long PowerPoints on a topic of their choice responding to the prompt provided.  
  • TIP: Tell all your community members to make their presentations 3min in length but allot 5min for each presenter as it will take time to get the “on stage” and “off stage. ”    

Snack/Shmoozing Break (20 min)

• Offer some time for folks to get more Shavuot themed snacks and drinks and stretch their legs!  
  • Dairy or foods from the Seven Species listed in the Torah are often eaten on Shavuot. Consider having your snacks and drinks themed accordingly! Cheesecake and ice cream are popular dairy treats for the occasion!  

Round 2: PowerPoint Presentations (30 min)

• Approximately six community Members will present their 3-minute-long PowerPoints on a topic of their choice responding to the prompt provided.  
  • TIP: Tell all your community members to make their presentations 3min in length but allot 5min for each presenter as it will take time to get the “on stage” and “off stage. ”    
• For a little friendly competition, at the end, consider having your community vote on which topic they want to learn more about! Then invite the person who gave that presentation to run a full MoHo event about the topic!