Shavuous round up

This evening we finished celebrating the holiday of Shavuos. This is the holiday that God gave the Torah to the Jewish people. In the Torah is says that there was thunder and lightning on Mount Sinai when the Torah was given. Appropriately, Thursday night we experienced one of the most intense thunderstorms I've seen in a long time. And even more apropos, my synagogue is called Mount Sinai. Coincidence? I think not. The irony was not lost with me. One of the traditions on the holiday is to stay up late celebrating the receiving of the Torah the best way we know how. By learning Torah. I for one usually just celebrate by eating a traditional Shavuot chesecake, then reading a Jewish book, then spending the rest of the night in the bathroom because I'm lactose intolerant. This year I fortunately remembered my Lactaid. So not being bloated and the fact that I drank about 9 cups of coffee that day led to me being able to stay up all night learning. Our temple scheduled shuirim, or lectures, throughout the night. I only sat through one lecture before adjourning to a private room with three buddies LZ, AB, and DH, where we learned privately. I need to give these chicks props because when I thought I would go mad at around 3 am if I didn't go to sleep they convinced me that the earliest davening (praying time) was at 4:50 am and knew I could stick around another 2 hours. I went upstairs and was surprised to find quite a few people had stuck around to keep with the tradition of learning late into the night. There was even a few chicks still up there, including blog supporter ZK. I give mad props to all those people who were there for the 4:50 minyan and like me were the first to hear read the special section of the Torah that included the 10 Commandments. And then we all went home to pass out. I haven't stayed up all night since finals in college or paryting in high school. Aaaah, good times.