(, from ), Shavuos or (, in some Ashkenazi usage), is a Jewish holiday, one of the biblically ordained Three Pilgrimage Festivals. It occurs on the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan; in the 21st century, it may fall anywhere between May 15 and June 14 on the Gregorian calendar.
Shavuot marked the wheat harvest in the Land of Israel in the Hebrew Bible according to Exodus 34:22. Rabbinic tradition teaches that the date also marks the revelation of the Ten Commandments to Moses and the Israelites at Mount Sinai, which, according to the tradition of Orthodox Judaism, occurred at this date in 1312 or 1313 BCE.
The word means 'weeks' in Hebrew and marks the conclusion of the Counting of the Omer. Its date is directly linked to that of Passover; the Torah mandates the seven-week Counting of the Omer, beginning on the second day of Passover, to be immediately followed by Shavuot. This counting of days and weeks is understood to express anticipation and desire for the giving of the Torah. On Passover, the people of Israel were freed from their enslavement to Pharaoh; on Shavuot, they were given the Torah and became a nation committed to serving God.
While Shavuot is sometimes referred to as Pentecost (in ) due to its timing fifty days after the first day of Passover, it is not the same celebration as the Christian Pentecost or Whitsun, which comes fifty days after Easter. That said, the two festivals are related, as the first Day of Pentecost, related in the Acts of the Apostles, is said to have happened on Shavuot.
Shavuot is traditionally celebrated in Israel for one day, where it is a public holiday, and for two days in the diaspora.
Names Biblical names In the Bible, Shavuot is called the "Festival of Weeks" (, , ); "Festival of Reaping" ( ), and "Day of the First Fruits" (, ). Shavuot, the plural of a word meaning "week" or "seven", alludes to the fact that this festival happens exactly seven weeks (i.e. "a week of weeks") after Passover.
Later names The Talmud refers to Shavuot as ʻAṣeret () according to Pesachim 68b, referring to the prohibition against work on this holiday and also to the conclusion of the Passover holiday season. The other reason given is that just as Shmini ʿAṣeret brings Sukkot to a close, ʿAṣeret brings Passover to a close.
Since Shavuot occurs fifty days after Passover, Hellenistic Jews referred to it by the Koine name "Pentecost".
Significance Agricultural The Feast of Shavuot is textually connected in the Bible with the season of the grain harvest, specifically of the wheat, in the Land of Israel. In ancient times, the grain harvest lasted seven weeks and was a season of gladness (, , ). It began with harvesting the barley during Passover and ended with harvesting the wheat at Shavuot. Shavuot was thus the concluding festival of the grain harvest, just as the eighth day of Sukkot was the concluding festival of the fruit harvest. During the existence of the Temple in Jerusalem, an offering of two loaves of bread from the wheat harvest was made on Shavuot according to the commandment in .
The penultimate Dead Sea text to be published has been discovered to contain two festival dates observed by the sect at Qumran as part of their formally perfect 364-day calendar. It was dedicated to New Wine and New Oil, which are not mentioned in the Hebrew Bible but were known from another Qumran manuscript, the Temple Scroll. These festivals "constituted an extension of the festival of Shavuot... which celebrates the New Wheat." All three festivals are calculated starting from the first Sabbath following Passover by repeatedly adding exactly fifty days each time: first came New Wheat (Shavuot), then New Wine, and then New Oil. (See also below, at "The Book of Jubilees and the Essenes".) Giving of the Torah Shavuot is not explicitly named in the Bible as the day on which the Torah was revealed by God to the Israelite nation at Mount Sinai, although this is commonly considered to be its main significance.See, for example, Z'man matan toratenu ("the time of the giving of our Torah [Law]") is a frequent liturgical cognomen for Shavuot. See, for example, It is therefore customary to hear the Ten Commandments being read from a Torah on the first day of Shavuot.
Unlike other major holidays, the Torah does not specify the date of Shavuot, but only that it falls 50 days after Passover, placing it at the 6th of Sivan according to the current fixed calendar (in earlier times when months were fixed by lunar observation, the date could vary by a day or two). The Torah states that the Israelites reached Sinai on the firstThe biblical phrase yom hazeh ("that very day"), following hodesh ("month" or "new month"), indicates the first day of the new month. See Yoel Bin-Nun and Shaul Baruchi, Mikraot: Iyun Rav Techumi Batorah: Yitro, p.118 day of the third month following the Exodus, i.e. Sivan. Then several events occurred, taking a total of at least three days, before the Torah was given. Thus, it is plausible that the giving of the Torah occurred on or about Shavuot, but no exact date is mentioned.
Besides the timing, scholars have pointed to thematic connections between Shavuot and the giving of the Torah, which are indicated by the Bible itself: Several aspects of the Shavuot Temple sacrifice (shtei halechem) suggest a connection to the Exodus and the giving of the Torah. The shtei halechem is the only holiday sacrifice which includes a communal shelamim ("peace") offering, recalling the communal shelamim offering which was offered after the acceptance of the Torah (). Also, the shtei halechem is one of the few sacrifices to include chametz, suggesting that Shavuot is a counterpoint to Passover and its historical events.Menachem Leibtag, Shavuot and Matan Torah
From an early period, Shavuot was regarded as an appropriate time to make covenants between God and humanity. Asa chose to make his covenant () on or about Shavuot. places it in "the third month"; according to the covenant occurred on Shavuot itself (Similarly, according to Book of Jubilees, Noah made his covenant with God on Shavuot.Jubilees 6:1–21) The association between Shavuot and covenants suggests a connection to the giving of the Torah, which itself was a covenant between God and Israel. In addition, the description of Asa's covenant repeatedly alludes both to the giving of the Torahe.g. "third month", "this day", "loud noise", "shofars", the people's agreement and to the Shavuot holiday,{efn|The description of this covenant follows the same literary structure which Chronicles typically uses for pilgrimage holidays such as Shavuot, and repeatedly uses the words sheva and shevuah which recall Shavuot.See S.J. De Vries, 'Festival Ideology in Chronicles', in: H.T.C. Sun and K.L. Eades (eds.), Problems in Biblical Theology: Essays in Honor of Rolf Knierim, Eugene 1997, pp. 104–124 [105–110]) suggesting a link between the two.Neriah Klein, חג השבועות בימי אסא
Most of the Talmudic sages agreed that the Torah was given on the 6 Sivan (the date of Shavuot), but Jose ben Halafta holds that it was given on 7 Sivan. According to the classical timeline, the Israelites arrived at the wilderness of Sinai on the new moon () and the Ten Commandments were given on the following Shabbat (i.e., Saturday). The question of whether the new moon fell on Sunday or Monday is undecided.Talmud, Shabbat 86b In practice, Shavuot is observed on 6 Sivan in Israel and a second day is added in the Jewish diaspora (in keeping with a separate rabbinical ruling that applies to all biblical holidays, called Yom tov sheni shel galuyot, Second-Day Yom Tov in the diaspora). Thus, according to Jose ben Halafta, only outside Israel does Shavuot fall out on the day the Torah was given.
Ancient observances Pilgrimage Shavuot was one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals on which Jews would visit the Temple in Jerusalem.
Bikkurim
Shavuot was also the first day on which individuals could bring the bikkurim or "First Fruits" to the Temple in Jerusalem. Bikkurim were so crucial to Shavuot that the Torah twice describes the holiday as a day of bikkurim: wheat was ready for harvest, summer fruits were beginning to ripen, and bikkurim were brought.
Shtei Halechem The Torah prescribes a unique sacrifice for Shavuot: the shtei halechem or 'Two Loaves', which—atypically for sacrifices—must be chametz and are described as bikkurim of the wheat harvest. These loaves are accompanied by a set of other sacrifices.
According to Judah Loew ben Bezalel, there is a symbolic contrast between the omer offering of Passover and the Two Loaves. The former consists of barley, which is typically an animal food, and represents the low spiritual level of the Israelites immediately upon leaving Egypt during the Exodus; while the latter consists of wheat and represents the high spiritual level of the Israelites upon receiving the Torah.להניף את העומר
Modern religious observances
Nowadays in the post-Temple era, Shavuot is the only biblically ordained holiday that has no specific biblical laws attached to it other than usual festival requirements of abstaining from creative work and being in a state of joy. The rabbinic observances for the holiday include reciting additional prayers, making kiddush, and partaking of meals. Special emphasis is placed on hearing the Torah reading on the first day, when the Ten Commandments are read in the Synagogue. There are, however, many customs which are observed on Shavuot. A mnemonic for the customs largely observed in Ashkenazi communities spells the Hebrew word (, "last"): – Aqdamut, the reading of a piyyut (liturgical poem) during Shavuot morning synagogue services – ḥalav (milk), the consumption of dairy products like milk and cheese – Rut, the reading of the Book of Ruth at morning services (outside Israel: on the second day) – Yereq (greening), the decoration of homes and synagogues with greenery – Torah, engaging in all-night Torah study.
The yahrzeit of King David is traditionally observed on Shavuot by reciting Psalms and lighting a memorial candle.Schauss, Hayyim. The Jewish Festivals: History & Observance. Trans. Samuel Jaffe. New York: Schocken Books, 1938. p. 93. Hasidic Jews also observe the yahrzeit of the Baal Shem Tov.
Torah readings
On the first day of Shavuot the story of the giving of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 19:1–20:23) is read in the synagogue. Many people put an emphasis on bringing their children to hear this Torah reading, based on the Midrash which characterizes children as "guarantors" for the continuity of the Torah.
The Haftarah for the first day is the visions of Ezekiel (Ezekiel 1:1–28 and 3:12).
In the diaspora, a section about the three major holidays in Judaism is read (Deuteronomy 15:19–16:17 or 14:22–16:17 on Shabbat) on the second day. For the Haftarah, a section from Habbakuk (Habbakuk 2:20–3:19) is read.
Liturgical poems Aqdamut
The Aqdamut () is a liturgical poem recited by Ashkenazi Jews extolling the greatness of God, the Torah, and Israel that is read publicly in Ashkenazic synagogues in the middle ofor in some communities right beforethe morning Torah reading on the first day of Shavuot. It was composed by Meir of Worms. Meir was forced to defend the Torah and his Jewish faith in a debate with local priests and successfully conveyed his certainty of God's power, His love for the Jewish people, and the excellence of Torah. Afterwards he wrote the Aqdamut, a 90-line poem in Aramaic that stresses these themes. The poem is written in a double acrostic pattern according to the order of the Hebrew alphabet. In addition, each line ends with the syllable (), the last and first letters of the Hebrew alphabet, alluding to the endlessness of Torah. The traditional melodies that accompanies this poem also conveys a sense of grandeur and triumph.
Azharot