"Shavuot is the wedding
anniversary
of the Jewish people,
and the Torah is the marriage certificate
between the Jews and God."
- a kabbalistic interpretation.
Shavuot (Hebrew : שבועות or, חג שבעות), ("[seven] weeks"), (pronounced: shah-voo-OH-t)
is one of the three Biblical pilgrimage festivals. It is a major Jewish holiday,
and is also known as the Feast of Weeks. Greek-speaking Jews gave it the name
Pentecost (πεντηκόστη) since it occurs fifty days after Passover. If you don't
count Passover, the holiday is 49 days after Passover, which is a jubilee of
days. This ends the Counting of the Omer.
Shavuot has many aspects and as a consequence has been called by many names. In
the Hebrew Bible it is called the "Feast of Harvest" (Hebrew: חג הקציר, Hag ha-Katsir;
Ex. xxiii. 16) and the "Feast of Weeks" (Hebrew: חג שבעות, Hag Shavuot; ib.
xxxiv. 22; Deut. xvi. 10), also the "Day of the First-Fruits" (Hebrew יום
הבכורים, Yom ha-Bikkurim; Num. xxviii. 26).
All you want to
know about
: SHAVUOT : Holiday of: Judaism and Jews. Name: Hebrew : שבועות or, חג שבעות . Translation: "Festival of [seven] Weeks". Begins: 6th day of Sivan. Ends: 7th (in Israel 6th) day of Sivan. Occasion:
One of the Three Pilgrim Festivals. Celebrating the giving of the Ten
Commandments by God to the Children of Israel at Mount Sinai 49 days after the
Exodus from ancient Egypt. Celebrating the harvest and first fruits in the Land
of Israel.
Culmination of the 49 days of Counting of the Omer. Symbols: Festive meals. Staying up at night (Tikkun leil) to learn Torah
or Talmud. Eating of dairy foods at one meal. Related to: Passover which precedes Shavuot.
Shavuot (Pentecost, Feast of Weeks) occurs on the sixth day of Sivan (and
on the seventh of Sivan for those observing two days in the Diaspora). It
celebrates the giving of the Torah, God’s gift to the Jewish people, which is
the guide for how we are to live in this world. The Torah is the spelling out of
the details of the Covenant that, while initiated by the events of the Exodus,
is agreed upon the sealed at Sinai. Sinai is more than the receiving of the
Torah – it is the experiencing of the Divine, an experience shared by all Jews
of all time, for each of us was there and heard the Voice of Sinai. While
theologians and scholars may debate what actually happened at Sinai, for the
religious Jew, Sinai is central to both belief and practice – to belief in a
God, who cares about this world and expects us to strive in our lives to
practice what is good and just.
Yet, if we look back at the history of Shavuot, we see a number of
problems in associating it with the revelation at Sinai. The biblical references
to Shavout (e.g., Exod. 23:14-19; Lev. 23:9-22) regard it only as the feast of
harvest (hag ha-katzir) or the first fruits (yom ha-bikkurim). Nowhere in the
Bible is link made between Sinai and Shavout. Indeed, even the biblical account
of Revelation at Sinai does not connect it with Shavout.
Shavuot, perhaps, more than any other festival, embodies the
extraordinary integration of the spiritual-religious side and the
earthly-material side of the Jewish people. Shavuot celebrates the Holiday of
the First Fruits and the Season of the Giving of the Torah. It is a time for you
to reach out to all the people you know and wish them health, prosperity and a
meaningful and spiritual season with a special message!
