( (''shalosh regalim''). 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 . Not counting the first day of Passover itself, 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).
In ancient Israel the grain harvest lasted seven weeks and was a season of gladness (Jer. v. 24; Deut. xvi. 9; Isa. ix. 2). It began with the harvesting of the barley during the Passover and ended with the harvesting of the wheat at Shavuot. Shavuot was thus the concluding festival of the grain harvest, just as the eighth day of are to bring to the sanctuary "the first-fruits of wheat harvest," "the first-fruits of thy labors which thou hast sown in the field." These are not offerings definitely prescribed for the community; "but with a tribute of a free-will offering of thine hand . . . shall you rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and daughter,.. the Levite that is within your gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow" (Deut. xvi. 9-12). In Lev. xxiii. 15-22 there is a regularly appointed first-fruit offering which the whole community must bring. Various animal sacrifices were enjoined, and no work was permitted.
The festival is known in the
Mishnah and
Talmud as ''Atzeret''. This term is usually translated a "solemn assembly," meaning the congregation at the pilgrimage festivals. The name is applied also to Passover (Deut. xvi. 8) and to Sukkot (Lev. xxiii. 36). In post-Talmudic and
Geonic literature the Biblical name ''Shavuot'' was resumed.
Shavuot falls on the 6th of
Sivan and never occurs on Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday. In many communities outside Israel, the holiday is celebrated for two days.
Shavuot is the fiftieth day of 'Omer (counting of the grain offering). During the existence of the
Temple In Jerusalem the first-fruits were offered as well as a sacrifice of two loaves of bread from the new harvest, etc. (Lev. xxiii. 15-21).
Regarding the Biblical commandment to offer the 'omer "on the morrow after the Sabbath" = (ib. verse 11), the ancient scholarly
Rabbi s maintained that "Sabbath" here means simply a day of rest and refers to Passover. The
Sadducee s and
Boethusians disputed this interpretation, contending that "Sabbath" meant "Saturday." Accordingly they would transfer the count of "seven weeks" from the morrow of the first Saturday in Passover, so that Shavuot would always fall on Sunday. The Boethusians advanced the argument "because Moses, as a friend of the Israelites, wished to give them an extended holy day by annexing Pentecost to the Sabbath." Rabbi
Johanan Ben Zakkai then turned to his disciples and pointed out that the Law purposely fixed the interval of fifty days in order to explain that the seven weeks, nominally, do not necessarily begin from Sunday (Men. 65a, b). See also
Pharisees .
Karaite Judaism today continues to follow the interpretation that the Sabbath in question was the Sabbath occurring during Passover rather than the Passover itself
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The traditional festival of Shavuot as the birthday of the
Torah (i.e. "the time our Law was given"), when Israel became a constitutional body and "a distinguished people," remained the sole celebration after the Exile. The Shavuot prayers have references to this and particularly to the precepts deduced from the Torah.
Kabbalists (adherents of
Jewish Mysticism ) arranged a special service for the eve of Shavuot, consisting of excerpts from the beginning and end of every book of the Bible and Mishnah, which abridgment they considered tantamount to the reading of the complete works, and accepted as the approval of the Law.
The reading occupies the pious till morning; others finish it at midnight. The collection is called ''Tikkun Lel Shavuot'' ("Preparation for Shavuot Eve"). The Pentateuch reading contains three to seven verses from the beginning and the end of every ''parashah'' (or ''sidra''). Some of the important sections are read in full, as follows: the days of bearing on the subject were added, with opening and concluding prayers. The whole reading is divided into thirteen parts, after each of which a ''Ḳaddish di-Rabbanan'' is recited.
The the treble Law
Prophets, and Hagiographa was given to the choice
word similar to word for three people" (Zohar, Yitro, 78b).
Because the Law was given on Shavuot, the Rabbis wished to make that day the most enjoyable holy day. R. Joseph ordered a third (best) calf for the festival, saying: "Were it not for this day how many Josephs would there be in the street!" ("without the Law there would be no distinction of scholarship," Pes. 68b). A popular custom on Shavuot is to eat dairy foods and cheese-cakes in honor of the Law, which is likened to "honey and milk" (Cant.iv. 11). The meat meal follows the milk meal. These two meals represent the two loaves of bread, formerly offered in the ''bikkurim'' offering at the Temple service.
In the synagogue the scroll of
Ruth is read because the story of Ruth
Embracing Judaism and the description of the scene of harvesting are appropriate to the festival of the Law and of the harvest. Another reason given is that
King David , a descendant of Ruth, died on Shavuot (''Sha'are Teshubah'' to ''Orah Hayyim'', 494).
The custom widely prevails of displaying greens on the floors and of otherwise decorating the home and the synagogue with plants, flowers, and even with trees. The greens serve to remind one of the green mountain of Sinai; the trees, of the judgment day for fruit-trees on Shavuot (R. H. i. 2); they also commemorate the harvest festival of former times.
Within the Jewish tradition, the exact day on which the Torah was given is in dispute. Most of the classical rabbis say it was given on the 6th of Sivan; according to R. Jose it was the 7th of that month. The classical
Rabbinic Literature holds that the Israelites arrived at the wilderness of Sinai on the new moon (Ex. xix. 1), and that the
Ten Commandments were given on the following Saturday. The question whether the new-moon day fell on Sunday or Monday is undecided (Talmud, tractate Shabbat 86b).
