Shavuotשָׁבוּעוֹת

The Torah calls the festival chag ha-shavuot (the festival of weeks), chag ha-katzir (the festival of harvest) and yom ha-bikkurim (the day of first fruits). Its date is derived from counting seven weeks from the bringing of the Omer.^1,2,3,4

In Temple times two loaves of the new wheat were offered and the period of bringing the bikkurim (first fruits) began, accompanied by the declaration in Deuteronomy 26.^5,6

The link with the revelation at Sinai derives from the chronology of Exodus 19 and the rabbinic calculation that the Ten Commandments were given on 6 Sivan (according to another view, 7 Sivan). In the rabbinic period the festival thus acquired the epithet zman matan Toratenu – the time of the giving of our Torah.^7,8

Shavuot completes the journey begun at Passover: from physical freedom to the acceptance of the Torah and the covenant. Counting the Omer is thus understood as a preparation.

The Book of Ruth is read because it takes place at harvest time and tells of a Moabite woman who accepted the God of Israel; tradition also links it with King David, whose death, according to legend, fell on Shavuot.⁹

Tikkun leil Shavuot: all-night study on the first night, which spread from the 16th century from the kabbalistic circles of Safed (Shlomo Alkabetz, Joseph Karo). In the morning shacharit is prayed at dawn.¹⁰

Shavuot is a yom tov: rest from work applies as on the other festivals (cooking from an existing flame is permitted). Festival candles are lit, and kiddush and Shehecheyanu are said.¹²

Ya'aleh ve-yavo is inserted into the prayers, together with the festival Amidah with the formula zman matan Toratenu.¹⁵

The festival has no ritual object of its own; its symbols are the Torah scroll, greenery, flowers and the first fruits of the seven species.

The Rema's gloss records the custom of eating dairy foods on the first day. It is explained in various ways: the Torah as “milk and honey”, or that after receiving the laws of kashrut the Israelites had no kosher meat ready.^16,17

Dairy dishes require kashrut separation from meat and certified dairy products.

Children decorate the home with flowers, carry baskets of fruit and in Israeli kindergartens act out “bringing the first fruits”. Together with their parents they can read the story of Ruth or the Ten Commandments.