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Concept
Shavuot
Summary
Shavuot (), or Shvu'es () in some Ashkenazi usage (, Šāvūʿōṯ, "Weeks"), commonly known in English as the Feast of Weeks, is a major Jewish holiday, one of the , that occurs on the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan (in the 21st century, it may fall between May 15 and June 14 on the Gregorian calendar). In the Bible, Shavuot marked the wheat harvest in the Land of Israel. In addition, 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 1312BCE.
The word Shavuot means "weeks", and it 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 Πεντηκοστή) due to its timing after Passover, "pentecost" meaning "fifty" in Greek and Shavuot occurring fifty days after the first day of Pesach/Passover, it is not the same celebration as the Christian Pentecost, which comes fifty days after Pascha/Easter.
One of the biblically ordained , Shavuot is traditionally celebrated in Israel for one day, where it is a public holiday, and for two days in the diaspora.
In the Bible, Shavuot is called the "Festival of Weeks" (חג השבועות, Chag HaShavuot, , ); "Festival of Reaping" (חג הקציר, Chag HaKatzir, ), and "Day of the First Fruits" (יום הבכורים, Yom HaBikkurim, ).
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.
Official source
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