Shavuot

The story behind the day

Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks, falls on the 6th of Sivan, seven weeks after Passover. It began as a grain-harvest festival at which the first fruits were brought to the Temple, and the rabbis of the Talmudic age identified it with the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. Today it is marked by all-night study, the reading of the Ten Commandments and the Book of Ruth, dairy meals and greenery. It lasts one day in Israel and two elsewhere.^[1–8]

Origins

Leviticus tells Israelites to count seven weeks from the day after the sabbath, fifty days in all, and then to bring an offering of new grain and two loaves of bread. The Bible gives the festival several names, among them the Feast of Weeks and the Day of the First-fruits. It was originally a harvest holiday, when pilgrims brought their first and best fruits to the Temple. The Torah does not link the day to Sinai, though it places the Israelites' arrival there in the third month after they left Egypt.^{[1–2, 9–10]}

What it marks

Jewish tradition holds that Shavuot is the anniversary of the giving of the Torah, and the liturgy names it "the time of the giving of our Torah" (Zeman Matan Torateinu). It also closes the Omer, the seven-week count that begins at Passover, so the festival joins the Exodus to Sinai.^{[2, 11]}

How it came to be

After the Temple's fall the harvest rites lost their setting. The Talmudic rabbis reframed the holiday around the giving of the Torah and fixed the date of that event on the sixth of Sivan. Customs gathered around the new meaning: staying awake to study, and an explanation in a midrash that the Israelites overslept at Sinai and had to be awakened.^{[2, 7, 12]}

How it is kept

synagogue decked with greenery, all-night study — Synagogue decked with greenery, all-night studyIllustration · AI-generated

On the first day the congregation stands to hear the Ten Commandments read, and many congregations chant the hymn Akdamut beforehand. The Book of Ruth is read in many communities, its heroine seen as a model convert and its story set at the harvest. Dairy foods are customary, with explanations such as the Torah being compared to milk, and homes and synagogues are decorated with greenery, since tradition says Sinai was green. Yizkor is said on the second day.^{[5–6, 8, 13–15]}

Across traditions

In Israel Shavuot is one day, the 6th of Sivan; elsewhere Orthodox and Conservative communities keep two, while Reform congregations, which follow the Bible's single days for festivals, generally keep one. Reform and Conservative congregations hold confirmation ceremonies for teenagers on or near the festival, a custom that began in Reform temples. A Reform source notes that Shavuot has no special commandments of its own, and an Orthodox source says much the same: its observances are the usual festival rules.^{[3–4, 16–18]}

Sources

Each statement above was checked against published sources; the verdict says whether it stood as written, was corrected or was hedged.