| Shavuot | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Official name | Hebrew:שבועות orחג שבעות (Ḥag HaShavuot orShavuot) |
| Also called | English: "Festival of Weeks" |
| Observed by | Judaism andJews |
| Type | Jewish |
| Significance | One of theThree Pilgrim Festivals. Celebrates the revelation of theFive Books of the Torah (orOld Testament of theChristian Bible) byGod toMoses and to theIsraelites atMount Sinai, 49 days (7 weeks) after theExodus fromEgypt. Commemorates the wheat harvesting in theLand of Israel. Culmination of the 49 days of theCounting of the Omer. |
| Begins | 6th day ofSivan (or the Sunday following the 6th day of Sivan in the Karaite tradition) |
| Ends | 7th (inIsrael: 6th) day of Sivan |
| Celebrations | Festive meals. All-nightTorah study. Recital ofAkdamut liturgical poem inAshkenazic synagogues. Reading of theBook of Ruth. Eating ofdairy products. Decoration of homes andsynagogues with greenery (Orach Chayim,494). |
| Related to | Passover, which precedes Shavuot |
Shavuot, or Shavuos inAshkenazic usage, is aholiday celebrated byJewish people. They celebrate it to remember the dayGod gave theTorah to the entire nation ofIsrael assembled atMount Sinai. The holiday association between the giving of the Torah (Matan Torah) and Shavuot is notexplicit in the Biblical text.
Shavuot is celebrated on the sixth day of the Hebrew month ofSivan, which may occur in May or June. It falls 49 days afterPassover(Pesach), which comes before Shavuot. It marks the end of the Counting of the Omer (Sefirat HaOmer).Pentecost falls around the time of Shavuot.
InSecularJews of theDiaspora, Shavuot is one of the Jewish holidays known to not be celebrated as much, while the people in Israel celebrate it every year.[1][2]
Shavuot is celebrated by all types of Orthodox Jewry, ranging from Modern to ultra-Orthodox. It is one of the three pilgrimage holidays celebrated by Jews. (The other two being Passover, and Sukkot, or 'Festival of the Tabernacle'.)
According toJewish law, Shavuot is celebrated inIsrael for one day and in the Diaspora (outside of Israel) for two days.Reform Jews celebrate only one day.[3]
Many Jews stay up all night learning the talmud.
