ABCs of Shavuot - Shavuot with Aish

Shavuot is the culmination of the seven-week-long "counting of the Omer" that occurs following Passover. The very name "Shavuot" means "weeks," in recognition of the weeks of anticipation leading up to the Sinai experience. (Since Shavuot occurs 50 days after the first day of Passover, it is sometimes known as "Pentecost," a Greek word meaning "the holiday of 50 days.")

3,300 years ago, after leaving Egypt on the night of Passover, the Jews traveled into the Sinai desert. There, the entire Jewish nation -- 3 million men, women and children -- directly experienced divine revelation:

The giving of the Torah was an event of awesome proportions that indelibly stamped the Jewish nation with a unique character, faith and destiny. And in the 3,300 years since this event, Torah ideals - monotheism, justice, responsibility -- have become the moral basis for Western civilization.

Perhaps the reason for the relative obscurity of Shavuot is because this holiday has no obvious "symbols" of the day -- i.e. no Shofar, no Sukkah, no Chanukah Menorah.

On Shavuot, there are no symbols to distract us from the central focus of Jewish life: the Torah. So how do we commemorate Shavuot? It is a widespread custom to stay up the entire night learning Torah. And since Torah is the way to self-perfection, the Shavuot night learning is called Tikkun Leil Shavuot, which means "an act of self-perfection on the night of Shavuot."

At synagogue services on Shavuot morning, we read the biblical book of Ruth. Ruth was a non-Jewish woman whose love for God and Torah led her to convert to Judaism. The Torah intimates that the souls of eventual converts were also present at Sinai, as it says: "I am making [the covenant] both with those here today before the Lord our God, and also with those not here today." (Deut. 29:13)

Ruth has a further connection to Shavuot, in that she became the ancestor of King David, who was born on Shavuot, and died on Shavuot.

On Shavuot, it is customary to decorate the synagogue with branches and flowers. This is because Mount Sinai blossomed with flowers on the day the Torah was given. The Bible also associates Shavuot with the harvest of wheat and fruits, and marks the bringing of the first fruits to the Holy Temple as an expression of thanksgiving. (see Exodus 23:16, 34:22, Numbers 28:26)

There is a universal Jewish tradition of eating dairy foods on Shavuot. The reason has been offered by many scholars, some of which are more convincing than others. We offer a selection:

In 1967, the Six Day War ended just a few days before Shavuot. Israel had reclaimed the Western Wall, and for the first time in 19 years Jews had access to the area surrounding the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site. On Shavuot itself, the Western Wall became open to visitors, and on that one memorable day, over 200,000 Jews journeyed by foot to the Western Wall. (In Jerusalem, no cars or buses run on Jewish holidays.)

In subsequent years, this "pedestrian pilgrimage" has become a recurring tradition. Early on Shavuot morning -- after a full night of Torah learning -- the streets of Jerusalem are filled with tens of thousands of Jews walking to the Western Wall.

This tradition has biblical precedence. Shavuot is one of Judaism's three main pilgrimage festivals, where the entire nation would gather in Jerusalem for celebration and study.

#1 of 16 in the Aish.com Shavuot Themes Series
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VISITORS COMMENTS: 12

(12) Beverly Kurtin, 11/6/2008
Why is our religion different from all the others?
Shavout also marks the beginning of Judaism. Our is the only religion that was begun by Hashem himself, all other religions were begun by humans who claimed to hear G-d in private tell them that they were his chosen. Only we heard Hashem's own voice give us his commandments. No other religion can make that claim, only we heard Hashem.

(11) Helen Palm, 21/5/2007
Ruth`s way
As an interested to convert to judaism like Ruth I think she is a good rolemodel.
It is a free choice to believe in G-D the
jewish way. For 4 years it has been my way.

(10) Anonymous, 13/6/2005
An innacuracy
I enjoyed your article, but just wanted to correct one point. On Shabbat and holidays in Jerusalem, cars and taxis certainly do drive (on most of the streets). Public buses do not run until after Shabbat.

(9) Ya'akov, 12/6/2005
Chag sameach
Chag sameach in a liberated Yerushalayim