Shavuot

5. Siwan – 3. Siwan 5785

Shavuot, the so-called Feast of Weeks, is celebrated seven weeks, or forty-nine days, after Passover. Passover, Shavuot, and their temporal distance from each other were adopted into Christianity as Easter and Pentecost with new meanings. Originally, Shavuot was a harvest festival that marked the end of the barley harvest. On the occasion of this festival, the farmers would pilgrimage to the Jerusalem Temple to offer the first fruits of the field there. After the destruction of the Temple, Jewish scholars had to reinterpret this festival and began to celebrate it as the day when the twelve tribes of Israel received the Torah for the second time on Mount Sinai. Especially in particularly devout communities, the first night of Shavuot is celebrated with Torah study, prayers, and dances.