Shavuot (Pentecost) is perhaps the least understood and celebrated festival among the festivals mentioned in the Bible. Learn about this signficant Jewish holiday.

What is Shavuot?
The many names of the Shavuot festival reflect something about the reasons Jews “rejoice” on this day.

An Agricultural Festival
In the Bible, Shavuot is called Hag HaKatsir (feast of the harvest) or Yom HaBikurim (day of the first fruits) because it was originally a festival of thanksgiving for the harvest. The festival falls in late May or early June, the time of the wheat harvest in Israel.

The Conclusion of Passover
The Bible also refers to Shavuot as Hag HaShavuot (feast of the weeks). In the Bible, God commands the Jewish people to count seven weeks (49 days) starting on the second day of Passover.

On the fiftieth day (Pentecost), Shavuot is celebrated.

In the Talmud, Shavuot is called Atseret (stop) as the festival was considered to be the conclusion of Passover. According to this view, Jews gained their freedom from Pharaoh on Passover, but

they were only truly free on Shavuot when they accepted the Torah and became servants to God.

Commemoration of the Giving of the Torah
Lastly, Shavuot is called Zman Matan Torataynu (the time of the giving of our Torah) because it commemorates the giving of the Torah to the Jewish People on Mount Sinai.

According to rabbinic interpretation, the Ten Commandments were given to the Jewish People on Mount Sinai on the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan. This same date is the fiftieth day after Passover and the day of the Shavuot festival. Thus, Shavuot has also become a celebration of the Torah.

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