Shavuot means “weeks” in Hebrew, which is why it is also known as “The Festival of Weeks” in English. Shavuot is pronounced “Shah-VOO-ot” in English, and it is also predominantly known as the Time of the Giving of the Torah (Zeman Matan Torah). The spring Jewish holiday of Shavuot has many names and meanings, each of which can teach us something about the nature of the festival. We explain more about the importance and deeper relevance of this holiday in our Shavuot Dvar Torah videos.
Now, they became God’s chosen people, who had chosen God in return, and would study and abide by the laws of the Torah as part of their service to the Almighty. It is this national decision (often referred to as a “marriage” between God and the Israelites) that created the Jewish people. After accepting the commandments at Sinai, the Jewish people were no longer just descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. While Passover marks their liberation from slavery, Shavuot marks the renewal of their commitment and dedication to God. On Passover, the people of Israel were liberated from Egyptian slavery on Shavuot, they were given the Torah and committed themselves to serving God. In the days of the Temple, the counting marked the seven weeks from the wheat harvest on the spring festival of Passover, to the harvesting of barley on Shavuot.
Each day is counted, which is known as the Counting of the Omer, or Sefirat HaOmer. The name Shavuot, meaning “weeks,” refers to this seven-week period. The Bible describes the Shavuot holiday as an agricultural celebration: the festival of Reaping (Jeremiah 5:24, Deuteronomy 16:9–11, Isaiah 9:2). Today, Shavuot is most widely known as the Jewish holiday that commemorates the day God gave the Torah to the nation of Israel at Mount Sinai, although Biblical references to Shavuot refer only to a spring harvest festival.Īccording to the Torah, it took seven weeks for the Israelites to travel from Egypt to Mount Sinai. It is celebrated on the 6th of Sivan in Israel, and the 6th and 7th of Sivan in the diaspora. Shavuot – or “The Feast of Weeks” – is one of the three Biblical pilgrimage festivals, along with Passover and Sukkot.
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