Shavuot – Day of the Commandments
Shavuot is one of the great Jewish festivals. Jewish people celebrate it as the day that God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses, the Jewish leader, on Mount Sinai.
Shavuot is the Hebrew word for “weeks”. This festival is also called Feast of Weeks because it comes seven weeks after the first day of Passover.
Long ago, Shavuot was also a harvest festival. It was the time when Jews made a journey to Jerusalem to make offerings at the Temple in thanks for their crops. After the Romans destroyed the Temple, Shavuot became a time to celebrate the gift of the Ten Commandments.
Today, the festival of Shavuot is the time when some Jews celebrate the confirmation of children. Jewish boys are confirmed when they reach the age of 13. Girls are confirmed at the age of 12. The ceremony of confirmation is called bar mitzvah for boys and bat mitzvah for girls. The name means son (or daughter) of the commandment.
The holiday of Shavuot is a two-day holiday, beginning at sundown of the 5th of Sivan and lasting until nightfall of the 7th of Sivan (May 28–30, 2020). In Israel it is a one-day holiday, ending at nightfall of the 6th of Sivan.
The word Shavuot (or Shavuos) means “weeks.” It celebrates the completion of the seven-week Omer counting period between Passover and Shavuot.
The Torah was given by G?d to the Jewish people on Mount Sinai on Shavuot more than 3,300 years ago. Every year on the holiday of Shavuot we renew our acceptance of G?d’s gift, and G?d “re-gives” the Torah.
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