BBC Religion & Ethics - What are the main Jewish festivals? What are the main Jewish festivals? Branched candlesticks are used during Hanukkah As well as annual festivals, observant Jews keep a holy day each week, called the Sabbath or Shabbat , which occurs on Saturday. Work is forbidden on the Sabbath as well as on some Jewish holidays. Adar I, leap years only (February-March) Adar, called Adar Beit in leap years (February-March) Jewish holidays are celebrated on fixed dates in the lunar Jewish calendar, but this calendar varies in relation to the solar calendar used in the west. This means that the holidays move around with relation to western dates. The Jewish calendar occasionally includes an extra month to keep it synchronised with the solar year, and sometimes days are moved around to make sure that the Sabbath does not coincide with certain festivals. Outside Israel, Jewish festivals sometimes last one day longer. This has an historical basis in the difficulties faced accurately determining the Jewish calendar based on the lunar cycle. Jews living outside Israel being unsure of a festival's exact date would celebrate for an extra day. Although dates can be calculated accurately now, many non-Israeli Jews still follow this practice.

The Jewish day begins at sunset, which means that all Jewish holidays begin the evening before their western date. Rosh Hashanah (1-2 Tishri) Jews eat apples dipped in honey to symbolise hope for a sweet new year Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year, when Jews believe God decides what will happen in the year ahead. The synagogue services for this festival emphasise God's kingship and include the blowing of the shofar, a ram's horn trumpet. This is also God's time for judgement. Jews believe God balances a person's good deeds over the last year against their bad deeds and decides their fate accordingly. The 10 days beginning with Rosh Hashanah are known as the Days of Awe , during which Jews are expected to find all the people they have hurt during the previous year and apologise to them. They have until Yom Kippur to do this. Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement (10 Tishri) The Day of Atonement is regarded as a sacred and solemn occasion, on which synagogue attendance is particularly important.

On Yom Kippur Jews believe God makes the final decision on who will live, die, prosper and fail during the next year, and seals his judgement in the Book of Life. It is a day of fasting. Worship includes the confession of sins and asking for forgiveness, which is done aloud by the entire congregation. Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles (15-21 Tishri) The book of Exodus tells the story of the Israelites' journey to the promised land. Sukkot commemorates these years spent wandering the desert, living in makeshift dwellings. For the duration of the festival Jewish families live in temporary huts called sukkot (singular: sukkah) that they build out of branches and leaves. Each day they hold celebrations with four types of plant: branches of palm, myrtle and willow and a citrus fruit called an etrog. Sukkot is intended to be a joyful festival that lets Jews live close to nature and know that God is taking care of them.

Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah (22 Tishri; outside Israel Simchat Torah is 23 Tishri) Shemini Atzeret is an extra day after the end of Sukkot. Jews spend some time in their sukkah, but not as much, and without some of the rituals. Simchat Torah means "Rejoicing in the Torah". Synagogues read from the Torah every week, completing one read-through each year. They reach the end on Simchat Torah and this holiday marks the completion of the cycle, to begin again the next week with Genesis. Hanukkah, or Chanukah (25 Kislev - 2 or 3 Tevet, depending on the length of Kislev) The story of Hanukkah is that of the "miracle of the oil". In 164 BC a group of Jews called the Maccabees recaptured Jerusalem from the occupying Syrian Greeks. When they came to rededicate the temple, they had only enough sacred oil to light the menorah (seven-branched candlestick) for one day. It is said that the candles stayed lit for eight days despite this.

During the eight days of Hanukkah, Jews light one extra candle on a special nine-branched menorah, called chanukkiya, each night. They say prayers and eat fried foods to remind them of the oil. Some gifts are exchanged, including chocolate money and special spinning tops called dreidels. Tu B'Shevat (15 Shevat) Tu B'Shevat is the Jewish New Year for Trees. The Torah forbids Jews to eat the fruit of new trees for three years after they are planted. The fourth year's fruit was to be tithed to the Temple. Tu B'Shevat was counted as the birthday for all trees for tithing purposes, like the beginning of a fiscal year. On Tu B'Shevat Jews often eat fruits associated with the Holy Land, especially the seven plants mentioned in the Torah: wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates. Planting trees is another tradition. Purim (14 Adar) Purim celebrates the events told in the Book of Esther, in which a wicked Persian nobleman named Haman plotted to murder all the Jews in the land.

The Jewish heroine Esther, wife of the king Ahasuerus, persuaded her husband to prevent the massacre and execute Haman. Because Esther fasted before going to the king, Purim is preceded by a fast. On Purim itself, however, Jews are commanded to eat, drink a lot and celebrate. Almsgiving is also a very important Purim tradition. The Book of Esther is read in the synagogue and the congregation use rattles, cymbals and boos to drown out Haman's name whenever it appears. Passover, or Pesach (15-21 Nissan) This is one of the most important Jewish festivals. During Passover , Jews remember the story of the Israelites liberation from slavery in Egypt. God unleashed ten plagues on the Egyptians, culminating in the death of every family's eldest son. God told the Israelites to sacrifice lambs and mark their doors with the blood to escape this fate. They ate the lambs with bitter herbs and unleavened bread (unrisen bread without yeast). These form three of the components of the family meal, called the seder, eaten by Jews on the first two nights of Passover.

There are blessings, songs and other ingredients to symbolise parts of the story. During the meal the adults explain the symbolism to the children. Shavuot (6 Sivan) Shavuot , or the festival of Weeks, is a harvest festival. Historically, at this time of year the first fruits of the harvest were brought to the temples. Shavuot also marks the time that the Jews were given the Torah on Mount Sinai . Shavuot is marked by prayers of thanks for the Holy Book and study of its scriptures. Customs include decorating synagogues with flowers and eating dairy foods. Tisha B'Av (9 Av) This is a day of commemoration for a series of tragedies that have befallen the Jewish people, some of which coincidentally happened on this day, for example the destruction of the first and second temples in ancient Jerusalem. Other tragedies are commemorated on this day, such as the beginning of World War I and the Holocaust. As Tisha B'Av is a day of mourning Jews observe a strict fast and avoid laughing, joking and chatting. Synagogues are dimly lit and undecorated and the Torah draped in black cloth.

Share this page Religion in the UK illustrated with an interactive map Programmes BBC - Religions - Judaism: Shavuot Religions Shavuot Last updated 2010-05-18 Shavuot marks the time that the Jews received the Torah on Mount Sinai. This article looks at some of the activites that take place during this festival. On this page Shavuot is one of the Jewish harvest festivals, also known as the festival or feast of 'Weeks'. (The other two Jewish agricultural festivals are Passover and Sukkot .) There is no set date for the two-day festival, but it takes place seven weeks (fifty days) after the first day of the spring festival of Passover. Origins of Shavuot This time of year marks the start of the wheat harvest and the end of the barley harvest. Shavuot also marks the time that the Jews were given the Torah on Mount Sinai . It is considered a highly important historical event. Shavuot is sometimes called the Jewish Pentecost. The word Pentecost here refers to the count of fifty days after Passover. The Christian festival of Pentecost also has its origins in Shavuot.

Shavuot rituals and celebrations Prayers are said on Shavuot (especially at dawn) to thank God for the five books of Moses (collectively known as the Torah ) and for his law. Some people also spend the first night of Shavuot studying the Torah. Synagogues are decorated with flowers and plants on this joyous occasion to remember the flowers of Mount Sinai. Food traditions Dairy products are eaten during Shavuot. There are many interpretations about why this custom is observed. It is believed that once the rules about the preparation of meat were revealed in the Torah, the people of Sinai were reluctant to eat meat until they fully understood the rules. Shavuot: The Feast of Weeks | Resources | American Bible Society Shavuot: The Feast of Weeks Audience: Youth Individuals Adult Format: Web Shavuot (the plural version of the Hebrew word shavuah, or "week") is the third and last of the annual, weeklong biblical pilgrimage festivals to the holy Temple in Jerusalem, the capital of the Israelites.

Many scholars think that Shavuot has roots in the harvest cycles of the ancient Near East—as they believe is the case with the festival's predecessors, Sukkot and Pesach. Shavuot occurs in the late spring, a time of harvest for many fruits and vegetables in the land of Israel to this day. There is an interval of exactly seven weeks between the start of Pesach and the beginning of Shavuot, which marks the climactic fiftieth day of this sacred period. The number seven is of special significance in the Jewish tradition, most famously, perhaps, as it relates to the seventh day of Creation described in the Torah: the day on which God rested from labor. For millennia, this seminal moment in the Bible—Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath—has been honored and observed on the seventh day of each week by Jews around the world. In the absence of any major holy periods prior to the Days of Awe in the fall, Shavuot functions as a kind of capstone to, and climax of, the Hebrew calendar. It is a time of great joy, but also of profound sanctity. The association of the number seven with the festival of Shavuot is clearly no accident.

All this suggests that Pesach and Shavuot should be seen not as separate and distinct festivals, but rather as an interconnected unit: from the mythic, ritualized journey from Israel's physical birth as a people (the Exodus events of Passover) to its spiritual birth in the wilderness of Sinai. This has interesting similarities, certainly structural ones, to the ten-day "pilgrimage" experience from repentance to reconciliation that a Jew is obliged to make between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. It reinforces the idea that the Jewish calendar—in its totality—ought to be viewed as a tightly woven, theologically organic system, not as a series of disconnected holidays. After the Romans sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the Second Temple in the year 70 B.C., Shavuot—like the two other pilgrimage festivals—had to be reinvented if it was to survive in the new, ever-shifting Diaspora. The priests had been slaughtered, and animal sacrifice and harvest offerings could no longer serve as practical forms of Jewish religious expression.

Shavuot, therefore was transformed by the rabbis into a sacred period with rituals and practices that could be observed any place in the world, from the Middle East to North Africa, to Europe, to the Iberian Peninsula. At its core, Shavuot celebrates the giving—and the receiving—of the covenant at the foot of Mount Sinai. This is the festival's overarching theme: the eternal and reciprocal, relationship between God and the people of Israel. The Israelites did not have to accept the mitzvot, the laws, statutes, and practices that constitute the fabric of Jewish life. As newly freed men and women, they could have rejected them outright. And yet, with the words "We will obey the LORD and do everything he has commanded!" (Exodus 24:7, CEV), the Israelites choose affirmation and obedience over negation and distrust. They view the covenant as a blessing, not a burden. They select interdependence over solipsism. Communal worship is a major component of Shavuot observance (as it is with all major festivals and holy days).

It should come as no surprise that many of the religious practices connected with this period reflect the festival's core theme of the covenantal relationship between God and the Jewish people—a relationship that is special and unique, but not "better" than God's relationships with other peoples. One powerful expression of the commitment of Israel to God is the widespread practice of rising and standing together as a congregation at worship services during the chanting of the Ten Commandments. This mirrors the fact that the ancient Israelite's accepted the Torah's mitzvoth as a group, according to Exodus 24:3). Another practice that is meant to symbolize and express the idea of mutual obligation at the heart and soul of any covenantal relationship is that of the mystical "marriage" ceremony on Shavuot. This ceremony, little known among Jews of Eastern European descent but popular among Jews from North Africa, Turkey, and the Middle East, mirrors the traditional Jewish wedding ritual itself. At some point during the festival, a chupah, or wedding canopy (usually a large prayer shawl attached to four poles), is held aloft, and a ketubah, or marriage contract, is signed by a representative from the community.

The "contract" on Shavuot does not describe practical matters like dowries, but rather the vital importance of love, fidelity, and shared responsibility in this union between God and Israel. After the document is signed, men and women celebrate the covenant with God as they would celebrate their own marriage to another human being. Divine revelation is intimately linked with the idea of sacred covenant. From this interconnection comes the tradition of studying some aspect of the Jewish religion on Shavuot's very first night in a session that can (and often does) last until dawn. When spiritual ideas are disclosed to us, it is as if each one of us is shown a small glimpse of that great and original revelation at Sinai. There is an actual "countdown" to this moment, to the start of the festival of Shavuot, known as the Counting of the Omer. Originally, the omer was a biblical form of measurement often associated with harvest periods. So for 49 days, from the start of Passover until that first night, we symbolically "mark" one omer per day until we reach, as we noted at the outset, the climactic, joyful fiftieth day, the beginning of Shavuot.

Thanks to the support of our faithful financial partners, American Bible Society has been engaging people with the life-changing message of God’s Word for nearly 200 years. Help us share God's Word where needed most. Sign up to receive regular email updates from the Bible Resource Center. Also receive Bible-reading tips, tools and resources. Shavuot 101 - My Jewish Learning Shavuot 101 Why We Read The Book of Ruth on Shavuot For a video explaining why we eat dairy on Shavuot, scroll to the bottom of this article! Shavuot, the “Feast of Weeks,” is celebrated seven weeks after Passover (Pesach). Since the counting of this period ( sefirat ha-omer ) begins on the second evening of Passover, Shavuot takes place exactly 50 days after the (first) seder . Hence, following the Greek word for “fifty,” Shavuot is also referred to sometimes as Pentecost. Although its origins are to be found in an ancient grain harvest festival, Shavuot has been identified since biblical times with the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai .

Shavuot History Shavuot combines two major religious observances. First is the grain harvest of the early summer. Second is the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai seven weeks after the exodus from Egypt . The first determines the ritual for the holiday, which was one of the three pilgrimage festivals of ancient Israel, when Israelite males were commanded to appear before God in Jerusalem, bringing offerings of the first fruits of their harvest. The second determines the significance of the holiday for Judaism, tying it in with the seminal event of Jewish religious memory, namely the entering into a covenant between God and Israel, exemplified by Israel’s assumption of Divine law . Shavuot at Home Since Shavuot is an ancient pilgrimage holiday , it is not surprising that its ritual focuses on the community. Nonetheless, there are a number of customs associated with personal practice. Chief among them is the eating of dairy products on Shavuot. Although the reasons for this custom are not completely clear, it has become traditional to eat milk and cheese products as part of the celebration of Shavuot.

In the Community “Ruth in the Fields of Boaz” by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (Wikimedia Commons) Much of the observance of the holiday centers on the synagogue and its rituals. The special readings for the holiday include medieval poems (piyyutim) and the Book of Ruth . A number of reasons are given for the inclusion of the latter. Among them are that the book takes place at the time of the barley harvest, that Ruth’s assumption of Naomi’s religion reflects the Israelites’ acceptance of the Torah at Sinai, and that King David , who is alleged to have died at this time of year according to rabbinic tradition, is mentioned at the end of Ruth. Another tradition is to participate in a Tikkun Leil Shavuot , an all-night study session marking the holiday. And finally, Shavuot is one of the holidays on which both Hallel , the Psalms of Praise, is recited and Yizkor , the memorial service, is observed.

Shavuot Themes and Theology By associating an ancient holiday of the grain harvest with the exodus from Egypt, Jewish tradition has imbued Shavuot with religious significance derived from the foundational event in Jewish historical consciousness. In the specific case of Shavuot, this takes the form of the entering into a covenant or formal agreement between God and Israel at Mount Sinai. This is a joyous time, since it is the moment at which God and Israel entered into a figurative marriage with each other, the hopeful springtime of their relationship. Shavuot - Jewish Holidays | shiva.com Jewish Holidays Shavuot Shavuot Many of the Jewish festivals or holidays use a significant Hebrew word to serve as a name or designation for the event. The festival of Shavuot comes from the Hebrew word meaning “weeks” and celebrates the giving of the Law (Torah) to Moses and Mt. Sinai. This event occurred seven weeks after the Passover. It serves as a major agricultural event, marking the end of the spring barley and the beginning of the summer wheat seasons.

Dates for Shavout History The festival itself is rooted in the Bible and in the story of the Israelites’ journey in the desert from Egypt to Mt. Sinai. According to the book of Leviticus, the travels took exactly forty-nine days (Leviticus 23:16-22). The Lord instructs that this celebration is to proclaim the day as a sacred assembly. The people are to do no work on that day. The ordinance was to be one that lasted forever, wherever the Israelites might live. Shavuot, like many of the Jewish holidays, is marked as an agricultural festival as well. It indicated the ending of the spring harvest of barley and the beginning of the harvest of summer wheat. The people were instructed to bring grain offerings to the Lord at that time, along with a variety of animal sacrifices. In biblical times, Shavuot was considered a pilgrimage festival. If at all possible, the Jews were to travel to Jerusalem and make the presentation of their grain offerings to the priests in the Temple. It was this sacrifice that provided for the food needs of the priests and Levites whose job it was to minister and maintain the Temple and its surrounding area.

Shavuot may be known by several different names. It is also called Chag Hashavuot (“the festival of weeks”), Chag Habikkurim (“the feast of the first fruits”) and Chag Hakatzir (“the festival of reaping). Customs and Rituals Today, Shavuot is a celebration of the Torah, education and active participation in the traditions of Jewish life. Many Jews observe the custom of Tikkun Leil Shavuot, which means staying up all night to study the Torah. Staying up reminds of the importance of knowing the Law. Preparation for the festival allows one to reflect upon this life-invigorating event as an individual, family and community. The Bible teaches that the Israelites had three days to prepare to receive the Law at Mt. Sinai. They were instructed to wash their clothes and to stay pure. Tradition says that many of the people went without sleep during the entire three days, eagerly awaiting the words from the Lord. People today can use the same three day framework to prepare for Shavuot. Traditionally, the book of Ruth is read during services at Shavuot. Ruth is a young Moabite woman who married an Israelite man.

When her husband died, she followed Naomi, her mother-in-law, back to Israel and adopted the Jewish faith as her own. Ruth is honored as one who chose to covert to Judaism. Here statement “Your people shall be my people, and your God shall be my God” is seen as the ultimate celebration of the power of the Torah to change lives. Shavuot often is a festive time of decorating and festivities surrounding the spring. Homes display flowers and bright colors. Meals often include dairy products and desserts, reminding all of the sweetness of the Torah. It is also customary to eat dairy products on Shavuot. Many take this practice directly from Scripture, symbolizing the “land flowing with milk and honey” (Exodus 33:3) and “milk and honey should be under your tongue” (Song of Solomon 4:11). Funerals and Jewish Mourning During Shavuot Law and tradition prohibit a mourner from engaging in any activity that brings joy. Events like a wedding, Bar/Bat Mitzvah or other religious celebration should not be attended. However, strong acts of mourning are also prohibited on Sabbath and certain Jewish holidays. Certain accommodations are allowed for shiva during the holidays.

When the festivals of Rosh Hashana, Yom Kipur, Sukkot, Passover and Shavuot occur during the middle of shiva, the remaining days of shiva period of mourning are suspended. This is true as long as a few moments of shiva were observed before the festival began. A candle should remain lit for the entire seven days of shiva, but should not be kept in the same room as the events celebrating the festival. If the burial took place on the morning leading into the festival, the mourners may prepare for the festival after midday. Mourners may go to the synagogue for services, but should not take a leadership role in prayer or Scripture reading. Because of the sensitive nature of the time of loss, a Rabbi should be consulted for proper procedures for mourning during Shavuot. The Rabbi will take into account the circumstances, traditions and Scripture and offer guidance. Remembering Loved Ones During Shavuot On the last evening of Shavuot, there is a prescribed time to commemorate, honor and reflect on deceased loved ones. The Yizkor (also Yiskor) is a special memorial service held four times a year.

Yizkor is the Hebrew word for “remembrance.” This dedicated part of the service is considered one of the most recognized times to remember the deceased. Because Jewish festivals contain moments of remembrance and family, the Yizkor during Shavuot is a perfect time to honor deceased family members. Lasting tributes such as contributions to charities, hospitals or hospices, synagogues or other organizations provide meaningful memorials for departed loved ones. The tradition of inscribing one’s name in the book of life is a common occurrence in the Jewish faith. Families may light a yizkor candle , plant a tree in Israel , or dedicate a name plaque . Other meaningful and appropriate ways to memorialize a loved one include the creation of a Plaque and Memory page online through the National Jewish Memorial Wall (NJMW.org) . The inclusion on a memorial or yahrzeit wall is a meaningful way to show honor and respect for the deceased. Jewish Holidays and Festivals - ReligionFacts ReligionFacts Jewish Timeline Jewish Holidays and Festivals In Judaism, life is marked by numerous special days in which adherents take time out of their everyday lives to stop work and focus on God and his mitzvot (commandments), including Sabbath services and holidays.

The history of Judaism is full of incredible stories, which, according to the Hebrew Bible, are important for Jews of all generations to remember. Because the purpose of most of the holidays and festivals in Judaism is to recall God's work in history, they are one of the most important aspects of the Jewish faith. Observing holidays and festivals also has important social outcomes. They help to keep tradition alive, contribute to a sense of community and belonging, and ensure regular reflection and celebration. The most important Jewish holy days are the Sabbath, the three pilgrimage festivals (Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot) and the two High Holy Days (Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur). For observant Jews, it is forbidden to work on any of these days. Shavuot: The Harvest Festival of Torah | Jewish Reconstructionist Community Home » Shavuot: The Harvest Festival of Torah A good case can be made for Shavuot being the most important of all the Jewish festivals.

The revival of its observance is of particular concern to Reconstructionist Jews because our understanding of the nature and task of the Jewish people in the world and of what God should mean to us cannot be separated from our reinterpretation of the meaning of Torah. Shavuot is the festival of the giving and the receiving of Torah — of Torah as revelation, as law and as study. The word "Torah" means teaching, guidance, instruction, orientation. It is actually synonymous with Judaism itself and it has been used as such through the centuries. In the Pentateuchal Torah (the Five Books of Moses), the Jewish people is told to count off seven weeks from the second day of Passover: "Start to count the seven weeks when the sickle is first put to the standing grain. Then you shall observe the Feast of Weeks for the Eternal your God, offering your freewill contribution . . . You shall rejoice before the Eternal your God with your son and daughter . . . and the stranger, the fatherless and the widow in your midst" (Deuteronomy 16). Shavuot originated as an agricultural festival.

It celebrates the beginning (the "first fruits") of the wheat harvest in Eretz Yisrael which continues throughout the summer and ends with Sukkot in the fall. "On the day of the first fruits, your Feast of Shavuot, when you bring an offering of new grain to the Eternal, you shall observe a sacred occasion: you shall not work at your occupations" (Numbers 28). "Then you shall observe the Feast of Weeks for the Eternal your God, offering your freewill contribution according as the Eternal your God has blessed you. You shall rejoice before the Eternal your God" (Deuteronomy 16). Harvest festivals are universal, and Israelite farmers probably observed their harvest festival in ways not much different from those of their neighbors. What transformed Shavuot into something more than an agricultural celebration was the fact that our forbears gradually came to thank God not only for the harvest of their fields, orchards and vineyards, but also for the laws and traditions of the harvest which they had developed during the centuries. Israelite law, for example, insisted that even during the busy planting and harvesting seasons the Sabbath be observed as a day of rest for people and animals alike (Exodus 34).

Indeed, the original reason for counting the days of the seven weeks may have been to keep track of the Sabbaths. Israelite law also ordained that the edges of the field and the gleanings of the harvest belonged exclusively to the poor and unfortunate. "When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap all the way to the edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest. You shall not pick your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger" (Leviticus 19). Since the Israelite saw God’s gift in the laws of the harvest as much as in the harvest itself, the book in which those laws were eventually recorded (the Torah) also came to be regarded as divine and the feast of the harvest became the holiday of revelation (the Season of the Giving of the Torah). With time, the agricultural aspect of Shavuot became secondary and the festival was observed primarily as a celebration of the revelation of the written and oral Torahs (the Pentateuch together with the Talmud and the Mid-rash).

Two thousand years ago, the Pharisees, the primary shapers of Judaism as we know it today, championed this view. That the laws of nature and the ethical laws by which people should live are all derived from the same divine source is beautifully expressed in the 19th Psalm: The heavens declare the glory of God, the sky proclaims God’s handiwork. Day to day makes utterance, night to night speaks out. . . . The teaching of the Eternal is perfect, renewing life; the decrees of the Eternal are enduring, making the simple wise. According to Mordecai Kaplan, the outstanding characteristic of the Jewish religion is actually "its conscious emphasis upon the teaching that the moral law is the principal manifestation of God in the world" (The Meaning of God in Modern Jewish Religion). As Samuel S. Cohon writes (in the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia): "Historical analysis, while showing the human origin of the Torah and its development in response to ever-changing needs, thereby undermining its claim to absoluteness, also demonstrates its abiding character in Judaism.

Indeed, Judaism is the religion of Torah, not alone of the Written Law, nor even of the Oral Law, but of the religious growth of the Jewish people in religious knowledge and culture." The significance of Torah as law harkens back to the legend of God’s choice of Abraham to be the progenitor of a people that would be a blessing to all nations. According to the story (Genesis 18:19), God had foreknowledge that Abraham would instruct his household and his posterity to observe "God’s way," which is the practice of justice and law (actually, justice under law). Perhaps the time has come to stress this legend on Shavuot, rather than the one about God giving the Torah to the Israelites through Moses on Mount Sinai. "The actual revelation of God," Kaplan wrote (in If Not Now, When?), "took place not amid the thunder and lightning on Mt.

Sinai but in the ‘still small voice’ of Israel’s sense of human history." The Reconstructionist approach to Judaism actually commences with Mordecai Kaplan’s realization that "as long as Jews adhered to the traditional concept of Torah as supernaturally revealed, they would not be amenable to any constructive adjustment of Judaism that was needed to render it viable in a non-Jewish environment" (Mordecai M. Kaplan: An Evaluation). These words still ring true for many of the most religiously sophisticated among us. Jacob Agus, in his discussion (in The Evolution of Jewish Thought) of Maimonides’ attitude to the idea that God spoke in an audible voice at Sinai, or that the revelation there actually took place as described in the Torah, reminds us that "when the Jewish people stood at the foot of Mount Sinai and heard the Ten Commandments recited by Moses, they were so deeply moved that in their imagination they heard voices and beheld wondrous sights. But the account of the revelation must not be taken literally . . . according to Maimonides, the account of the Sinaitic revelation in the Book of Exodus should be read as a parable (mashal) . . .

in general, ‘the inner meanings of the words of the Torah are the gems while the literal parables are no more than illustrations.’" In its capacity as law, the Torah has enabled us to be a self-governing, self-educating and self-perpetuating civilization throughout our history. Jews always felt that "Your principles have been the music of my life throughout the years of my pilgrimage . . . If your law hadn’t sustained me with joy, I would have died in my misery" (Psalm 119). The ultimate explanation for the survival of the Jewish people may be traced, in Eugene Kohn’s words, to "the will of Israel to live which proceeded from the love which the Jewish people had for its way of life as prescribed in the Torah." Nor has Torah as law (halakha) lost its ability to contribute to Jewish survival today.

"If all of us," Kohn wrote (Reconstructionist Pamphlet Series, 1966), "seek to understand the value of the mitzvot and practice as many of them as have value for us, they will be able to function as a religious influence on our lives." The idea of Torah as law should also serve to remind us that moral responsibility, which is mediated through conscience, is the principal manifestation of God in human experience. Moral responsibility, or the ability to choose among alternatives those which express ethical and spiritual qualities, is the modern version of ancient Israel’s idea of God’s law for human life. "Responsibility," wrote Kaplan, "is modern man’s equivalent for the traditional concept of Divine law for man" ("A Philosophy of Jewish Ethics" in The Jews: Their Role in Civilization, edited by Louis Finkelstein). In Jewish tradition, the study of Torah has always been viewed as the most important of the commandments. From the Reconstructionist point of view, the scope and content of Torah study should be expanded. Torah study would then include the ideas and documents that went into the making of the Pentateuch and the other parts of the Hebrew Bible (the "proto-Torah").

The Pentateuch itself would be studied in historical context and from the points of view of comparative religion and literary criticism. In addition to the traditional law and lore of our people, Torah study should involve the study of Jewish history and culture through the ages. The study of Hebrew and Yiddish language and literature should be emphasized but the study of the literature of the Jewish people in non-Jewish languages should be included. Torah study must also embrace study of other civilizations and cultures that can help in our quest for the meaning of both humanity and divinity. The study of Torah every day of our lives, like the reading of Torah in the synagogue, can also be viewed, in the words of Jacob J. Weinstein (CCAR Proceedings, 1952), "as a ritual of learning, as a symbol of our reverence for knowledge, our passion for truth seeking, our consuming conviction that knowledge, not ignorance, is the road to bliss and the pathway to God.

We should attend it with such instruction as will make it clear that this is an unfinished book, its meaning changing with the changing hungers of people, its pages ever open to new insights." For Reconstructionist Jews, the Torah is divine not in the sense that God dictated it to Moses or gave it to us, but in the sense that the Process by which our people discovered its laws, spun its narratives and authored its poetry is exactly what we mean by God. Even the ethical shortcomings of the Torah are a source of insight and instruction for us. The God of the Torah is, for us, the spirit of the Jewish people at its best. In periods of religious introspection and exaltation, this spirit gives voice to those eternal ethical and spiritual insights in which we behold manifestations of a Power that is the ultimate source of goodness and truth. While we are grateful and proud that the Torah has become the heritage of many peoples, for us the secret of its greatness lies in the fact that it is of the Jewish people, by the Jewish people, and for the Jewish people — our sacred and living heritage. In this heritage, universalism has always been inextricably and benevolently interwoven with particularism.

Although such particularism today must be free of every taint of exclusivism and intolerance, our hope for human survival is indissolubly linked with hope for the survival and flourishing of our own distinctive peoplehood, culture and religion. The Jewish people created the Torah and the Torah, in turn, has created and recreated the Jewish people throughout history. It has conferred purpose and meaning on both our collective and individual existence, and has filled our lives with the blessings that come from the striving toward perfection. The insight of Saadia Gaon that "our people is a people only by virtue of the Written and Oral Torahs" is both descriptive and prescriptive. The reading of the Book of Ruth on Shavuot, one of the beautiful traditions of this festival, has special meaning for us because we sense the profundity of its message (Ruth 1:16) that only when the Jewish people is truly our people because we identify with it emotionally, culturally and spiritually — only then do we experience its God as our God.

Shavuot Themes & Theology - My Jewish Learning Shavuot Themes & Theology Shavuot History: From the Bible to Temple Times The festival of Shavuot transformed from a purely agricultural into a historical and religious holiday. Originally mentioned in the Torah as a harvest festival, over time it took on new meanings so that now–like the other pilgrimage festivals–Shavuot has an agricultural, a historical, and a religious significance. These meanings contain a number of themes, such as: counting and marking time, a period of sadness leading to a time of explicit joy, and the mystical idea of marriage between God and Israel. The themes are reflected in the numerous names for the holiday. The agricultural is apparent in “Hag HaKatzir” (Harvest Festival) and “Yom HaBikkurim” (“festival of first fruits “); the marking of time is apparent in “Shavuot” (“festival of weeks”) and “Atzeret,” a name from the Talmudic period meaning a cessation of something or a solemn assembly; the historical and religious is apparent in “Zeman Matan Torateinu,” the time of the gift of Torah.

Premium Israeli Olive Oil Shavuot is a festival that marks the end of counting (sefirah) that began on the second evening of Pesach ( Passover ). This span of time bridged the barley and wheat harvests when people were supposed to bring offerings of both to the Temple . The agricultural origin of the festival is still remembered and highlighted in the Book of Ruth that is read on Shavuot. The story takes place during the seasonal harvest associated with the holiday. Ruth, a Moabite woman who chose to join her mother-in-law Naomi’s people, is seen as the paradigmatic convert to Judaism. In a sense, she was the first to reject her own ancestral faith and willingly take on Jewish law and tradition. In this way the book reflects both the agricultural as well as the historical significance of the festival. In post-biblical times, the rabbis calculated that the sixth of the month of Sivan, the day of Shavuot, was the day the Israelites received the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai. Thus, Shavuot became the festival marking the reception of Torah, when the Israelites had experienced Revelation .

Shavuot was consequently transformed into a festival that not only had agricultural significance, but also marked the birthday of the covenant between God and Israel. For traditionalist Jews who believe in “Torah min hashamayim” (direct revelation of God to the Jewish people on Mt. Sinai), Shavuot marks a specific historical anniversary. All branches of Judaism view the Torah as a divine gift–whether inspired or revealed. Thus, for every Jewish denomination, Shavuot is a festival that highlights the fundamental truth and importance of the moral law of Torah. By MJL Staff | May 28, 2003 The festival of Shavuot transformed from a purely agricultural into a historical and religious holiday. Originally mentioned in the Torah as a harvest festival, over time it took on new meanings so that now–like the other pilgrimage festivals–Shavuot has an agricultural, a historical, and a religious significance. These meanings contain a number of themes, such as: counting and marking time, a period of sadness leading to a time of explicit joy, and the mystical idea of marriage between God and Israel. The themes are reflected in the numerous names for the holiday.

The agricultural is apparent in “Hag HaKatzir” (Harvest Festival) and “Yom HaBikkurim” (“festival of first fruits “); the marking of time is apparent in “Shavuot” (“festival of weeks”) and “Atzeret,” a name from the Talmudic period meaning a cessation of something or a solemn assembly; the historical and religious is apparent in “Zeman Matan Torateinu,” the time of the gift of Torah. Premium Israeli Olive Oil Shavuot is a festival that marks the end of counting (sefirah) that began on the second evening of Pesach ( Passover ). This span of time bridged the barley and wheat harvests when people were supposed to bring offerings of both to the Temple . The agricultural origin of the festival is still remembered and highlighted in the Book of Ruth that is read on Shavuot. The story takes place during the seasonal harvest associated with the holiday. Ruth, a Moabite woman who chose to join her mother-in-law Naomi’s people, is seen as the paradigmatic convert to Judaism. In a sense, she was the first to reject her own ancestral faith and willingly take on Jewish law and tradition.

In this way the book reflects both the agricultural as well as the historical significance of the festival. In post-biblical times, the rabbis calculated that the sixth of the month of Sivan, the day of Shavuot, was the day the Israelites received the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai. Thus, Shavuot became the festival marking the reception of Torah, when the Israelites had experienced Revelation . Shavuot was consequently transformed into a festival that not only had agricultural significance, but also marked the birthday of the covenant between God and Israel. For traditionalist Jews who believe in “Torah min hashamayim” (direct revelation of God to the Jewish people on Mt. Sinai), Shavuot marks a specific historical anniversary. All branches of Judaism view the Torah as a divine gift–whether inspired or revealed. Thus, for every Jewish denomination, Shavuot is a festival that highlights the fundamental truth and importance of the moral law of Torah. Jewish mysticism has also influenced Shavuot. For mystics, God is like a groom and Israel is like a bride. Shavuot then becomes the anniversary of the marriage between God and Israel. Other mystical parallels are made.

Marking the material wheat harvest on Shavuot, the people were to bring two loaves of bread as an offering in the Temple. This mirrored the spiritual “harvest” of Shavuot, the two tablets of the Law. The counting or “sefirah” (the 7X 7 weeks of the omer ) also has mystical implications. The number seven equals the days of creation. The word “sefirah” is also the word for each of the levels of divine emanation in Jewish mysticism. Of the 10 levels, the lower seven are believed to be within human apprehension. During the second century, the omer period leading up to Shavuot changed from a time of happiness of anticipation of the harvest, to one of sadness. There are a number of reasons given for this. The one most frequently mentioned is the legendary plague that purportedly killed 12,000 of Rabbi Akiba ‘s students. However, other theories posit that once Shavuot was recognized as the anniversary of Revelation, the period leading up to it necessarily became one of apprehension and trepidation. Another interesting theory relates the apprehension to the agricultural harvest itself.

The omer period was when fruit ripened, and thus the fate of the season’s crops was determined. Indeed the Talmud views Shavuot as the day when the world is judged regarding the fruit of the trees. There also is a logical historical reason for the fact the omer period became a time of sadness. After the Temple was destroyed in the first century C.E., the people could no longer bring their offerings. Jews would still mark the time, however. The time was now sad because of the need to commemorate the festival “l’zekher lamikdash” (in memory of the Temple) rather than at the Temple itself. Shavuot is a day of great joy, marking the end of the sadness and commemorating the joy of receiving the Torah. Consequently, for a few hundred years Shavuot has been the time when young children begin their study of Torah. The joy of Torah learning is often demonstrated physically by giving children candy or allowing them to lick honey off the page being studied.

Question: Shavout is a major festival in which religion?
Answer: Judaism