What Is Shavuot? What Are the Traditions that are Part of the Holiday?
Within the Jewish faith, there may be no more important historical event than the receipt of the Torah by Moses on Mount Sinai, which has informed virtually every aspect of Judaism ever since. Did you know there’s a specific Jewish holiday—Shavuot (or Shavuos)—that commemorates that event? If not, you’re not alone. According to some estimates, about one in ten Jewish schoolchildren will take a day or two off to celebrate the holiday. Particularly in America, there’s far less recognition and understanding of the holiday than of Chanukah, Passover or Yom Kippur.
What Is Shavuot?
Shavuot (also known as the “Feast of Weeks,” or as Pentecost) is referenced a number of times in the Pentateuch, in Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. It falls exactly 49 days after the second evening of the Passover holiday (50 days after the first seder). The seven-week period represents the time that elapsed after the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt before the Torah was given to Moses.
In biblical times, Shavuot celebrated both the receiving of the oral Torah by Moses, and the summer grain harvest. Historical materials indicate that the holiday was, in fact, a grain festival before it became a religious holiday. It was one of three festivals on the Jewish calendar when all Jewish men were required to go to Jerusalem and offer their first fruits to God. Before it became associated with the receipt of the Torah, it provided an opportunity for farmers to bring their wheat to a common threshing ground, and to thank God for a bountiful harvest. Somewhere around the 7th-8th century BCE, as Jewish priests consolidated power, they transformed the mostly secular festival into a religious celebration.
How Is Shavuot Celebrated Today?
In the 21st century, Shavuot is commemorated with a number of traditions:
- The consumption of dairy products—There’s no commonly accepted explanation of this tradition. Some contend that it represents our newborn innocence when we received the Torah. Others say that the inclusion of the phrase “land of milk and honey” in the Torah made mild and other dairy products permissible. Some scholars also speculate that, when the Israelites received the Torah, they were not yet practicing kosher laws—upon reading the new laws, they concluded that their meats were not kosher and opted for dairy instead. Whatever the reason, you’ll find a veritable cornucopia of diary-based items at Shavuot celebrations, including cheese, cheesecake, chocolate milk, milkshakes, cheese and crackers, ice cream and other dairy delights.
- Studies of the Torah—Because the holiday celebrates the receipt of the Torah, it’s tradition to have focused studies of the Torah at Shavuot. Furthermore, because legend says that the Jewish people overslept the morning they received the Torah, the tradition now involves staying up all night to study the Torah (a tradition known as a Tikkun Leil Shavuot or “Shavuot night watch”). It’s common for many communities to have study sessions that last until sunrise, followed by morning prayer. A common focus of the study is the Book of Ruth, which takes place during a barley harvest.
- Readings of the Ten Commandments—Many synagogues have services where the Ten Commandments will be read.
- Paper-cutting—Because Shavuot celebrates the first harvest, some synagogues initially adopted a custom of bringing flowers and greenery into the sanctuary. Because of concerns that such a practice followed some Christian traditions, the tradition evolved to cutting rectangular and circular pieces of paper and putting them on windows in the synagogue.
- In Israel, Shavuot is celebrated as a “holiday of water”—This stems from the belief that the Torah is akin to “life-giving water” for the Jewish people. In many cities in Israel, there are huge water fights on Shavuot, with water cannons, water balloons and spray guns.
Gutterman’s—At Your Side for More than Five Generations
At Gutterman’s and Gutterman Warheit, with funeral chapels in New York and Florida, we have helped members of the Jewish faith in times of loss and bereavement for mor than 125 years. We understand the distinct practices within the different Jewish traditions, and can provide guidance on all matters related to a funeral or burial, from the order of service to arrangements for Shiva, from the choice of a marker or monument to the ritual preparation of the body or the creation of a Yahrzeit calendar.
Let Gutterman’s and Gutterman’s Warheit serve you in your time of mourning. To learn more about our full range of services, call us at one of the numbers below. Our funeral chapels are open, so we are happy to meet with you in person, but we are also happy to consult with you by phone, text message or videoconferencing. Our phones are answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.