Shavuot

What it is

Shavuot is a biblically ordained holiday, one of three festivals on which Jews once travelled to the Temple in Jerusalem. Its Hebrew name is the plural of a word for week or seven, because it arrives seven weeks after Passover. The Bible also calls it the Festival of Reaping and the Day of the First Fruits. In the Talmud it appears as ʻAṣeret, a term for holding back from work. Greek-speaking Jews of the Hellenistic world named it Pentecost, from the word for fiftieth, since it comes fifty days after the first day of Passover.

Origins and history

The Hebrew Bible ties the festival to the grain harvest, which ran for seven weeks in the Land of Israel. Barley was cut at Passover and wheat at Shavuot. At the Temple, two loaves baked from the new wheat were offered, a sacrifice called the shtei halechem. The Bible never states that the Torah was given on this date. Rabbinic tradition supplies that reading, and most sages placed the revelation at Sinai on 6 Sivan, though Jose ben Halafta argued for 7 Sivan. Following one Orthodox reckoning, the event is dated to 1312 or 1313 BCE.

How it is kept

Shavuot has no special biblical law beyond the usual festival rules: rest from creative work and a joyful mood. Rabbinic practice adds extra prayers, kiddush and shared meals. On the first morning the Ten Commandments are read from a Torah scroll, and many families bring children to hear it. Ashkenazi communities remember the day's customs through the word aḥarit, meaning last: Aqdamut, the liturgical poem; ḥalav, dairy food; Rut, the Book of Ruth; yereq, greenery in home and synagogue; and Torah, study through the night.

Poems and readings

The first day's Torah reading is the account of the Sinai revelation. Its prophetic reading comes from Ezekiel. Outside Israel, a passage on the pilgrimage festivals is read on the second day, with a reading from Habbakuk. Ashkenazi congregations recite Aqdamut, a ninety-line Aramaic poem by Meir of Worms, before or during the morning Torah reading. It praises God, the Torah and Israel, follows an acrostic on the Hebrew alphabet, and closes each line with the syllable ta. Older still is the Azharot, verse lists of the commandments that were an established custom by the ninth century.

What it means

Two meanings sit side by side. The older one is agricultural: a season of gladness at the end of the grain harvest, when wheat was ready, summer fruit was ripening and first fruits could be carried to the Temple. The later one is about covenant. Passover marks release from slavery in Egypt; Shavuot marks the giving of the Torah, when the Israelites are said to have become a people bound to serve God. The seven-week count between them is read as longing for that moment.

How Shavuot is kept

The whole community keeps it, in synagogue and at home. The evening and the day carry extra prayers, kiddush and festive meals. Some stay awake through the night to study Torah. In the morning the Ten Commandments are read, and children are brought to listen. Ashkenazi congregations say Aqdamut, then read the Book of Ruth. Homes and synagogues are dressed with cut greenery. Dairy dishes appear at the table. Psalms are recited and a memorial candle lit for King David, and Hasidic communities also mark the yahrzeit of the Baal Shem Tov.

When and where

Shavuot falls on 6 Sivan in the Hebrew calendar, which in the 21st century lands between 15 May and 14 June. Its date is fixed by counting: the Torah requires seven weeks from the second day of Passover. Israel keeps one day, and a second day is added in the diaspora.

It is kept wherever Jews and Samaritans live. In Israel, where it is a public holiday, it lasts a single day; elsewhere two. Jerusalem holds the deepest connection, since the festival was one of the three occasions for pilgrimage to the Temple there. Karaite Jews follow a different reckoning, placing the start on the Sunday after 6 Sivan.

What Shavuot means

For those who keep it, Shavuot is about covenant. The shtei halechem, the two wheat loaves offered at the Temple, contrast with the barley omer of Passover: barley fed animals and stood for the low state of the Israelites just out of Egypt, while wheat stood for the higher state they reached when they received the Torah. The Qumran sect read the festival as the New Wheat, first of three harvest feasts counted off by fiftieths. The Aqdamut's closing syllable ta, last letter then first, points to a Torah without end.

Days Shavuot is marked

Shavuot dates: 2026, 2027, 2028

Questions people ask about Shavuot

See also

PassoverA Jewish spring festival celebrating freedom from slavery with ritual mealsSukkotA seven-day autumn Jewish festival of temporary booths, harvest prayers and hospitalityHoly FireA fire ceremony in Jerusalem each year, kept by Orthodox Christians before EasterSigdAn Ethiopian Jewish holiday of covenant renewal, fasting, and longing for Zion

Good reading and sources

• Encyclopaedia BritannicaArticle
• Joseph KaroJewish Virtual Library, Article
• BBC - ReligionsBBC, Article
• Joseph KaroJewish Virtual Library, Article
• BBC - ReligionsBBC, Article

• Shavuot on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.