Shavu'ot: Pentecost

The Feast of Weeks

A Torah scroll at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. The Torah is believed to have been given on Shavu'ot.

Name:

Shavu'ot (pronounced "shah-voo-OAT") meaning weeks. Also spelled/pronounced Shavuos, Shavuoth. Another name for the holiday is Pentecost (from Greek "fifty"), Bikkurim (first fruits).

Date:

Traditional Jewish observance takes place on the sixth day of the month of Sivan (May/June), fifty days from the second day of Passover. Historically there are two other ways of counting the "seven sabbaths" to Shavu'ot one of which always lands on the first day of the week, called Sunday.

Purpose:

A harvest festival to thank the Lord for the first gathering of wheat and other produce.

References in the Tanakh (Old Testament):

• Leviticus 23:15-21 - Count off fifty days from the first barley harvest, present wave offerings of loaves of bread
• Numbers 28:26-31 - Sacrifices and offerings for Shavu'ot

References in the New Testament:

• Acts 2:1 - Holy Spirit descends upon believers during Shavu'ot (Pentecost)
• Acts 20:16 - Paul wanted to be in Jerusalem in time for Shavu'ot

Observance:

In Temple times, there were offerings of wheat and other produce, sacrfices, joyful celebration and a cease from labor.

Tradition holds that Moses received the Torah on Mount Sinai on Shavu'ot.

Today, homes are decorated with fruit, greens, and flowers. Dairy foods are eaten in commemoration of the giving of dietary laws.

The book of Ruth is read because she was faithful to the Jewish people even during times of great poverty. She fed herself and her mother-in-law by gleaning in the wheat fields during the harvest.

Fulfillment:

Just as the Israelites were affirmed as God's chosen people on Shavu'ot, with the giving of the Torah, the Messianic community was affirmed by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the Ruach Hakodesh, as God's people at Shavu'ot after the Messiah's ascension. The 3,000 that were added to the community that day were like firstfruits of the greater Messianic community.

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