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Festivals | Shavu'ot
 Nature
and Names of the Festival
The Festival of Shavuot - Hag Matan Torah - is cited in
the Torah as a festival of nature and of agriculture. On Pesach
we celebrate the exodus of our forefathers from Egypt - from bondage
to freedom; after months of wandering in the desert the Children
of Israel arrived at Mount Sinai, where they received the Torah
through the intermediary of Moses.
Since the Israelites received the Torah on Shavuot, the festival
is also called Hag Matan Torah (the Festival of the Giving of
the Law). Our Sages emphasize that only when they received the
Ten Commandments did the Israelites become a free people. Our
forefathers received the Torah of their free will and with full
agreement (Exodus, 24: 7).
According to tradition the Torah was given to Israel in the year
2448 of the Creation of the world.
On Shavuot the People of Israel concluded the barley harvest and
commenced the wheat harvest, since in Eretz Yisrael the month
of Sivan signals the end of spring and the beginning of summer.
The "Three Pilgrim festivals" are:
| The Festival |
The Season |
The Biblical Source |
| Pesach (The Spring Festival) |
End of Winter/ start of spring |
From such time as you begin to put the sickle to the corn
(beginning of barley harvest)
(Deuteronomy, 16:9) |
| Shavuot (Festival of Reaping] |
End of spring/start of summer |
First fruits of wheat harvest (beginning of wheat harvest)
(Exodus, 34:22) |
| Sukkot Feast of Ingathering |
End of summer/start of autumn |
When you have gathered in your - labors from the field
[Exodus, 23: 16] After you have gathered in your corn
and your wine [Deuteron. 16:1] |
Three times yearly, our forefathers went up to the Temple in Jerusalem
to bring the fruit of their soil as a thanks-offering to the Lord.
There is another special significance to the timing of Shavuot,
between the Omer and the harvest. The festival was fixed at the
end of a season lasting seven weeks, namely the period of "Counting
the Omer", which commences on the first day of Hol Hamoed
Pesach in Israel [second night of the festival in the Diaspora].
In this period, the fierce struggle between the easterly and the
westerly winds intensifies in Eretz Israel. The dry easterly winds
on the one hand, and the westerly winds on the other, bearing
clouds and the danger of sudden rains, can lead to sudden weather
changes, affecting the field crops and plantations. Thus the 49
days of the Omer are counted with some degree of trepidation.
When Shavuot arrives, the weather stabilizes. The farmer already
knows the fate of the grain crops, but he has no guarantee of
the success of the harvest of the fruit that grow in summer. This
is known only at the Harvest Festival.
In addition to the name "Hag Matan Torah", the festival has four
other names:
 Shavuot
In the Torah the festival is called "Hag Ha-Shavuot", the Festival
of Weeks, after the seven weeks counted from Pesach to Shavuot:
"You will count for yourselves seven weeks; begin to count
the seven weeks from the time that you begin to put the sickle
to the corn. And you shall keep the feast of weeks unto the Lord
your G-d...".
(Deuteronomy, 16: 9-10)
The seven weeks of the counting of the Omer must be complete. Accordingly
care is taken over the following details:
- The "ma'ariv" prayers of the evening following Nisan 15 are
not delayed after nightfall, in order to begin the first day
of the Omer at the right time;
- "Ma'ariv" is not prayed before nightfall on the eve of Shavuot
in order to complete the 49 days of the Omer at the right
time.
The Torah does not indicate the date of Shavuot, since it is fixed
as the fiftieth day of the Omer (Leviticus 23:16), and always
falls on the sixth of Sivan.
Hag Hakatzir
 The
Festival of Reaping. The barley harvest, that commences on
Pesach, ends on Shavuot, when the wheat harvest begins (wheat
ripens later than barley):
"And the feast of harvest, the first fruits of your labors,
which you have sown in the field".
(Exodus, 23:16)
"And you shall observe the feast of weeks, of the first
fruits of wheat harvest".
(Exodus, 34:22)
Hag Habikurim
The
Festival of First fruits - Just as the Omer offering of the
new barley is brought on Pesach, during the festival of "your
first harvest", so on Shavuot, at the end of the barley harvest,
the offering of the two shew-breads is brought.
These offerings are mitzvoth[precepts] which are not binding on
the individual, but rather on the public, and they were brought
to the Temple. It is customary today to bring first fruits of
the land (mainly fruit and vegetables) and to distribute them
to the poor.
Atzeret
In the Mishnah and Talmud, Shavuot is known as "Atzeret",
which means: a festive assembly of all the people. The pilgrims
who came to Jerusalem used to gather in the Holy City and celebrate
the festival joyously. Today, this agricultural event is celebrated
in the kibbutzim and moshavim of Israel with dancing and singing.
This is the final day of the Pesach period, just as Shemini Atzeret
concludes Sukkot.
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