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Shavuot
- the Feast of Weeks - is one of the three major festivals that are called
"pilgrim festivals" in the Hebrew Bible (Deuteronomy 16:16). It
marked the end of the barley and beginning of the wheat harvest.
The time of Shavuot comes 50 days after Passover, thus its other
well-known name "Pentecost" (see Leviticus 23:11, 15-16, 21), which
means "fiftieth."
Shavuot
was associated with the bringing of the bikkurim, "the first ripe
fruits," to the Temple. Local
villagers would first assemble in the largest town of the district and then they
would travel together to the Temple, where they would be welcomed with song by
the Levites.
Over
time Shavuot changed from a harvest celebration to the celebration of the
anniversary of the giving of the Torah at Sinai. The rabbis were responsible for
making these changes in order to redirect the focus from the ancient
agricultural feasts to festivals marking the anniversary of significant
historical events in the history of Israel.
Passover and Sukkot were connected to the Exodus.
Therefore it was natural to link Shavuot to the event at Sinai.
However, this wasn't the first time this festival had been changed.
According to scholars, the origin of Shavuot can be traced back to a
midsummer Canaanite harvest festival which the Israelites adopted for their
purposes.
There
is nothing in the Bible that connects Shavuot with the giving of the Torah since
this motif was developed many centuries after the Hebrew Bible was canonized.
Historically, neither Josephus (100 AD) nor Philo (40 AD) refers to
Shavuot as the time of the giving of our Torah," and none of the references
in the rabbinic literature to the Torah being given on this day (e.g., Shabbat
86b) is earlier than the second century AD. The earliest clear references
to Shavuot as the anniversary of the giving of the Torah are from the third
century - the sayings of Rabbi Eleazar - that all authorities agree.
He said that it is necessary to rejoice with good food and wine because
it was the day on which the Torah was given (Pesach 68b).
Shavuot,
unlike Passover and Sukkot, has few special rituals. This is completely understandable since it is no longer
associated with agricultural harvests, and there is no longer a Temple.
There are a number of customs associated with Shavuot in modern Judaism. One is the reading of the entire Book of Ruth during the
service. Another is the tradition
of adorning the synagogue with beautiful green plants and flowers.
The rabbis taught that Mt. Sinai was a beautiful green mountain at the
time the Torah was given. Interestingly,
in modern Israel attempts have been made to revive some of the harvest
ceremonies.
Both
Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity link Shavuot to specific historical events
that play important roles in establishing the legitimacy of their movements.
For Rabbinic Judaism it was their teaching that God gave two different
types of laws on Mt. Sinai, the Written Law and the Oral Law.
For Christianity it was the descent of the Holy Spirit on the
congregation of believers gathered at the Temple in Jerusalem for Shavuot.
Links
for more information about Shavuot-
Overview
Information:
(1) http://www.shj.org/shavuot.html
(2) http://www.uahc.org/ct/tbd/tbdshavout.html
Recipes:
(1) http://www.cyber-kitchen.com/rfcj/category.cgi?category=SHAVUOT
(2) http://www.jewish.com/food/shavuot.shtml
Children:
(1) http://www.torahtots.com/holidays/shavuos/shavuot.htm
Links
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