What’s the Date of Shavuot?

(14) Three times a year you shall hold a festival for Me: (15) You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread—eating unleavened bread for seven days as I have commanded you—at the set time in the month of Aviv, for in it you went forth from Egypt; and none shall appear before Me empty-handed; (16) and the Feast of the Harvest, of the first fruits of your work, of what you sow in the field; and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in the results of your work from the field. (17) Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Sovereign, יהוה.

(22) You shall observe the Feast of Weeks, of the first fruits of the wheat harvest; and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year.

(26) On the Day of the First Fruits, your Feast of Weeks, when you bring an offering of new grain to יהוה, you shall observe a sacred occasion: you shall not work at your occupations. (27) You shall present a burnt offering of pleasing odor to יהוה: two bulls of the herd, one ram, seven yearling lambs. (28) The meal offering with them shall be of choice flour with oil mixed in, three-tenths of a measure for a bull, two-tenths for a ram, (29) and one-tenth for each of the seven lambs. (30) And there shall be one goat for expiation in your behalf. (31) You shall present them—see that they are without blemish—with their libations, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its meal offering.

(3) How would they perform the rite of the harvest of the omer? Emissaries of the court would emerge on the eve of the festival of Passover and fashion the stalks of barley into sheaves while the stalks were still attached to the ground, so that it would be convenient to reap them. The residents of all the towns adjacent to the site of the harvest would assemble there, so that it would be harvested with great fanfare. Once it grew dark, the court emissary says to those assembled: Did the sun set? The assembly says in response: Yes. The emissary repeats: Did the sun set? They again say: Yes. The court emissary next says to those assembled: Shall I reap the sheaves with this sickle? The assembly says in response: Yes. The emissary repeats: With this sickle? The assembly says: Yes. The court emissary then says to those assembled: Shall I place the gathered sheaves in this basket? The assembly says in response: Yes. The emissary repeats: In this basket? The assembly says: Yes. If the sixteenth of Nisan occurs on Shabbat, the court emissary says to the assembled: Shall I cut the sheaves on this Shabbat? The assembly says in response: Yes. The emissary repeats: On this Shabbat? The assembly says: Yes. The court emissary says to those assembled: Shall I cut the sheaves? And they say to him in response: Cut. The emissary repeats: Shall I cut the sheaves? And they say to him: Cut. The emissary asks three times with regard to each and every matter, and the assembly says to him: Yes, yes, yes. The mishna asks: Why do I need those involved to publicize each stage of the rite to that extent? The mishna answers: It is due to the Boethusians, as they deny the validity of the Oral Law and would say: There is no harvest of the omer at the conclusion of the first Festival day of Passover unless it occurs at the conclusion of Shabbat. The publicity was to underscore that the sixteenth of Nisan was the proper time for the omer harvest.

(2) How were the bikkurim taken up [to Jerusalem]? All [the inhabitants of] the cities of the maamad would assemble in the city of the maamad, and they would spend the night in the open street and they would not entering any of the houses. Early in the morning the officer would say: “Let us arise and go up to Zion, into the house of the Lord our God” (Jeremiah 31:5).

(3) Those who lived near [Jerusalem] would bring fresh figs and grapes, while those who lived far away would bring dried figs and raisins. An ox would go in front of them, his horns bedecked with gold and with an olive-crown on its head. The flute would play before them until they would draw close to Jerusalem. When they drew close to Jerusalem they would send messengers in advance, and they would adorn their bikkurim. The governors and chiefs and treasurers [of the Temple] would go out to greet them, and according to the rank of the entrants they would go forth. All the skilled artisans of Jerusalem would stand up before them and greet them saying, “Our brothers, men of such and such a place, we welcome you in peace.”

(4) The flute would play before them, until they reached the Temple Mount. When they reached the Temple Mount even King Agrippas would take the basket and place it on his shoulder and walk as far as the Temple Court. When he got to the Temple Court, the Levites would sing the song: “I will extol You, O Lord, for You have raised me up, and You have not let my enemies rejoice over me” (Psalms 30:2).

(5) The birds [tied to] the basket were [offered] as whole burnt-offerings, and those which they held in their hands they gave to the priests.

(6) While the basket was still on his shoulder he recites from: "I acknowledge this day before the LORD your God that I have entered the land that the LORD swore to our fathers to assign us” (Deuteronomy 26:3) until he completes the passage. Rabbi Judah said: until [he reaches] “My father was a fugitive Aramean” (v.. When he reaches, “My father was a fugitive Aramean”, he takes the basket off his shoulder and holds it by its edges, and the priest places his hand beneath it and waves it. He then recites from “My father was a fugitive Aramean” until he completes the entire passage. He then deposits the basket by the side of the altar, bow and depart.

Rabbi Elazar said: All agree with regard to Atzeret, the holiday of Shavuot, that we require that it be also “for you,” meaning that it is a mitzva to eat, drink, and rejoice on that day. What is the reason? It is the day on which the Torah was given, and one must celebrate the fact that the Torah was given to the Jewish people...

(1) On the third new moon after the Israelites had gone forth from the land of Egypt, on that very day, they entered the wilderness of Sinai. (2) Having journeyed from Rephidim, they entered the wilderness of Sinai and encamped in the wilderness. Israel encamped there in front of the mountain, (3) and Moses went up to God. יהוה called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus shall you say to the house of Jacob and declare to the children of Israel: (4) ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Me. (5) Now then, if you will obey Me faithfully and keep My covenant, you shall be My treasured possession among all the peoples. Indeed, all the earth is Mine, (6) but you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the children of Israel.” (7) Moses came and summoned the elders of the people and put before them all that יהוה had commanded him. (8) All those assembled answered as one, saying, “All that יהוה has spoken we will do!” And Moses brought back the people’s words to יהוה. (9) And יהוה said to Moses, “I will come to you in a thick cloud, in order that the people may hear when I speak with you and so trust you ever after.” Then Moses reported the people’s words to יהוה, (10) and יהוה said to Moses, “Go to the people and warn them to stay pure today and tomorrow. Let them wash their clothes. (11) Let them be ready for the third day; for on the third day יהוה will come down, in the sight of all the people, on Mount Sinai.

(1) These are the words of the division of the days according to the law and the testimony for the generations of the years, their weeks and their Jubilees, all the days of the heavens upon the earth as Moses spake by Mount Sinai.

(2) And it came to pass in the first year of the exodus of the Children of Israel from Egypt in the third month on the sixteenth thereof, that Moses spoke saying:

(3) Go up to me here toward the mountain and I will give you the two tablets of stone and the law and the commandments that I have written to teach them.

(1) And in the fifth year of the fourth week of this jubilee, in the third month, in the middle of the month, Abram celebrated the feast of the first-fruits of the grain harvest.

(3) And the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him: "I am God Almighty; approve thyself before Me and be thou perfect. And I will make My covenant between

(4) Me and thee, and I will multiply thee exceedingly."

(5) And on that day we made a covenant with Abram, according as we had covenanted with Noah in this month;

(6) "Behold My ordinance is with thee, And thou wilt be the father of many nations.

(7) Neither will thy name any more be called Abram, But thy name from henceforth, even for ever, shall be Abraham. For the father of many nations have I made thee.

(8) And I shall make thee very great, And I shall make thee into nations, And kings will come forth from thee.

(9) And I shall establish My covenant between Me and thee, and thy seed after thee, throughout their generations, for an eternal covenant, so that I may be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.

(10) (And I shall give to thee and to thy seed after thee) the land where thou hast been a sojourner, the land of Canaan, that thou mayst possess it for ever, and I shall be their God."

(11) And the Lord said unto Abraham: "And as for thee, do thou keep My Covenant, thou and thy seed after thee,

(1) And on the new moon of the third month he went forth from the ark, and built an altar on that mountain.

(1) And Israel took his journey from Haran from his house on the new moon of the third month, and he went on the way of the Well of the Oath, and he offered a sacrifice to the God of his father Isaac on the seventh of this month.

(2) And Jacob remembered the dream that he had seen at Bethel, and he feared to go down into Egypt.

(3) And while he was thinking of sending word to Joseph to come to him, and that he would not go down, he remained there seven days, if perchance he should see a vision as to whether he should remain or go down.

(4) And he celebrated the harvest festival of the first-fruits with old grain, for in all the land of Canaan there was not a handful of seed (in the land), for the famine was over all the beasts and cattle and birds, and also over man.

In the third month, on the sixth of the month, the Ten Utterances were given to them; it was Shabbat.

(1) (Exodus 16:1) "And they journeyed from Eilim, and they came … on the fifteenth day of the second month of their going out from the land of Egypt": Why is "day" mentioned?... Another interpretation: "On the fifteenth day of the second month": Why is "day" mentioned? To know on which day the Torah was given to Israel. (Rosh Chodesh of the) Nissan on which Israel left Egypt fell out on the fifth day of the week. Nissan was a complete month (thirty days, so that Rosh Chodesh) Iyyar fell out on the Sabbath. Iyyar was a defective month (twenty-nine days, so that Rosh Chodesh) Sivan fell out on the first day of the week. And it is written (Numbers 33:3) "On the morrow of the Pesach, the children of Israel went out," and (here) "on the fifteenth day of the second month," and (Exodus 19:1) "On the third month of the exodus of the children of Israel, they came to the desert of Sinai," whence it is derived (that the sixth day of their encampment was on the third month (Sivan), on the sixth day of the month, on the eve of the Sabbath, (and the Torah was given the next day, Sabbath [viz. Shabbath 87b-88a]).

(1) 1) (23:15) ("And you shall count for yourselves from the morrow of the Sabbath, from the day that you bring the omer of the lifting; seven complete Sabbaths shall they be."): "And you shall count for yourselves": Each one shall count for himself individually. "from the morrow of the Sabbath": from the morrow of the festival (Pesach, on the sixteenth day of Nissan). I might think, from the morrow of the (literal) Sabbath, of creation (i.e., Saturday) — R. Yossi b. R. Yehudah said: "Until the morrow of the seventh Sabbath shall you count fifty days" (23:16) indicates that the entire count (from Pesach until Shavuoth) will (always) be fifty days, (which would not be the case if the Sabbath of creation were meant).

(2) 2) If I say (that the count is) from the morrow of the Sabbath of creation, then sometimes the count will be fifty-one days; sometimes, fifty-two; sometimes, fifty-three; sometimes, fifty-four; sometimes, fifty-five; sometimes, fifty-six (depending on which day Pesach begins). How, then, must I understand "from the morrow of the Sabbath"? As from the morrow of the festival.

(3) 3) R. Yehudah b. Betheira says: "from the morrow of the Sabbath": from the morrow of the festival. I might think, from the morrow of the Sabbath of creation. "Seven weeks shall you count for yourself" (Devarim 16:9) — a count which depends upon the determination (of the advent of the festivals) by beth-din, to exclude the Sabbath of creation, which is not dependent upon (the count of beth-din, its advent being known to all men.

(4) 4) R. Yossi says: "from the morrow of the Sabbath": from the morrow of the festival. I might think, from the morrow of the Sabbath of creation. Now is it written On the morrow of Sabbath on Pesach? Is it not written only "from the morrow of the Sabbath"? Isn't the entire year filled with Sabbaths? Go and figure which Sabbath is meant! And, furthermore, it is written here "from the morrow of the Sabbath," and, below, (11), "from the morrow of the (seventh) Sabbath." Just as there, the reference is to a time period (i.e., the end of the seventh week) conjoined with the beginning of a festival (Shavuoth); here, too, the reference is to a time period (the omer) conjoined with the beginning of a festival (Pesach, which begins with the fifteenth day of Nissan).

(5) 5) R. Shimon b. Elazar says: In one place (Devarim 16:8) it is written "Six days shall you eat matzoth," and, in another, (Shemoth 12:15) "Seven days shall you eat matzoth"! How is this to be resolved? Matzoh which cannot eat seven days from the new grain, (permission to eat of the new grain [chadash] beginning with the bringing of the omer on the second day of the festival), you can eat, seven from the old grain and six from the new. How, then, must I understand "from the morrow of the Sabbath? As from the morrow of the festival.

(6) 6) "from the day that you bring": you shall count. I might think that he could bring (the omer) and count, and harvest whenever he wished; it is, therefore, written (Devarim 16:9) "from the time you put the sickle to the standing grain you shall begin to count. If "from the time you put the sickle," I might think that one could harvest and count, and bring the omer whenever he liked; it is, therefore, written "from the day that you bring … shall you count." If from the day that you bring. "If from the day that you bring," I might think that he must harvest and count and bring in the daytime. It is, therefore, written "seven complete Sabbaths shall they be." When are they "complete"? When he begins at night. I might then think that he harvests and brings and counts at night. It is, therefore, written "from the day that you bring." How is this realized? The harvesting and counting is at night, and the bringing in the daytime.

(7) 7) (23:16) ("Until the morrow of the seventh Sabbath shall you count fifty days, and you shall offer a new meal-offering to the L rd.")

(8) 8) "you shall count fifty days": I might think that one should count fifty days and make the fifty-first the festival (of Shavuoth); it is, therefore, written (15) "seven complete Sabbaths shall they be." (In that case, I might think that he should count forty-eight days and make the forty-ninth the festival. It is, therefore, written "shall you count fifty days." How is this related? Fount forty-nine days and make the fiftieth day the festival, as with the Jubilee year.

We have the custom to spread out plants on Shavuot in the synagogue and in houses, as a memory for the happiness of the receiving of the Torah.

(1) The fiftieth day of the count of the Omer is the holiday of Shavuot. The prayer service is like the holiday of Passover, rather we say "the Holiday of Shavuot, the time of the giving of our Torah". We say full Hallel. We take out two Torah scrolls and read in the first one of five [sections] from "The third month" until the end of the order. The Maftir is read in the second scroll, "On the day of the first fruits". As Haftorah we read the chariot of Ezekiel, and end with the verse "and the wind took me up."

You have chosen us from all of the nations; You have loved us and desired us and elevated us from all tongues and You have made us holy with Your commandments, and You have brought us close to Your service, our Sovereign, and You have put Your great, and holy name upon us.

And You have given us, Eternal One, our God, with love, appointed times for joy, festivals and seasons for gladness and the festival day of Shavuot, the Time of the Giving of Our Torah, a holy convocation, in remembrance of Egypt.