Shavuot, also called Pentecost, traces the origins of the history of the Jewish people as it commemorates the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, while at the same time preserving the memory of ancient Jewish agricultural ceremonies. Origins, meanings, calendar, holidays… Here are four questions to help you understand this major holiday in Judaism.
What is the origin of Shavuot?
Shavuot is one of the three main pilgrimage holidays in the Jewish religion, along with Passover – the Passover – and Sukkot – the Feast of Tabernacles. Before the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD, Jews from Judea and elsewhere came to the city three times a year to offer sacrifices to their God.
These three feast dates were part of the agrarian calendar: Easter corresponds to the beginning of spring and the first harvest of barley, Pentecost to new wheat and firstfruits (firstfruits), and the feast of Cabanes heralds the time. A great autumn harvest. After the destruction of the Temple, followed by the exodus from Judea, the association of the Jewish people with peasant customs expanded in fact, and in its texts with persistence.
What is the (double) meaning of Shavuot?
In antiquity, the opposition to the Pharisaic rabbis was pitted against the Sadducees (and later Samaritans and Karaites), who rejected the interpretations and laws of the Talmud and limited themselves to a simple observance of biblical rules.
The Sadducees considered Shavuot to be only an agricultural holiday, while the Pharisees associated it with the giving of the Torah. Since current Judaism derives entirely from the rabbinic current (and therefore Pharisaically inspired), the festival primarily commemorates the divine transmission of the Law at Mount Sinai, without forgetting Shavuot’s agricultural origins.
At temple time, a procession of farmers joyfully went up to Jerusalem to offer the first fruits. Today, synagogues are often decorated with plants and flowers, white and green. On the morning of the holiday, men, women and, above all, children gather to listen to the Decalogue, read the Ten Commandments, and thus annually renew the covenant of their people with God, made at the time of the giving of the Torah. .
How to understand its place in the calendar?
The date of Shavuot is fixed on the 6th-7th of the Jewish month “Sivan”. The festival lasts two days in the Diaspora (only one in the land of Israel). This date was investigated by the rabbis by reading the Bible (Deuteronomy 5, 24), which provides for the counting of seven weeks from the day of the first offering of barley, which occurred on the first day of Passover.
Source: Le Monde
I’m Joel Redick, a journalist currently working for an Run Down Bulletin. I specialize in writing articles on world news, and my work has been featured on multiple platforms, where I write about current affairs and global issues.
