Shavuot
Shavuot (help·info) (or
Shovuos (help·info), in Ashkenazi usage;
Shavuʿoth in Sephardi and Mizrahi Hebrew (Hebrew: שבועות, lit. "Weeks"), known as the
Feast of Weeks in English and as
Πεντηκοστή (
Pentecost) in Ancient Greek, is a Jewish holiday that occurs on the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan (late May or early June).
Shavuot commemorates the anniversary of the day God gave the Torah to the entire nation of Israel assembled at Mount Sinai, although the association between the giving of the Torah (
Matan Torah) and Shavuot is not explicit in the Biblical text. The holiday is one of the
Shalosh Regalim, the three Biblical pilgrimage festivals. It marks the conclusion of the Counting of the Omer, and its date is directly linked to that of Passover. The Torah mandates the seven-week Counting of the Omer, beginning on the second day of Passover, to be immediately followed by Shavuot. This counting of days and weeks is understood to express anticipation and desire for the giving of the Torah.