"Shavout 2021"

Why do we celebrate Shavuot?

Join us the Feast of Weeks on

May 16 thru May 18th , 2021 on Facebook live.

In Leviticus 23:15-16, the LORD commanded the Israelites to count fifty days from Pesach (Passover) to reach the festival of Shavu’ot (“Weeks”).

That’s seven full weeks—forty-nine days—between the two festivals, with the fiftieth day being Shavu’ot. The Greek word for “fifty” is pentekonta, so the festival also became known as Pentecost. [1] In Exodus 23:16, Shavu’ot is referred to as the Feast of the Harvest, indicating the time of the late spring grain harvest—the last of the spring festivals.

In the days of the Tabernacle or (at other times) the Temple, on the first day of the Omer the Israelite priests would wave a sheaf (omer)—a tied bundle of harvested cereal including both stalks and heads of grain—before the LORD in the Holy Place. This is called s’firat ha-omer (counting the sheaves). Instead of referring to the practice as “counting the days,” we talk about “counting the Omer.”