Shavuot is the second of the three biblical pilgrimage festivals (the Shalosh Regalim), falling on the sixth of Sivan (and continuing on the seventh of Sivan in the Diaspora). Shavuot celebrates the moment when, fifty days after the Exodus from Egypt, the Jewish people stood at Har Sinai for the Giving of the Torah. It also celebrates the wheat harvest in Eretz Yisrael.

Shavuot means “weeks,” as it falls seven weeks (a “week of weeks”) after Pesaḥ, the culmination of the forty-nine-day Omer period which began on the second night of Pesaḥ. Because of this, Shavuot is also known as “Pentecost,” which means “fifty” in Greek (it is the fiftieth day, i.e. the day after the completion of the counting of forty-nine days). Other names for Shavuot found in the Torah are Ḥag HaKatzir (the Festival of Reaping) and Yom HaBikkurim (Day of the First Fruits), and in the Talmud it is also known as Atzeret (“refraining” or “holding back”). (This connects Shavuot to Pesaḥ in a similar way that Shemini Atzeret is connected to Sukkot). We also refer to Shavuot in our prayers as Zeman Matan Torah (the Time of the Giving of the Torah).

While there are no rituals associated with Shavuot in the Torah, there are several beautiful and meaningful customs that have developed to help us celebrate Shavuot. These include Tikkun Leil Shavuot (staying up all night to learn Torah), eating dairy foods, decorating the shul with flowers and greenery, and the reading of Megillat Rut.