Shavuot

Your guide to Shavuot traditions, history, recipes, and more!

Girl celebrating ShavuotGirl celebrating Shavuot

Quick Facts

Hebrew Name: שָׁבוּעוֹת (Sha-vu-ōt)

English Names: Shavuot / Feast of Weeks/ Day of the Firstfruits / Festival of Harvest / Pentecost

Jewish Calendar Dates: Sivan 6-7

Origin in Torah: Exod 23 & 34, Lev. 23, Num. 28, Deut. 16

Dates

Evening of
June 11, 2024

through
June 13, 2024

Pulling An All-Nighter–Torah Style!

One Shavuot tradition is staying up all night to study the Torah and other texts. This study session is named Tikkun Leil Shavuot, or “Repair of the Night of Shavuot.”

All night Torah reading

The Day the Midrash
Came to Life

Shavuot is for farmers. At least, that’s how it started. Now, we celebrate it as the anniversary of when God gave us the Torah on Mount Sinai. And in the first century C.E., some Jewish people gathered in Jerusalem experienced a very unusual Shavuot.

Drawing of Shavuot elements

Seven Fun Reasons Why We Eat Dairy on Shavuot

No one knows exactly how or when this custom began, but we have numerous explanations in Jewish tradition. Some of them might stretch your imagination.

Girl Eating Dairy

Shavuot Recipes

From our bubbes’ kitchens to yours, here are our favorite recipes:

Drawing of mother and daughter baking challah

Why Do We Read Ruth?

On Purim, we read Esther; at Passover, we retell the story of Exodus; and for Shavuot, we read … um, Ruth? Why is that?

Book of Ruth on table with wheat

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How To Celebrate A Messianic Shavuot

Celebrating this holiday in light of Messiah starts with remembering that God sent us His Spirit on the Shavuot holiday in Jerusalem that followed Jesus’ resurrection.

Shavuot desserts