Shavuot

Shavuot: The Time of the Giving of Our Torah

Next: Thursday evening, June 10, 20276 Sivan 5787In 209 days

Shavuot 2027 begins on the evening of Thursday, June 10, at the close of the forty-nine days of the Omer. It lasts one day in the Land of Israel and two days outside it, and on it we celebrate the giving of the Torah at Sinai.

It is customary to stay awake through the night learning Torah (Magen Avraham 494), to read the Book of Ruth (Rema, Orach Chaim 490:9) and to eat dairy foods (Rema 494:3).

Shavuot falls on 6 Sivan. The Torah calls it the Festival of Weeks, for the seven weeks we count toward it, and the Day of the First Fruits, when the bikkurim were brought to the Temple.

The night of learning, the Tikkun Leil Shavuot, shows how eager we are to receive the Torah. It is also customary to decorate the home and the synagogue with greenery. The Book of Ruth tells of a woman who chose to join the Jewish people and accept the Torah, and in the morning the Ten Commandments are read in the synagogue.

Below you will find the meaning, the customs and the laws of the festival.

Start here

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Frequently Asked Questions

Shavuot 2027 (6 Sivan 5787) begins on the evening of Thursday, June 10. It lasts one day in Israel and two days outside Israel. When the festival leads straight into Shabbat, an eruv tavshilin is made on the eve of the festival. The dates for the next three years, with the Hebrew dates, are in the table on this page.

One reason is that when the Jewish people received the Torah, with its laws of kosher slaughter and kosher dishes, they could not prepare meat right away and ate dairy. The Torah is also compared to milk, which nourishes and gives life.

The Midrash says that on the morning of the giving of the Torah the people slept late, and Moshe had to wake them. By learning through the night we repair that, and show that we are waiting to receive the Torah.

The story takes place at the harvest, the season of Shavuot. Ruth accepted the Torah with all her heart, as we did at Sinai, and her descendant King David was born and passed away on Shavuot.