Shavuot Jewsih Holiday in Israel

Shavuot or Shavuos is a Jewish holiday that occurs on the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan (late May or early June). It marks the conclusion of the Counting of the Omer and the day the Torah was given to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai. It is one of the shalosh regalim, the three Biblical pilgrimage festivals. The date of Shavuot is directly linked to that of Passover. The Torah mandates the seven-week Counting of the Omer, beginning on the second day of Passover and immediately followed by Shavuot. This counting of days and weeks is understood to express anticipation and desire for the Giving of the Torah. On Passover, the Jewish people were freed from their enslavement to Pharaoh; on Shavuot they accepted the Torah and became a nation committed to serving God.In the Bible, Shavuot is called the Festival of Weeks or Festival of Reaping and Day of the First Fruits .Since Shavuot occurs 50 days after Passover, Christians gave it the name Pentecost.Photo by Rafael Ben-Ari/Chameleons Eye