The Holiday of Shavuot
What is Shavuot Really About? Where does Matan Torah Fit In? How is it Relevant Today?
By Sarah Penso | 29 January 2024 | 2 Minute Read
Understanding What Shavuot is All About
What are we celebrating on Shavuot?
What are we celebrating on Shavuot? It seems fairly obvious: This holiday commemorates the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai. That’s the reason we stay up late studying Torah on Shavuot night, right? It’s why we read the Ten Commandments in the morning. But there’s a problem with that explanation: Nowhere does the Torah say that Shavuot has anything to do with Matan Torah, the Revelation at Sinai.
Shavuot in the Torah
Shavuot IS mentioned in the Torah, of course. We’re commanded to bring the first fruits of our harvest to the Temple on Shavuot. We’re supposed to remember that we were once slaves in Egypt and rejoice together with our neighbors, sharing with people who have less than we do. But that leaves us with a few questions.
The relevance of Shavuot today
How exactly is the Torah’s idea of Shavuot relevant to us today? We don’t have a Temple, and even if we did, most of us wouldn’t have a harvest to bring there. So are we stuck just missing out on the Biblical meaning of this holiday?
Another thing we might wonder: Did the Shavuot we actually celebrate – our later, rabbinic version of the holiday – just get made up out of nowhere? No Temple, so let’s stick some kind of feel-good Torah Day into the calendar? Have we somehow been getting Shavuot “wrong” all this time?
The Deeper Significance of Shavuot
Rabbi David Fohrman digs into all these questions in his video “What Does Shavuot Celebrate?” It turns out that the Shavuot we know, the rabbinic “Torah Day” version, didn’t just come out of nowhere. When we take a closer look at the Torah’s verses on Shavuot, we’ll see clues to the larger meaning of this holiday. And we’ll discover that although the Shavuot we know may seem so different from the Torah’s picture, the “two Shavuots” are really part of the same idea.
Link to source of the Section 2 content, with an invitation to hear the rest/learn more
Curious to see these clues for yourself? Join Rabbi Fohrman’s exploration of Shavuot at https://www.alephbeta.org/playlist/what-does-shavuot-celebrate
More Shavuot Videos
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Join Rabbi Fohrman in his pre-Shavuot learning event and get ready for the holiday.
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The infamous nighttime rendez-vous between Ruth and Boaz might rub people the wrong way. What are two righteous individuals doing alone at a threshing floor? But Rabbi Fohrman’s closer investigation just might redeem this taboo tale.
More Shavuot Guides
Study Guide for the Book of Ruth
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This guide for Megillat Ruth will take you to a deeper, and more meaningful understanding of this seemingly-ordinary text. Rabbi Fohrman’s study guide illuminates why this tale of marriage, death, and daily life in ancient Israel is nothing short of an origin story for Jewish nationhood — and the perfect chronicle for Shavuot.
The Secret to Understanding Jewish Holidays - Outline
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A self-study guide for: The Secret to Understanding Jewish Holidays
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