Also known as the Festival of Weeks, Shavuot takes place seven weeks after Passover. Shavuot is one of the three feasts God commanded Israelites to travel to Jerusalem every year to celebrate (Deuteronomy 16:16-17). In Acts 2, the disciples were gathered in the upper room on Shavuot seven weeks after Yeshua was crucified and raised from the dead at Passover.

Originally, it was a feast to celebrate the harvest of the first fruits, but after the Temple was destroyed, Shavuot became a celebration of the Torah.

Today, many observant Jews spend the first night of Shavuot in an all-night study of the Scriptures. They might go from house to house all night for a bible study and some dairy and wheat-based desserts like blintzes and kugel. Children are introduced to the study of Torah and learn the aleph bet (the Hebrew alphabet). As they study, they are given honey and sweets so that they associate sweetness with God’s word.

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