Shavuot: Festival of Weeks
When
Shavuot is a two day-long holiday, typically in late May or early June.
(June 11-13, 2024)
Scriptural Reference
“You shall count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering. You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall present a grain offering of new grain to the Lord. You shall bring from your dwelling places two loaves of bread to be waved, made of two tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour, and they shall be baked with leaven, as firstfruits to the Lord. And you shall present with the bread seven lambs a year old without blemish, and one bull from the herd and two rams. They shall be a burnt offering to the Lord, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. And you shall offer one male goat for a sin offering, and two male lambs a year old as a sacrifice of peace offerings. And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits as a wave offering before the Lord, with the two lambs. They shall be holy to the Lord for the priest. And you shall make a proclamation on the same day. You shall hold a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work. It is a statute forever in all your dwelling places throughout your generations.
“And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.”
Leviticus 23:15-22
History
Shavuot - a holiday meaning the “Festival of Weeks” - celebrates the Lord not only providing the annual wheat harvest, but also providing his people with the Torah, particularly the 10 Commandments to Moses at Mount Sinai.
It is called the Festival of Weeks because this took place 7 weeks after the Israelites crossed the Red Sea and is celebrated 7 weeks after Passover. This number is profoundly rich in symbolism, as numbers often are in Hebrew. Seven is the number of completion and spiritual perfection, spanning back to the beginning of Genesis with a creation narrative that concluded on the seventh day and was set apart for Sabbath wholeness and peace.
Additionally, Shavuot takes place 7 weeks after Passover (with each week being 7 days), totaling at 49 days. This is also important because, while Israelites had Sabbath Years every 7 years, every 7th year (i.e. every 49 years) they celebrated the Year of Jubilee, which was the ultimate year of liberation, justice, and celebration. By mathematically squaring the number 7, it’s as if to enhance the meaning of the number by itself. Not only did this moment encapsulate perfection, but complete and perfect perfection.
Shavuot is a day of God’s abundant generosity and is one of great rejoicing!
Purpose
While Shavuot may not draw the same level of attention as holidays like Passover, Rosh Hashanah, or Yom Kippur, many have made the argument that it’s the most important of the Jewish holidays because it commemorates the giving of the Scriptures - a context for God’s living word to dwell among his people.
God’s word - Logos, in Greek - is more than cognitive text; it’s fundamentally an extension of God himself. While God had spoken to his people - even performed the unthinkable and miraculous in static moments in time - the Torah, filled with its 613 mitzvahs, would be a steadfast and reliable guide throughout time.
Western thought can often dilute or wholly misconstrue the Hebrew understanding of mitzvahs. While often translated as “commands” or “laws”, mitzvahs would’ve been viewed less as stringent legislature regulating the Israelites every move, and more so as “acts of human kindness,” or “the ways of love” aligning themselves with the purposes of the one true God.
The Torah was then, in part, a demonstration of the Lord motioning his children to come near and become like him, filled with the goodness first proclaimed in Eden.
Consider the sumptuousness of this gift of Torah in the context of its reception. The Israelites were newly freed wanderers carrying the shrapnel of Egyptian trauma from their enslavement. Although they were now liberated, for the first time in generations they didn’t have a predefined roadmap for their day-to-day life. Egypt might have been the quintessence of oppression, but it also provided an unwavering structure that was familiar. The desert, on the other hand, brought near absolute uncertainty and the desperate need for direction.
The Hebrew word for desert here is “midbar,” which can mean desolate place or a place where a shepherd takes their flock out to graze. But in the mystical and poetic language of Hebrew, meaning isn’t solely found in singular definitions, but is also found in exploring other words that share the same root. In this case, another branch of this root is the word “dabar,” meaning “to speak” or “spoken word.” It’s variations can imply truth or commandment, and even evoke the understanding of one getting behind something to drive it towards completion.
The beautiful undercurrent of the story of Shavuot is that, hidden within the text itself, is the rabbinic promise that the God who leads his people out into “midbar” will, as a good shepherd, feed his flock. And what will he feed them? Not only literal food (”manna”) from heaven, but also the food of his spoken word, his “dabar,” his 10 Commandments and Torah. For “man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8:3).
Throughout the last two millennia, Jews have adopted various traditions to celebrate these rich truths during Shavuot, including eating dairy-based desserts to remember that the sweetness of Torah is likened to that of milk and honey. Many Jews will also stay up into the darkest hours of the night reading from the Scriptures, one text most notably being the Book of Ruth. If you go through the story of Ruth, you will discover many beautiful parallels to the Israelites experience of Shavuot in the desert. Ruth is a wanderer seeking new land; Ruth is poor and hungry seeking food (which just so happens to be during a wheat harvesting time); and Ruth, while a non-Jewish sojourner, is ready to receive the truths of Torah, ultimately being grafted into the faith through Boaz.
Fulfillment
Shavuot, to disciples of Yeshua, marks not only a celebratory time of remembering God’s gift of wheat and Torah, but also a celebration that God is still speaking and giving himself to us, specifically through the provision of his Holy Spirit in and amongst us.
To recall this moment, we must step back into Luke’s written accounts in Acts. After Yeshua had died and resurrected over Passover weekend, he spent 40 days with his disciples (the same amount of days that he spent fasting in the desert (“midbar”) at the beginning of his ministry and the same number of years that the Israelites wandered in the “midbar”). But then he ascended; he was gone.
His disciples, ready to begin spreading the good teachings and ways of Yeshua, remained in Jerusalem awaiting direction from God. And then, “When the day of [Shavuot] arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit…” (Acts 2:1-4).
What a delightful display of the Lord’s divinely poetic authorship! Just as the Good Shepherd provided man with his Word through Torah, so too has he provided man with the indwelling Word of himself by his Spirit.
From wheat harvests, to the 10 Commandments at Mount Sinai, to the incarnation, to the gift of his Holy Spirit, we see a God who gives good gifts, then provides his Word, then dwells with us, then abides in us.
In our following of Rabbi Yeshua, we encounter this entire journey and trajectory of Shavuot filled with the undergirding message that our Creator is continuously pursuing and drawing closer to us. He is becoming one with and unifying his Bride.
Throughout antiquity, it was the nature of many Mesopotamian religions to try and reach the gods through worldly means, tricking and coercing them to serve the will of man. We see this illustrated in the Tower of Babel narrative from Genesis 11.
But Elohim is not like other gods; He may be gracious, but He will not be exploited. The story at Babel ended with scattering and confusion through language, mistrust, and the disassembly of manmade constructs. Shavuot, in contrast, shows language and truth as a power for unity and inclusion, along with good gifts coming to those in a receptive posture, not a domineering one.
God’s heart is to dwell with man, in relationship, as the Church, in his Kingdom. He will not permit the spirit of Babylon, or Egypt, or any other Empire to contort the way he relates with his children.
Needs for Shavuot:
Dairy (or dairy-alternative) desserts
A Bible
Other items may be necessary depending on selected activities
Modern Liturgical Adaptation
Opening Evening at Sundown
Opening Evening at Sundown
Ice Cream & Slumber Party
Matriarch, or Household Leader (lights the candle(s) at sundown):
Blessed are you O Lord, our God, King of the Universe, who is the light unto our way and the light that fills our spirits. We bless you for this Shavuot celebration. Holy Spirit - eternal flame among us - shine ever brightly now.
Leader:
From harvest to harvest, wheat and barley has never been in lack.
Hunger you have satisfied and stomachs you have filled.
But you knew - you’ve known all along - that man does not live on bread alone, but on every word you have spoken.
And so it was. Moses ascended Sinai - the great mountain - and returned with food for our souls.
Blessed are you, O Lord, for you have given us your holy Torah and luminary mitzvahs.
They are more precious than silver and gold, rare jewels and fine metals.
Their aroma is rich, like expensive perfume.
Their taste is sweet, like milk from the fattened cow and golden honey from the beehive.
Their truth is strong as the cedars of Lebanon and unshaken as an anchor in the Sea of Galilee.
As the lion rumbles a deep growl of satisfaction after devouring its prey, might we too experience utmost pleasure as we feast upon your savory Words.
O Lord, tie your Word around our hands,
Bind them upon our forehead,
Inscribe them upon our heart.
Might they be a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.
Yet you, O Lord, have come even closer.
More than merely being on us, you’ve graciously chosen to dwell in us.
In Yeshua’s resurrection and ascension, your disciples waited.
Gathered together on holy Shavuot, they sat in the tension of expectancy and uncertainty.
And you came, Lord - O, you came!
A sound, a whisper.
A faint whistle rapidly crescendoing into rushing winds.
Ruach - the breath of God - was in the atmosphere.
Heaven and earth roared.
Tongues of fire filled the room - each flame reaching out to touch the lips of each follower of the Way.
Laughter. Dancing. Bewilderment. Languages as a diverse as Jerusalem itself.
Not even the finest of wines could have instigated a merriment quite like this.
Blessed are you, O Lord, for you have filled us with your Holy Spirit.
Your Spirit of miracles and prophecy, dreams and discernment, knowledge and comfort.
Your Spirit who rests on us as a seal of salvation and a betrothal covenant.
Your Spirit that fills us, not with fear or timidity, but with power and meekness, love and compassion, self-control and a sound mind.
Your Spirit who bears fruit in us to be as you are and do as you do.
Holy Spirit, might we know you as both friend and counselor, playful companion and sage wiser and older than time itself.
Would you expand our imagination to what is possible as we walk this earth with you,
And would you heighten our awareness to your wind-movements each day.
We bless you, Holy Spirit.
Fill us with gratitude at your coming to us and your nearness in us.
Amen.
[Consider Singing or Playing a Song of Praise]
[Dinner]
Possible Discussion Questions During Dinner
Picture what it was like for the Israelites to wait at the bottom of Mt. Sinai as Moses went up to meet with God. What do you envision, notice, and feel?
Picture what it was like for the disciples to be gathered together in the upper room on Shavuot waiting for the Lord to provide them further instruction. What do you envision, notice, and feel?
What is your relationship like with the Torah (Scriptures) and mitvahs?
What is your relationship like with Holy Spirit?
Prayer after Meal
Praise to You, Adonai our God, Sovereign of the universe, who has chosen us from among the peoples, exalting us by hallowing us with mitzvot. In Your love, Adonai our God, You have given us feasts of gladness, and seasons of joy: this Festival of Shavuot, season of our receiving Torah, a sacred occasion, a remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt. For You have chosen us from all the peoples and consecrated us to Your service, and given us the Festivals, a time of gladness and joy. Praise to You, Adonai, who sanctifies Israel and the Festivals.
Praise to You, Adonai our God, Sovereign of the universe, for giving us life, for sustaining us, and for enabling us to reach this season.
[Ice Cream Party & Scripture Reading]
Texts to consider reading:
The Book of Ruth
Exodus 19-20
Psalm 113-118 (Hallel - Psalms of Praise)
John 14-15
Acts 1-2
Morning
Start your day with Imaginative Breath prayer.
Sit in a comfortable and stable position with open hands. Inhale through your nose for 4-6 seconds, hold for 2-4 seconds, then exhale through your mouth for 4-6 seconds.
Picture either the scene of Elohim giving Moses the Torah on Mount Sinai or the Holy Spirit descending onto the disciples in the upper room.
Envision the colors, temperature, sounds, and emotions. Feel the stone of the 10 Commandment tablets on your fingers. Feel the comforting warmth of the tongues of fire on your lips and running through your body.
Spend at least 5 minutes doing this. Posture your heart to behold with curiosity what God may teach you.
After concluding your prayer time, if you haven’t already, take a moment to choose your activities for the day (see list of activities on the next page)
Afternoon
Enjoy your day of play, creativity, generosity, the outdoors, and exploring new cultures!!
Closing Evening at Sundown
Matriarch, or Household Leader (lights the candle(s) at sundown):
Blessed are you O Lord, our God, King of the Universe. Your Torah and mitzvahs illuminate our path, and your Holy Spirit illuminates our heart.
Leader:
Elohim, we thank you for this festival of Shavuot. As we bring our time of celebration to a close, may we ever carry your Spirit within us, and may your Torah and mitzvahs be ever bound to our hands, head, and heart. Fill us with joy and gratitude at your nearness, and lead us as a people that extends your love and goodness to all people. Amen.
(Possible Closing Discussion Questions)
Recap the day. What all did we do?
How did we experience Holy Spirit?
What did we learn?
What felt challenging?
How might we align our lives with Torah and mitzvahs, and walk in Holy Spirit?
Pick one to three activities from the following list to enter into the spirit of Shavuot:
Plant flowers around your house
Give flowers as a gift to someone
Make homemade ice cream or another dairy-based dessert
Host a slumber party to stay up late reading Scripture
Remember and share stories of a family member who has passed
Play worship music, sing, and dance
Go on a mountain hike
Practice speaking in another language or learning about another culture
Do an art project
Write and share poems (with themes focused on beauty, rejoicing, and truth)