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I believe that Shavout is the most important event in human history. I found this article of high standards and edited slightly. It is posted with thanks to the sources.
Hag HaShavuot the "Festival of Weeks"
One of the Three Pilgrim Festivals. With special relationship to the wheat harvest.
Celebrates the Matan Torah (The giving on the Torah.) The Matan Torah occured at Mount Sinai 49 days (7 weeks) after the Exodus from Egypt. These 49 days correspond to the Counting of the Omer.
Hag Shavout begins the 6th day of Sivan and Ends the 7th (in Israel: 6th)Celebrations on Shavout include festive meals and all-night Torah study. May Ashkenazic synagogues recite the liturgical poem called Akdamut and reading the Megillat Ruth. There is also a custom of eating of dairy products and of decorating homes and synagogues with greenery.
Giving of the Torah
While most of the Talmudic Sages concur that the Torah was given on the sixth of Sivan; R. Jose holds that it was given on the seventh of that month. According to the classical timeline, the Israelites arrived at the wilderness of Sinai on the new moon (Ex. 19:1) and the Ten Commandments were given on the following Shabbat (i.e., Saturday). The question of whether the new moon fell on Sunday or Monday is undecided (Talmud, tractate Shabbat 86b). In practice, Shavuot is observed on the sixth day of Sivan in Israel and a second day.
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 were given the Torah and became a nation committed to serving God.
Since the Torah does not specify the actual day on which Shavuot falls, differing interpretations of this date have arisen both in traditional and non-traditional Jewish circles. These discussions center around two ways of looking at Shavuot: the day it actually occurs (i.e., the day the Torah was given on Mount Sinai), and the day it occurs in relation to the Counting of the Omer (being the 50th day from he first day of the Counting).
In Hasidic thought, the word Shavuot "Weeks" is interpreted as also an acronym for Shavuot, Bikkurim, Atzeret, Torah.[1
In the Torah, Shavuot is called the Festival of Weeks ha-Shavuot, Exodus 34:22, Deuteronomy 16:10); Festival of Reaping ha-Katsir, Exodus 23:16), and Day of the First Fruits Yom ha-Bikkurim, Numbers 28:26). The Talmud refers to Shavuot as Atzeret [5] (literally, "refraining" or "holding back"[1]), referring to the prohibition against work on this holiday[1] and to the conclusion of the holiday and season of Passover.[6] Since Shavuot occurs 50 days after Passover, Hellenistic Jews gave it the name Pentecost (pe?t???st?, "fiftieth day").
Besides its significance as the day on which the Torah was revealed by God to the Jewish nation at Mount Sinai (which includes the Ten Commandments), Shavuot is also connected to the season of the grain harvest in Israel. In ancient times, the grain harvest lasted seven weeks and was a season of gladness (Jer. 5:24, Deut. 16:9-11, Isa. 9:2). It began with the harvesting of the barley during Passover and ended with the harvesting of the wheat at Shavuot. Shavuot was thus the concluding festival of the grain harvest, just as the eighth day of Sukkot (Tabernacles) was the concluding festival of the fruit harvest. During the existence of the Temple in Jerusalem, an offering of two loaves of bread from the wheat harvest was made on Shavuot.
The date of Shevuot was disputed in the Second Temple period. The Qumran community, commonly associated with the Essenes, held in its library several texts mentioning Shevuot, most notably a Hebrew original of the Book of Jubilees which sought to fix the celebration of this Feast of Weeks on 15 of Kislev, following their interpretation of Exodus 19:1.[7]
Bikkurim Shavuot was also the first day on which individuals could bring the Bikkurim (first fruits) to the Temple in Jerusalem (Mishnah Bikkurim 1:3). The Bikkurim were brought from the Seven Species for which the Land of Israel is praised: wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and dates (Deut. 8:8). In the largely agrarian society of ancient Israel, Jewish farmers would tie a reed around the first ripening fruits from each of these species in their fields. At the time of harvest, the fruits identified by the reed would be cut and placed in baskets woven of gold and silver. The baskets would then be loaded on oxen whose horns were gilded and laced with garlands of flowers, and who were led in a grand procession to Jerusalem. As the farmer and his entourage passed through cities and towns, they would be accompanied by music and parades.[8]
At the Temple, each farmer would present his Bikkurim to a kohen in a ceremony that followed the text of Deut. 26:1-10. This text begins by stating, "An Aramean tried to destroy my father," referring to Laban's efforts to weaken Jacob and rob him of his progeny (Rashi on Deut. 26:5)—or by an alternate translation, the text states "My father was a wandering Aramean," referring to the fact that Jacob was a penniless wanderer in the land of Aram for 20 years (ibid., Abraham ibn Ezra). The text proceeds to retell the history of the Jewish people as they went into exile in Egypt and were enslaved and oppressed; following which God redeemed them and brought them to the land of Israel. The ceremony of Bikkurim conveys the Jew's gratitude to God both for the first fruits of the field and for His guidance throughout Jewish history (Scherman, p. 1068).
Minhagim of Shavuot
Ha Shavuot has no prescribed mitzvot other than the traditional festival observances of abstention from work, special prayer services and holiday meals. However, it is characterized by many minhagim (customs). A mnemonic for these customs is the letters of the Hebrew word acharit ("last"). Since the Torah is called reishit ("first"), the customs of Shavuot highlight the importance of custom for the continuation and preservation of Jewish religious observance.
Akdamut, the reading of a liturgical poem during Shavuot morning synagogue services
Chalav (milk), the consumption of dairy products like milk and cheese. Yemenite Jews do not eat dairy foods on Shavuot.[13]
Ruth, the reading of the Book of Ruth at morning services
Yerek, the decoration of homes and synagogues with greenery
Torah, engaging in all-night Torah study.
Akdamut
Akdamut (Aramaic) is a liturgical poem extolling the greatness of God, the Torah
and Israel that is read publicly in the synagogue right before the morning reading
of the Torah on the first day of Shavuot. It was composed by Rabbi Meir of Worms,
whose son was murdered during the Crusade of 1096. Rabbi Meir was forced to defend
the Torah and his Jewish faith in a debate with local priests, and successfully
conveyed his certainty of God's power, His love for the Jewish people, and the
excellence of Torah. Afterwards he wrote Akdamut, a 90-line poem in Aramaic which
stresses these themes. The poem is written in a double acrostic pattern according
to the order of the Hebrew alphabet. In addition, each line ends with the syllable
"ta", the last and first letters of the Hebrew alphabet, alluding to the
endlessness of Torah. The traditional melody which accompanies this poem also
conveys a sense of grandeur and triumph.
Sephardim do not read Akdamut, but before the evening service they sing a poem
called Azharot which sets out the 613 Biblical commandments. The positive
commandments are recited on the first day and the negative commandments on the
second day.
The liturgical poem of Yatziv Pitgam (Aramaic) is recited by some synagogues in
the Diaspora on the second day of Shavuot. The author and his father's name appear
in an acrostic at the beginning of the poem's 15 lines.
Chalav
Before they received the Torah, the Israelites were not obligated to follow its
laws, which include shechita (ritual slaughter of animals) and kashrut. Since all
their meat pots and dishes now had to be made kosher before use, they opted to eat
dairy foods.
The Torah is compared to milk by King Solomon, who wrote: "Like honey and milk, it
lies under your tongue" (Song of Songs 4:11).
The gematria of the Hebrew word chalav (???) is 40, corresponding to the 40 days
and 40 nights that Moses spent on Mount Sinai before bringing down the Torah.
According to the Zohar, each day of the year correlates to one of the Torah's 365
negative commandments. Shavuot corresponds to the commandment "Bring the first
fruits of your land to the house of God your Lord; do not cook a kid in its
mother's milk" (Exodus 34:26). Since the first day to bring Bikkurim (the first
fruits) is Shavuot, the second half of the verse refers to the custom to eat two
separate meals – one milk, one meat – on Shavuot.
The Psalmist calls Mount Sinai Har Gavnunim (mountain of majestic peaks), which is
etymologically similar to gevinah (cheese).
Megillat Ruth
There are five books in Tanakh that are known as Megillot (Hebrew: ??????,
"scrolls") and are publicly read in the synagogues on different Jewish holidays.
The Book of Lamentations, which details the destruction of the Holy Temple, is the
reading for Tisha B'Av; the Book of Ecclesiastes, which touches on the
ephemeralness of life, corresponds to Sukkot; the Book of Esther (Megillat Esther)
retells the events of Purim; and the Song of Songs, which echoes the themes of
springtime and God's love for the Jewish people, is the reading for Passover.
Ruth corresponds to the holiday of Shavuot both in its descriptions of the barley
and wheat harvest seasons and Ruth's desire to become a member of the Jewish
people, who are defined by their acceptance of the Torah. Moreover, the lineage
described at the end of the Book lists King David as Ruth's great-grandson.
According to tradition, David was born and died on Shavuot.[18]
Greenery
According to the Midrash, Mount Sinai suddenly blossomed with flowers in
anticipation of the giving of the Torah on its summit. Greenery also figures in
the story of the baby Moses being found among the bulrushes in a watertight cradle
(Ex. 2:3) when he was three months old (Moses was born on 7 Adar and placed in the
Nile River on 6 Sivan, the same day he later brought the Jewish nation to Mount
Sinai to receive the Torah).[16]
For these reasons, many Jewish families traditionally decorate their homes and
synagogues with plants, flowers and leafy branches in honor of Shavuot. Some
synagogues decorate the bimah with a canopy of flowers and plants so that it
resembles a chuppah, as Shavuot is mystically referred to as the day the
matchmaker (Moses) brought the bride (the Jewish people) to the chuppah (Mount
Sinai) to marry the bridegroom (God); the ketubbah (marriage contract) was the
Torah. Some Eastern Sephardi communities actually read out a ketubbah between God
and Israel as part of the service.
The Vilna Gaon cancelled the tradition of decorating with plants because it too
closely resembles the Christian decorations for their holidays.
All-night Torah study [Hey Study as much as you can!]
The practice of staying up all Shavuot night to study Torah – known as Tikkun Leil
Shavuot – has its source in the Midrash, which relates that the night before the
Torah was given, the Israelites retired early to be well-rested for the momentous
day ahead. They overslept and Moses had to wake them up because God was already
waiting on the mountaintop.[19] To rectify this perceived flaw in the national
character, many religious Jews stay up all night to learn Torah.[20]
The custom of all-night Torah study goes back to 1533 when Rabbi Joseph Caro,
author of the Shulchan Aruch, then living in Ottoman Salonika, invited Rabbi
Shlomo Halevi Alkabetz and other Kabbalistic colleagues to hold Shavuot-night
study vigils for which they prepared for three days in advance, just as the
Israelites had prepared for three days before the giving of the Torah. During one
of those study sessions, an angel appeared and taught them Jewish law.[21][22][23]
Any subject may be studied on Shavuot night, although Talmud, Mishnah and Torah
typically top the list. Men may learn alone or with a chavruta (study partner), or
attend late-night shiurim (lectures) and study groups.[24] In some communities,
nighttime learning programs are available for women.
In Jerusalem, tens of thousands of people finish off the nighttime study session
by walking to the Western Wall before dawn and joining the sunrise minyan there.
[24][25][26][27] This practice began in 1967. One week before Shavuot of that
year, the Israeli army recaptured the Old City in the Six-Day War, and on Shavuot
day, the army opened the Western Wall to visitors. Over 200,000 Jews came to see
and pray at the site that had been off-limits to them since 1948. The custom of
walking to the Western Wall on Shavuot has continued every year since.[24][28]
[25][26]
Tikkun Leil Shavuot
In keeping with the custom of engaging in all-night Torah study, the Arizal, a
leading Kabbalist of the 16th century, arranged a special service for the evening
of Shavuot. The Tikkun Leil Shavuot ("Rectification for Shavuot Night") consists
of excerpts from the beginning and end of each of the 24 books of Tanakh
(including the reading in full of several key sections such as the account of the
days of creation, The Exodus, the giving of the Ten Commandments and the Shema)
and the 63 books of Mishnah. This is followed by the reading of Sefer Yetzirah,
the 613 commandments as enumerated by Maimonides, and excerpts from the Zohar,
with opening and concluding prayers. The whole reading is divided into thirteen
parts, after each of which a Kaddish di-Rabbanan is recited when the Tikkun is
studied in a group of at least ten Jewish, Bar Mitzvahed men.
This service is printed in a special book, and is widely used in Eastern
Sephardic, some German and Hasidic communities. There are similar books for the
vigils before the seventh day of Pesach and Hosha'ana Rabbah.
Spanish and Portuguese Jews do not observe this custom.
References
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