Chag Sameach (Happy Holiday) from Jerusalem. I wanted to passdown to you some of the teaching, this is the Bibical holy day of Shavuot

“Then celebrate the Festival of Weeks [Chag ha-Shavuot] to the LORD your God by giving a freewill offering in proportion to the blessings the LORD your God has given you.”  (Deuteronomy 16:10)

Today in Israel and around the world, it is the Biblical holy day of Shavuot (Festival of Weeks).

Last night, people stayed up all night learning Torah.  It's a centuries old custom.

Because of the holiday’s connection to the harvest and to agriculture, it is being marked today by food festivals and picnics, as well as visits to a kibbutz and to the Western (Wailing) Wall, a remnant of the ancient wall that once surrounded the Holy Temple's courtyard.

It is packed with people praying today.  The streets of Jerusalem were filled like this 2,000 years ago when Holy Spirit fire fell on the Believers united in prayer, and about 3,000 observant Jews were saved.

Biblically speaking, Shavuot is the second of the Shelosh Regalim, three major annual pilgrimages of the Jewish People to Jerusalem.

“Three times a year all your men must appear before the LORD your God at the place He will choose:  at the Festival of Unleavened Bread [Passover], the Festival of Weeks [Shavuot] and the Festival of Tabernacles [Sukkot].”  (Deuteronomy 16:16)

On Shavuot, the Israelites brought an offering of the first crops of spring to the temporary Mishkan (Tabernacle) and later, to the Temple here in Jerusalem.

It is a time when God commands His people to give a free will offering.  The people were to bring something, giving in proportion to how He has blessed them.

“No one should appear before the LORD empty-handed:  Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the LORD your God has blessed you.”  (Deuteronomy 16:16–17)

“He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey; and now I bring the firstfruits of the soil that you, Lord, have given me.”  (Deuteronomy 26:5–10)

The Many Names of Shavuot

This holiday falls 50 days after Passover; therefore, the Hellenistic Jews (Jews living under Greek rule in the 3rd–4th centuries BC) named it Pentecost, from the Greek word pente, which means fifty.

Most Christians, therefore, know Shavuot by the name Pentecost.

The name of the festival is actually derived from the Hebrew word shavuah, meaning week.  Shavuot (weeks) is the plural form.

Shavuot marks the end of the seven-week period called Sefirat HaOmer (Counting of the Omer), which began at Passover.

 “From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks [shavuot].”  (Leviticus 23:15)

On the fiftieth day, a new grain offering is to be presented to the Lord and a sacred assembly held to celebrate the Feast of Weeks.

“Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the LORD.”  (Leviticus 23:16)

The Ten Commandments in Hebrew

Shavuot is such a multi-faceted holiday that it is also known by other Biblical and traditional names besides Shavuot and Pentecost:

• Yom HaBikurim (Day of the First Fruits) in Numbers 28:26 (but not the Festival of First Fruits in Leviticus 23:9–12);
• Chag HaKatzir (Festival of Reaping) in Exodus 23:16;
• Bikkurei Ketzir Chittim (The First Fruits of the Wheat Harvest) in Exodus 34:22; and
• Z’man Mattan Torateinu (Season of the Giving of the Torah), which is a name arising from Jewish tradition that says the Israelites received the Torah on this Day of First Fruits.     “Now if you obey Me fully and keep My covenant, then out of all nations you will be My treasured possession.  Although the whole earth is Mine, you will be for Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”  (Exodus 19:5–6)