One of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals

The Five Names of the Festival and their Meaning
Shloshet Yemei Hagbalah (three days of restriction)

The Connection to Sefirat Haomer and Pesach

The Synagogue Service

• Late start on first night (49 complete days)
• Torah Reading (Ten Commandments)
• Akdamot
• Yatsiv Pitgam
• Megillat Ruth
• Floral Decorations

In the Bet Hamikdash (Holy Temple)

• First Fruits Ceremony
• reflected in Israel today
• Customs
• Dairy Foods
• Tikun Leil Shavuot
• Introducing child to Hebrew studies

Fixing the Date of Shavuot

• The Rabbinic view
• The Sadducean view
• Other views
• The second day of the festival in the diaspora
• why?

Discussion Points:

• The Significance of Revelation
• Aseret Hadibrot Ten Utterances vs Ten Commandments which is it?
• Significance of the Division of the Ten "Commandments"
• Shavuot as the Symbol of the Inevitable Connection between Heavenly and Worldly Matters (Revelation Harvest)
• Shavuot as the "Cinderella" Festival (the least observed of the Pilgrimage Festivals especially in the diaspora? Why?)