שבועות

shavuot (שבועות) is the second of the three pilgrimage festivals in judaism. literally meaning 'weeks', it celebrates the anniversary in which god gave the ten commandments to moses on mount sinai. it marks the conclusion of counting of the omer. the date of shavuot is directly linked to pesach. beginning the second day of pesach, seven weeks are counted, leading to the conclusion that is shavuot. the counting of days and weeks expresses anticipation and desire for the giving of the torah. on pesach, the jewish people were freed. on shavuot, they were given the torah and became a nation under god. shavuot is also connected with the harvest which lasted seven weeks.

shavuot is very different from other jewish holidays because it has no prescribed observances. however there are some that are pretty unique to it. dairy products and fruit are consumed during the holiday. this is because when the jewish people received the torah, the meat they had on hand were not kosher to the laws found in the torah.

*info mostly taken from friends and wikipedia

i have to say that i love jewish holidays. not only does it commemorate family but the food is beyond amazing. examples: purim: hamentaschens; pesach: matzah and charoset; shavuot: cheesecake, blintzes, etc.; channukah: latkes, sufganiyot, etc. i didn't get a chance to celebrate pesach correctly so hopefully i will be making some amendments to that for shavuot. there are many torah readings and lectures about god in many different subject matter. it would be great to go to these events to learn. the night will culminate in the pilgrimage to the kotel for the first prayer of the day come next morning.