Shavuot, an Almost Forgotten Festival |
The Jewish calendar contains three major pilgrimage festivals: Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot, collectively known as the Shalosh Regalim, the “Three Pilgrimage Festivals.” In Temple times, Jews would travel to Jerusalem to celebrate the festivals at the Beit HaMikdash, the sacred Temple, making these occasions communal rather than private observances.
Although Shavuot is the anniversary of the giving of the Torah at Sinai, it is often the least visually prominent of the three festivals. The reasons are as follows:
Passover is marked by the Seder, matzah, and the story of the Exodus. It is a time of celebratory family gatherings.
Sukkot is defined by dwelling in sukkot (agricultural huts) and enlisting for sacred purposes species from the field – the lulav and etrog. Eating and even sleeping outside under the succah canopy certainly garners everyone’s attention.
But Shavuot, by contrast, is quieter and more inward-looking, yet carries a shared spiritual core throughout the Jewish world taking on distinct cultural colors shaped by centuries of life in different lands.
In Ashkenazi communities of Europe, Shavuot developed into a quiet but deeply studious holiday. Synagogues are often filled with the sound of learning through the night during Tikkun Leil Shavuot, as students and........