---

Shavuot commemorates the day the People of Israel willingly accepted a whole system of laws which became the infrastructure of their spiritual and moral existence. It is also a holiday which expresses the everyday life of an agricultural people attached to strong ties with nature and to the seasons of the year.

When the Jews lived in Eretz Israel, the Land of Israel, before the destruction of the First and the Second Temple, the Feast of Weeks was mainly the holiday of harvesting. During their period in exile the festival became regarded mainly as a commemoration of the Giving of the Torah.

When the Jews returned to Israel in the second half of the 19th century, Shavuot once again became a holiday of harvest and of fruit, as well as a celebration for the Giving of the Torah. 'Shavuot' means 'weeks', referring to the 7 weeks or 49 days after the barley harvest which begins on the second day of Passover.