Tonight is the holiday of Shavu`ot (שבועות). Shavu`ot, in Hebrew, means 'weeks', referring to the following passage:
וּסְפַרְתֶּם
לָכֶם
מִמָּחֳרַת
הַשַּׁבָּת
מִיּוֹם
הֲבִיאֲכֶם
אֶת עֹמֶר
הַתְּנוּפָה
שֶׁבַע
שַׁבָּתוֹת
תְּמִימֹת
תִּהְיֶינָה
עַד
מִמָּחֳרַת
הַשַּׁבָּת
הַשְּׁבִיעִת
תִּסְפְּרוּ
חֲמִשִּׁים
יוֹם
וְהִקְרַבְתֶּם
מִנְחָה
חֲדָשָׁה
לַה'
Usfartem lakhem mimahorat hashabat
Miyom havi'akhem et `omer hat'nufa
Sheva` shabatot t'mimot tihyeyna
`Ad mimahorat hashabat hashvi`it
Tisp'ru hamishim yom
V'hiqravtem minha hadasha laH'
And you will count to yourselves from the day after the [Passover] holiday
From the day of your bringing the sheaf-waving [offering]
Seven complete weeks there will be
Until the day after the seventh week
You will count fifty days
And you will offer a new meal-offering to the Lord
In other words, from the day after Passover, you count seven weeks (49 days) and on the 50th day you make a holiday (חג) - hag. That is the holiday of Shavu'ot - Weeks. It is often called Pentecost in English, from the Greek word for 50.
Like most Jewish holidays, Shavu`ot is multifaceted. It celebrates the wheat harvest, the bringing of the first-fruits, and the giving of the Tora. There is a custom of eating milk products on this day, and Tiqun Leyl Shavu`ot (תיקון ליל שבועות) - The Fixing of the Night of Shavu`ot, in which you stay up all night and study Tora.
On Shavu`ot the Book of Ruth is read. Ruth is the paradigmatic convert to Judaism (not just in the literary sense, a lot of the laws of conversion are derived from the Book of Ruth). A convert to Judaism, like the Jews at Mount Sinai, is one who explicitly receives the Tora. It is something that Jews are supposed to do every day, but especially on Shavu`ot.
More about Shavu`ot here.
Posted by David Boxenhorn at June 12, 2005 12:33 PM