Shavuot, the Festival of Weeks, is celebrated every year on the sixth and seventh day of the Hebrew month Sivan (and only on the sixth day of Sivan in Israel). Consult The Jewish Holiday Guide for exact dates.

· Why You Haven’t Heard About Shavuot?

Even though Shavuot is a major festival, it doesn’t win any popularity contests among holiday observances. Why is that?

· Not many of us are involved in things agrarian, so we have become deaf to the rhythm of planting and harvesting.

· Perhaps another reason for the relative obscurity of Shavuot is because this holiday has no obvious "symbols" of the day, such as the Shofar, apple and honey of Rosh Hashana, the Sukkah, Lulav and Etrog of Sukkot, or the Chanukiyah and the Dreidel, associated with Chanukah.

Another sad but true reason for Shavuot’s role as the forgotten festival may be that Shavuot falls in May/June when many are busy with graduation, finals, summer camp, and vacations plans.

But you can change all that, and become well informed about this wonderful festival. Read about Shavuot’s many names, customs, and traditions. Enrich your Jewish IQ by meeting the unique and fascinating biblical characters associated with this festival.

Mazor Guide to Shavuot, Pentecost, brings you much more about the holiday, its meaning and its traditions... See the links below.

• Shavuot Home
• Shavuot Purpose and Meaning
• Shavuot Customs and Traditions
• Shavuot Celebrations and Blessings
• The Story of Ruth and Naomi
• Reading Ruth: Rhyme and Reason.
• Shavuot Hidden Facts and Messages
• Shavuot and the Number Six
• Shavuot Cookbooks

MazorGuide Recommended Reading

RUTH - ArtScroll Edition
A new translation with a commentary anthologized from Talmudic, Midrashic and Rabbinic sources

The ArtScroll Series presents the comments of the classic giants of ancient and contemporary times in a logical, comprehensible manner, like a master teacher on an exciting voyage of intellectual discovery.

• Entire Hebrew text reset in clear modern type
• Flowing English translation
• Commentary anthologized from 2,000 years of Talmudic and Rabbinic sources
• Overviews exploring the hashkafah/philosophical background of each volume.

To Be A Jew: A Guide To Jewish Observance In Contemporary Life (Paperback)
by Hayim H. Donin (Author)