Hag Hashavuot: What is this Festival? Canonical and Non-Canonical Sources

(9) You shall count off seven weeks; start to count the seven weeks when the sickle is first put to the standing grain. (10) Then you shall observe the Feast of Weeks for the LORD your God, offering your freewill contribution according as the LORD your God has blessed you. (11) You shall rejoice before the LORD your God with your son and daughter, your male and female slave, the Levite in your communities, and the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow in your midst, at the place where the LORD your God will choose to establish His name. (12) Bear in mind that you were slaves in Egypt, and take care to obey these laws.

(26) On the day of the first fruits, your Feast of Weeks, when you bring an offering of new grain to the LORD, you shall observe a sacred occasion: you shall not work at your occupations. (27) You shall present a burnt offering of pleasing odor to the LORD: two bulls of the herd, one ram, seven yearling lambs. (28) The meal offering with them shall be of choice flour with oil mixed in, three-tenths of a measure for a bull, two-tenths for a ram, (29) and one-tenth for each of the seven lambs. (30) And there shall be one goat for expiation in your behalf. (31) You shall present them—see that they are without blemish—with their libations, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its meal offering.

(1) And on the new moon of the third month he went forth from the ark, and built an altar on that mountain.

(1) These are the words of the division of the days according to the law and the testimony for the generations of the years, their weeks and their Jubilees, all the days of the heavens upon the earth as Moses spake by Mount Sinai.

(2) And it came to pass in the first year of the exodus of the Children of Israel from Egypt in the third month on the sixteenth thereof, that Moses spoke saying:

(3) Go up to me here toward the mountain and I will give you the two tablets of stone and the law and the commandments that I have written to teach them.

and he made a covenant before the Lord God for ever throughout all the generations of the earth in this month.

16 On this account He spake to thee that thou shouldst make a covenant with the children of Israel in this month upon the mountain with an oath, and that thou shouldst sprinkle blood upon them because of all the words of the covenant, which the Lord made with them for ever.

17 And this testimony is written concerning you that you should observe it continually, so that you should not eat on any day any blood of beasts or birds or cattle during all the days of the earth,

18 and the man who eateth the blood of beast or of cattle or of birds during all the days of the earth, he and his seed shall be rooted out of the land.

19 And do thou command the children of Israel to eat no blood, so that their names and their seed may be before the Lord our God continually.

(1) And in the fifth year of the fourth week of this jubilee, in the third month, in the middle of the month, Abram celebrated the feast of the first-fruits of the grain harvest.

(3) And the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him: "I am God Almighty; approve thyself before Me and be thou perfect. And I will make My covenant between

(4) Me and thee, and I will multiply thee exceedingly."

(5) And on that day we made a covenant with Abram, according as we had covenanted with Noah in this month;

(6) "Behold My ordinance is with thee, And thou wilt be the father of many nations.

(7) Neither will thy name any more be called Abram, But thy name from henceforth, even for ever, shall be Abraham. For the father of many nations have I made thee.

(8) And I shall make thee very great, And I shall make thee into nations, And kings will come forth from thee.

(9) And I shall establish My covenant between Me and thee, and thy seed after thee, throughout their generations, for an eternal covenant, so that I may be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.

(10) (And I shall give to thee and to thy seed after thee) the land where thou hast been a sojourner, the land of Canaan, that thou mayst possess it for ever, and I shall be their God."

(11) And the Lord said unto Abraham: "And as for thee, do thou keep My Covenant, thou and thy seed after thee,

(1) And Israel took his journey from Haran from his house on the new moon of the third month, and he went on the way of the Well of the Oath, and he offered a sacrifice to the God of his father Isaac on the seventh of this month.

(2) And Jacob remembered the dream that he had seen at Bethel, and he feared to go down into Egypt.

(3) And while he was thinking of sending word to Joseph to come to him, and that he would not go down, he remained there seven days, if perchance he should see a vision as to whether he should remain or go down.

(4) And he celebrated the harvest festival of the first-fruits with old grain, for in all the land of Canaan there was not a handful of seed (in the land), for the famine was over all the beasts and cattle and birds, and also over man.

(1) (Exodus 16:1) "And they journeyed from Eilim, and they came … on the fifteenth day of the second month of their going out from the land of Egypt": Why is "day" mentioned?... Another interpretation: "On the fifteenth day of the second month": Why is "day" mentioned? To know on which day the Torah was given to Israel. (Rosh Chodesh of the) Nissan on which Israel left Egypt fell out on the fifth day of the week. Nissan was a complete month (thirty days, so that Rosh Chodesh) Iyyar fell out on the Sabbath. Iyyar was a defective month (twenty-nine days, so that Rosh Chodesh) Sivan fell out on the first day of the week. And it is written (Numbers 33:3) "On the morrow of the Pesach, the children of Israel went out," and (here) "on the fifteenth day of the second month," and (Exodus 19:1) "On the third month of the exodus of the children of Israel, they came to the desert of Sinai," whence it is derived (that the sixth day of their encampment was on the third month (Sivan), on the sixth day of the month, on the eve of the Sabbath, (and the Torah was given the next day, Sabbath [viz. Shabbath 87b-88a]).

(1) Rabbi Ishmael says: On Shabbat the omer would come from three se'im [a specific measure of volume] and on a weekday from five; the Sages say: whether on Shabbat or on a weekday it would come from three se'im. Rabbi Hanina Segan HaKohanim says: on Shabbat it was reaped by one person with one sickle into one basket, and on a weekday it was reaped by three people into three baskets and with three sickles; the Sages say: whether on Shabbat or on a weekday it was reaped by three people into three baskets and with three sickles.

(2) The [best fulfillment of the] commandment of the omer is [that it] come from a nearby land. If [the areas] close to Jerusalem were not yet ripe they could bring them from any place. It once happened that it came from Gaggot Tzrifin and the two loaves came from the valley of Ein Socher.

(3) How would they do [the reaping of the omer]? The agents of the court would go out on the eve of the holiday and they would make them into bundles while they were still attached to the ground so that they would be easy to cut. And all cities that were near there would come so that it would be cut with a great fanfare. Once it got dark, [the reaper] would say to them, "Has the sun set?" and they would answer "Yes!". Has the sun set? and they would answer "Yes!" "With this a sickle?" and they would answer "Yes!", "With this a sickle?" and they would answer "Yes!" "Into this a basket?", and they would answer "Yes!", "Into this a basket?" and they would answer "Yes!" On Shabbat, he would say to them, "Is it Shabbat?" and they would answer "Yes!", "Is it Shabbat?" and they would answer "Yes!" "Shall I reap?" and they would answer "Reap!" "Shall I reap?" and they would answer "Reap!" Three times for each question and they would answer, "Yes! Yes! Yes!" Why so much? To prove wrong the Baitusim who would say that the omer was only reaped on [the day] after [the first day of the Pesach] holiday.

(1) 1) (23:15) ("And you shall count for yourselves from the morrow of the Sabbath, from the day that you bring the omer of the lifting; seven complete Sabbaths shall they be."): "And you shall count for yourselves": Each one shall count for himself individually. "from the morrow of the Sabbath": from the morrow of the festival (Pesach, on the sixteenth day of Nissan). I might think, from the morrow of the (literal) Sabbath, of creation (i.e., Saturday) — R. Yossi b. R. Yehudah said: "Until the morrow of the seventh Sabbath shall you count fifty days" (23:16) indicates that the entire count (from Pesach until Shavuoth) will (always) be fifty days, (which would not be the case if the Sabbath of creation were meant).

(2) 2) If I say (that the count is) from the morrow of the Sabbath of creation, then sometimes the count will be fifty-one days; sometimes, fifty-two; sometimes, fifty-three; sometimes, fifty-four; sometimes, fifty-five; sometimes, fifty-six (depending on which day Pesach begins). How, then, must I understand "from the morrow of the Sabbath"? As from the morrow of the festival.

(3) 3) R. Yehudah b. Betheira says: "from the morrow of the Sabbath": from the morrow of the festival. I might think, from the morrow of the Sabbath of creation. "Seven weeks shall you count for yourself" (Devarim 16:9) — a count which depends upon the determination (of the advent of the festivals) by beth-din, to exclude the Sabbath of creation, which is not dependent upon (the count of beth-din, its advent being known to all men.

(4) 4) R. Yossi says: "from the morrow of the Sabbath": from the morrow of the festival. I might think, from the morrow of the Sabbath of creation. Now is it written On the morrow of Sabbath on Pesach? Is it not written only "from the morrow of the Sabbath"? Isn't the entire year filled with Sabbaths? Go and figure which Sabbath is meant! And, furthermore, it is written here "from the morrow of the Sabbath," and, below, (11), "from the morrow of the (seventh) Sabbath." Just as there, the reference is to a time period (i.e., the end of the seventh week) conjoined with the beginning of a festival (Shavuoth); here, too, the reference is to a time period (the omer) conjoined with the beginning of a festival (Pesach, which begins with the fifteenth day of Nissan).

(5) 5) R. Shimon b. Elazar says: In one place (Devarim 16:8) it is written "Six days shall you eat matzoth," and, in another, (Shemoth 12:15) "Seven days shall you eat matzoth"! How is this to be resolved? Matzoh which cannot eat seven days from the new grain, (permission to eat of the new grain [chadash] beginning with the bringing of the omer on the second day of the festival), you can eat, seven from the old grain and six from the new. How, then, must I understand "from the morrow of the Sabbath? As from the morrow of the festival.

(6) 6) "from the day that you bring": you shall count. I might think that he could bring (the omer) and count, and harvest whenever he wished; it is, therefore, written (Devarim 16:9) "from the time you put the sickle to the standing grain you shall begin to count. If "from the time you put the sickle," I might think that one could harvest and count, and bring the omer whenever he liked; it is, therefore, written "from the day that you bring … shall you count." If from the day that you bring. "If from the day that you bring," I might think that he must harvest and count and bring in the daytime. It is, therefore, written "seven complete Sabbaths shall they be." When are they "complete"? When he begins at night. I might then think that he harvests and brings and counts at night. It is, therefore, written "from the day that you bring." How is this realized? The harvesting and counting is at night, and the bringing in the daytime.

(7) 7) (23:16) ("Until the morrow of the seventh Sabbath shall you count fifty days, and you shall offer a new meal-offering to the L rd.")

(8) 8) "you shall count fifty days": I might think that one should count fifty days and make the fifty-first the festival (of Shavuoth); it is, therefore, written (15) "seven complete Sabbaths shall they be." (In that case, I might think that he should count forty-eight days and make the forty-ninth the festival. It is, therefore, written "shall you count fifty days." How is this related? Fount forty-nine days and make the fiftieth day the festival, as with the Jubilee year.

(4) From the 8th thereof until the close of the festival (of Passover) a holiday (of a week) was declared during which it is forbidden to mourn.