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Shavuot -- The Festival of WeeksShavuot is an odd holiday in many respects. It is one of the three Pilgimage Festivals, which include Succot, Pesach, and Shavuot. Succot and Pesach, however, each last for 8 days, while Shavuot lasts for only 2 days. Another thing that sets Shavuot apart from the other Pilgrimage festivals is that Sukkot and Pesach both require a fair amount of physical preparation. For Sukkot we build a sukkah, in which we then 'live' for the 8 days of the festival. On Pesach, we scour our houses and change our kitchens to remove all trace of chametz. Shavuot requires virtually no physical preparation - we might decorate with a few flowers or branches and cook a special meal, but there's no big deal about this holiday as there is for the others. So what do we do on Shavuot? Well, the holiday has a variety of names that give us some clues, including The Holiday of the First Fruits, and The Season of the Giving of the Torah. There is a strong tradition to have a dairy meal in honor of the holiday. Of course, there are also special readings at the synagogue. Some congregations conduct a Tikkun leyl Shavuot, an all-night study session that ends with the morning prayers. Apart from that, Shavuot is mainly a pleasant holiday that comes each year when the weather is starting to become reliable.
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