Commanded or Customary?

Shavuot is a special holiday for the Jewish people and is celebrated 7 weeks after Passover. This year it begins on the evening of Sunday, June 1st, 2025. According to Jewish tradition, it is the celebration of the time that God gave Moses the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai.

According to the Bible, Shavuot is a time of harvesting the first fruits, counting the Omer, rejoicing before the Lord, and outpouring the Holy Spirit (Ruach HaKodesh). Knowing God’s word helps us discern between biblical commands and cultural traditions. There is value in learning more about the Jewish cultural customs, because we can connect on a deeper level with the Jewish people, understand the culture better, and differentiate between a custom versus a biblical command.

Let’s start by looking at the rabbinical Jewish customs practiced during Shavuot.

Rabbinical Customs of Shavuot:

• Eating dairy: One reason for this custom is the belief that the word of God is like milk that nourishes the soul. And since Shavuot is believed to be the day that the Jewish people received God’s word, we celebrate by eating dairy products. Another reason is that when the Jewish people received the Torah it is believed it was on the Sabbath, yet they were required to eat kosher. Since they weren’t able to do any work or slaughter animals, they just ate dairy on that day. Another explanation is that during this time of year, the female sheep give birth and their milk is abundant leading to eating more dairy than usual.
  
  As the holiday approaches in Israel, you will see many cheesecakes and dairy delicacies in the bakeries, restaurants, and stores. It is also a rabbinical custom to celebrate Shavuot with two meals, first a dairy meal and after a few hours, a meat meal.
• Reading the Book of Ruth: It is customary to read the Book of Ruth during Shavuot because it is a book in the Bible centered around harvest time. This book in the Bible is a great example of how the Jewish people were generous and left behind some grain for the poor to gather.

Ruth 2:2-3 - “And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, ‘Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor.‘ Naomi said to her, “Go ahead, my daughter.” So she went out, entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek.“

Leviticus 23:22 - “‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you. I am the Lord your God.’”

• Staying up all night studying the Torah: Why do some Jewish people stay awake all night studying the Torah on Shavuot? One reason is it’s a way to prepare yourself to receive the blessing of God’s word, just like Moses was prepared to receive the Ten Commandments. It is believed that because the Israelites were not prepared to receive the Torah, they fell into sin and created the golden calf. So now, some stay awake all night reading the Torah to make up for their ancestors’ sins.
• Go to synagogue and hear the 10 commandments: Rabbis encourage every Jewish person, including children, to come to synagogue on the morning of Shavuot. It has even become a fun tradition to have an ice cream reception for the kids and a dairy reception for the adults after the service.
• Shavuot is celebrated for 2 days in the Diaspora: Why do Jewish people living outside of Israel celebrate Shavuot for two days? Back in the old days news traveled way slower. So, by the time they got the word out from Jerusalem, people needed another day to celebrate. This tradition of a two-day celebration outside of Israel still happens today.

There are several other customs and traditions held by different streams of Judaism, but these are the most common. It is important to take notice that many of these customs are not found in the Bible. Now let’s take a look at God’s word to discover how He wants us to celebrate Shavuot.

Biblical Truths About Shavuot

Shavuot is one of three holidays commanded by God to come to Jerusalem and bring an offering to the Lord every year. Let’s open our Bibles to discover more about this God-commanded holiday. The Bible uses several different names for Shavuot, and the first one we will look at is ‘Festival of Weeks.’ The Hebrew word for ‘Shavuot’ means ‘weeks’, and this refers to the counting of the Omer for 49 days.

Deuteronomy 16:9-12: ”Count off seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain. Then celebrate the Festival of Weeks to the Lord your God by giving a freewill offering in proportion to the blessings the Lord your God has given you. And rejoice before the Lord your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, the Levites in your towns, and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows living among you. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and follow carefully these decrees.“

In these verses, God commands the Israelites to count seven weeks (49 days) from the time the grain harvest begins and then to celebrate Shavuot by voluntarily giving an offering to the Lord. And then God commands us to rejoice in Him. What an amazing God we serve that he commands us to REJOICE in Him, as a way to celebrate this holiday! God also commands us to be together with family, friends, and many others as we celebrate. And lastly, he also wants us to remember the time the Israelites were in slavery in Egypt. It is good to remember what we once were... slaves to the Egyptians and slaves to sin. And yet, to also see where God has us now. He set the people of Israel free from Egypt. And he set us all free by the blood of Yeshua, so we are no longer called slaves, but called children of God!

Now let’s look at two other names for Shavuot found in the Bible.

“Celebrate the Festival of Harvest with the first fruits of the crops you sow in your field...” — Exodus 23:16a

The Festival of Harvest and the Festival of First Fruits are two other names for Shavuot. This verse shows us that Shavuot is about harvesting the first fruits. God wants us to celebrate the harvest season and taste some of the fruit he has produced in our lives. This holiday is really about giving thanks to the Lord for the “fruit” he had produces in our lives and His abundant provision.

In Number 28:26, God says, ”On the day of first fruits, when you present to the Lord an offering of new grain during the Festival of Weeks, hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work.“

He also commands us to give an offering of the new grain we produced, come together for a special meeting, and refrain from our regular work. So let's make a list from these three scriptures of the ways God desires for us to celebrate Shavuot.

God's instructions on how He wants us to celebrate Shavuot:

1. Count the Omer for seven weeks (49 days) from Passover, and then celebrate Shavuot!
2. Celebrate with God by giving a freewill offering or a spontaneous gift in proportion to what He has blessed you with — God wants us to celebrate His provision for us by giving abundantly to others, as he has blessed us abundantly.
3. God also wants us to give an offering of our first fruits, which means to give God the first of what we produce, and putting Him first in our lives.
4. Rejoice before the Lord together with your family, friends, congregation, and others.
5. Remember God’s deliverance from Egypt for the People of Israel and deliverance for each of us from sin!
6. Lastly, we need to obey God’s commands, including celebrating this holiday in the way God commanded it.

Now that we have looked at several Old Testament scriptures, let’s zoom in a little more on some verses in the New Testament about Yeshua and the Holy Spirit.

Yeshua & the Holy Spirit

Acts 1:3-5 — “After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

The final name for Shavuot found in the Bible is Pentecost, meaning fifty. Pentecost is the 50th day of the counting of the Omer, and Yeshua’s followers were all together in one place when the Holy Spirit was poured out over them. On Shavuot, God gave his people the precious and powerful gift of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 2:1-4- “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”

We can see that Yeshua’s followers also celebrated Shavuot because they were all together in one place. Can you imagine when the Holy Spirit was poured out and everyone began speaking different languages? Was everyone laughing and just full of God’s joy and peace?

1 Corinthians 15:20-23 — “But Yeshua has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in turn: Yeshua, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.”

Yeshua is the first fruit that was offered back to the Lord for the sins of the world. May we also surrender our lives to the Lord, and bear much fruit for Him here on this earth.

Celebrating Shavuot in God’s Truth

After studying God’s word together, we can see the differences between what God wants us to do in celebrating Shavuot versus all of the other additional customs added on by the Rabbis. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with eating dairy on Shavuot or staying up all night reading the Torah and the book of Ruth. But, it’s important to not just accept every Jewish custom, but instead to pray and ask God for wisdom and discernment, even in how to celebrate a biblical holiday.

So, as you celebrate Shavuot this year, we encourage you to read the word of God for yourself and ask the Holy Spirit to lead you and your family on how He wants you to celebrate Shavuot. May we all rejoice in the Lord together!


From all of us at VFI, we wish you a wonderful and Holy Spirit-filled Shavuot!

Read more about Shavuot in these blogs:
The Feast of Shavuot: An Essential Reminder of God’s Faithfulness

Shavu'ot—Feast of Weeks (Pentecost)