I knew a rabbi who loved food and would always say that Shavuot was his favorite holiday. Why? He explained, “On Passover, you can eat where you want, but you may not eat what you want. On Sukkot, you may eat what you want, but not where you want. But on Shavuot, you can eat what you want and where you want.”
Shavuot, one of the three pilgrimage festivals along with Passover and Sukkot, starts on Sunday evening, June 1. The word Shavuot means “weeks” and refers to the commandment to count the seven weeks from Passover. This is referred to as “Counting of the Omer,” and it culminates with Shavuot, literally the “Festival of Weeks.” The Israelites counted the days from the Exodus from Egypt until the day they would be given the Torah at Mount Sinai in eager anticipation. And we do the same today.
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