The Talmud's Tractate Shabbat (pages 86-87) explores the exact timing of a defining moment in Jewish history – the giving of the Torah – and highlights a disagreement between Rabbi Yossi and other sages. Rabbi Yossi maintains that the Torah was given on the 7th of Sivan, not the 6th, which was later set as the date for Shavuot. In other words, for Rabbi Yossi, the day we observe as Shavuot does not correspond to the actual day of the Torah's giving.
Why couldn't the sages simply refer to the Torah to resolve the dispute by confirming the correct date? Remarkably, the Torah omits the specific date of Shavuot, unlike other holidays like Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Passover, which have clearly defined dates in the Jewish calendar. Shavuot, marking the covenant between God and Israel at Sinai, is unique in that its precise date is not recorded in the Torah. What, then, does the Torah provide?
The Torah states that the giving occurred "in the third month after the children of Israel left Egypt," meaning Sivan, but it offers no specific day. The only guidance is to "count fifty days" from the day following the first day of Passover. However, because Hebrew months can be either full (30 days) or short (29 days), the lengths of Iyar and Nisan that year could result in multiple possible dates.
Both months might have been short, both full, or one of each, meaning the Torah could have been given on the 5th, 6th, or 7th of Sivan. Further complicating matters, the Torah does not confirm that the Torah was given on the fiftieth day, only that this day is a "holy convocation" when "no work shall be done." Thus, it's a day for rest and celebration – but of what exactly? The Torah remains silent.
The debate over Shavuot's precise and official date might seem like a technical matter of calendar calculations, but it holds a deeper significance. The lack of clarity may reflect a deliberate intent to prevent the Jewish people from tying the Torah to a single day. The Torah is a timeless guide, eternally relevant, and Jews are meant to embrace it anew daily, as expressed in the blessing "who gives the Torah" in the present tense, not "who gave the Torah" in the past.
Yet one question persists: Why didn't the Torah clarify that Shavuot is the day of the giving of the Torah? Why did it take the sages to later define it as "the time of the giving of our Torah"?
Rabbi Sacks explains that Shavuot carries an additional layer of meaning that might have been overlooked if it were solely associated with the giving of the Torah. Every mention of Shavuot in the Torah is linked to agricultural practices, such as the omer offering, roasted and fresh grain, the wave offering, and the first fruits. Additionally, in Emor portion, right after mentioning Shavuot among Israel's festivals, the Torah addresses the commandment of pe'ah – leaving a portion of the field for the poor – and leket, the gleanings for the needy. This indicates that Shavuot also celebrates the Land of Israel. Rabbi Sacks suggests that Shavuot honors two divine gifts: the Torah and the Land.
Thus, the three pilgrimage festivals reflect three phases of the Jewish people's redemption from Egypt: Passover recalls their enslavement and exodus, Sukkot commemorates the 40 years of desert wandering, and Shavuot marks their entry into the Land of Israel.
The link between the Torah and the Land of Israel is clear: the Torah's commandments are fully realized in the Land. Hence, one holiday celebrates both. Today, with the Jewish people's return to their homeland after 2,000 years of exile, during which they safeguarded the Torah's teachings worldwide, it can again be declared, "From Zion shall go forth the Torah, and the word of God from Jerusalem." The surge in Shavuot night study sessions in recent years proves this, as tens of thousands of Israelis – secular, traditional, religious, and ultra-Orthodox – engage in their own way with the Torah's timeless messages, given thousands of years ago.
Rabbi Elie Kling heads the "Atid Chemed" program at the Chemed Academic College in Sdot Negev,.
