The Big Picture (Passover - Shavuot)

Complex word picture that compares the celebrations
Passover -> Shavuot
to
birth -> circumcision

To help understand the holy days Passover and Shavuot, think of the birthdays on our calendar... days set apart to celebrate the dates special people in our lives were born. That is the celebration of Passover, a memorable day of Israel's birth to freedom. Shavuot is more like recalling the day God sealed their relationship.

Shavuot is 7 full weeks after the first day of Passover... 50 days, which is one day into week 8. It means "weeks." It is pronounced shuh-voo-owt, and might be easier to remember as "shove-you-oat or out" (in a way, the Israelites were shoved out of Egypt). Shavuot reminds me of a Jewish boy's circumcision with his name shared on day 8 after birth; a ceremony called the brit milah. Circumcision represents God's connection to that child. Shavuot is a celebration of the moment when the freed Israelites stood at the foot of Mount Sinai and became a people... and God sealed them with the Ten Commandments ("circumcised them") and named them as His own. 

God led the children of Israel after crossing the Red Sea, through the wilderness to Mount Sinai where He gave the Ten Commandments (or "circumcised" them on modern-day Shavuot through the Ten Commandments). God knew His children would enter the stages of "terrible 2s," "fearsome 4s," "hormonal teens," "roaring 20s," and "fugue 40s" but He would love them through it all. The Israelites were and still are His marked children.

Now think of a treasured family heirloom; one passed down through the generations. Something like a hand-made quilt or a Christmas ornament from a beloved grandmother. The treasured heirloom has an immeasurable and intangible value. The Torah is that kind of treasure to the Jewish people, to the nth-degree. Through the Torah Israel was set as the covenant People of God and His light to the nation. God established a signed and sealed forever relationship with the Israelites, and celebrating Shavuot each year is a reminder of that sealing.

General information pertaining to Shavuot:

• 

  When not in use, the scrolls of the Torah
  are stored in the Ark - a cabinet situated
  at the front of every synagogue. The scrolls
  are the most precious objects in a synagogue

  The Torah: The Jews value the first part of their Bible—the Torah—highly. The books that make up the Torah are a mixture of early Jewish history and laws. The Torah contains stories about the creation of the world and early Jewish history ending with the death of Moses. It also has hundreds of rules covering such matters as cleanliness and diet as well as the Ten Commandments. "Religions of the World, Judaism," p. 22. 
• Shavuot: One of three pilgrimage feasts observed each year, it is a summer celebration “a week of weeks” after Pesach (50 days after the first day of Passover). It is first found in Leviticus 23:16, and it is also called the “holiday of first fruits” or referred to as Pentecost.
  One way to honor God and the Torah and celebrate 3-day Shavuot is to stay up all night (or part of a night) studying the Torah. Also, on the first day of Shavuot, it is customary to eat dairy products (cheesecake, quiches, casseroles, etc.) because dairy represents life.
• 7 Holy Days: The three "latter rain" Holy Days are: The Passover first day and last day and Shavuot. The four fall "early rain" Holy Days are: Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Shemini.
• Flowers & Shavuot: A much-loved Jewish legend describes how, when the Torah was given to the people by God on Mount Sinai, the mountain itself burst into flower, the birds stopped singing, and the whole universe became quiet and still—as if waiting for something very beautiful to happen. Then followed thunder, lightning, and a thick cloud that covered the whole mountain. God came down on to the mountain in fire and the area shuddered. Such, explains the legend, is the power of the Torah. “Religions of the World, Judaism,” p 20.
  Another reference also described Shavuot as a festival that celebrates the anniversary of God giving the Torah to Moses. Jews decorate their synagogues with lots of flowers to remind worshipers of the tradition that Mount Sinai burst into flower when the Torah was given by God. “Religions of the World, Judaism” p. 33.
• Manna -> Shavuot: A teaching on Shavuot says, “When the Holy One spoke, each and every person in Israel could say, The Divine Word is addressing me." Rabbi Yosi, the son of Hanina, said: "Do not be surprised by this idea. For when manna came down to feed Israel, each person tasted it according to his or her capacity. For infants it was like mother’s milk, for the young it was like bread with oil and honey, and for the old like a honey cracker. What is true about the manna is also true about the Divine Word. Therefore, the Holy One said: 'Do not be misled if you hear many voices [emphasis added]. Know that I am the One God for each of you.'” “The Book of Jewish Sacred Practices” p. 330-332.
• The Mount Sinai Experience: One of the Shavuot meditations found in “The Book of Jewish Sacred Practices” is, “One God, One people, One mountain, One book. Many voices. Hinei mah tov How good it is: One people, together” [emphasis added]. A suggested ritual for a Shavuot study together, from the “Sacred Practices” includes this 4th step that begins: “At Sinai, we had an experience that was both personal and shared...”
  The midrash (prominent in the Talmudic literature, a separate body of commentary on Scripture) describes God’s voice [on Mount Sinai] as so powerful and frightening that God tempers it by creating different sounds for each person [emphasis added]… The divine utterance is filled with infinite meaning. It has as many interpretations as there are people to hear it. “Jewish Spirituality for Christians,” p. 44.

! New Testament alert !

(Acts 2:1-2 sounds deja-vu to the OT Mount Sinai experience)

...When the day of Pentecost arrived

[50 days after Passover, a/k/a Shavuot, a/k/a holiday of first fruits],

they were all together in one place.

And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind,

and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.

And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them...

and began to speak in other tongues...

(Acts 2:1-2)

On Shavuot after Jesus' death and resurrection,

God sealed and empowered the disciples with the Holy Spirit 

to be supernaturally fruitful spreading the message of Jesus

To both Jew and Gentile

God's instructions for Shavuot, to bring two loaves of leavened bread

visually metaphors Jew and Gentile, still permeated with the leaven of sin

in need of Savior Jesus