165-455: Shavuot ( listen , from Hebrew : שָׁבוּעוֹת , romanized : Šāvūʿōṯ , lit. 'Weeks'), or Shvues ( listen , in some Ashkenazi usage), is a Jewish holiday , one of the biblically ordained Three Pilgrimage Festivals . It occurs on the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan ; in the 21st century, it may fall anywhere between May 15 and June 14 on
330-794: A second day —of any holiday—in the Diaspora. According to The Jewish Encyclopedia , atzeret ( Biblical Hebrew : עצרת , romanized: ʿaṣereṯ , lit. 'assembly') is the name given to this day in four different locations in the Hebrew Bible . It is not mentioned in Deuteronomy 16 , and is found only in those parts of the Bible known as the Priestly Code . Like atzarah, atzeret denotes "day of assembly", from atzar ("to hold back" or "keep in"); hence
495-417: A sukkah . However, one does not take the lulav and etrog (nor does one sleep in the sukkah according to most opinions) on the eighth day. If someone sees a neighbor on the street with a lulav and etrog on the eighth day, the rabbis reason, they might mistakenly assume that it is still the seventh day ( ḥol hamoed ), when the lulav and etrog are still needed. They might then violate prohibitions of
660-685: A Hebrew form. Medieval Hebrew added 6421 words to (Modern) Hebrew. The approximate number of new lexical items in Israeli is 17,000 (cf. 14,762 in Even-Shoshan 1970 [...]). With the inclusion of foreign and technical terms [...], the total number of Israeli words, including words of biblical, rabbinic and medieval descent, is more than 60,000. In Israel, Modern Hebrew is currently taught in institutions called Ulpanim (singular: Ulpan). There are government-owned, as well as private, Ulpanim offering online courses and face-to-face programs. Modern Hebrew
825-471: A Hebrew original of the Book of Jubilees , which sought to fix the celebration of Shavuot on 15 Sivan, following their interpretation of Exodus 19:1. (See also above, at "Agricultural" .) Hebrew language Hebrew ( Hebrew alphabet : עִבְרִית , ʿĪvrīt , pronounced [ ʔivˈʁit ] or [ ʕivˈrit ] ; Samaritan script : ࠏࠨࠁࠬࠓࠪࠉࠕ ʿÎbrit )
990-605: A Simchat Torah celebration unconstrained by festival work restrictions , since the festival is over in Israel according to Jewish law. Outside Israel, where Shemini Atzeret is observed for two days, Simchat Torah is deferred to the second day, when all agree there is no obligation of sukkah . In Israel—and for different reasons in Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism—none of the unique observances of Sukkot ( sukkah , lulav and etrog ) carry over to Shemini Atzeret. Shemini Atzeret
1155-595: A century ago, was fluent enough in this idiom to be able to follow the Mishna Berurah without any trouble." Hebrew has been revived several times as a literary language, most significantly by the Haskalah (Enlightenment) movement of early and mid-19th-century Germany. In the early 19th century, a form of spoken Hebrew had emerged in the markets of Jerusalem between Jews of different linguistic backgrounds to communicate for commercial purposes. This Hebrew dialect
1320-608: A corollary Hebrew ceased to function as a spoken language around the same time. Moshe Zvi Segal , Joseph Klausner and Ben Yehuda are notable exceptions to this view. During the latter half of the 20th century, accumulating archaeological evidence and especially linguistic analysis of the Dead Sea Scrolls has disproven that view. The Dead Sea Scrolls, uncovered in 1946–1948 near Qumran revealed ancient Jewish texts overwhelmingly in Hebrew, not Aramaic. The Qumran scrolls indicate that Hebrew texts were readily understandable to
1485-579: A distinct style of philosophical Hebrew. This is used in the translations made by the Ibn Tibbon family. (Original Jewish philosophical works were usually written in Arabic. ) Another important influence was Maimonides , who developed a simple style based on Mishnaic Hebrew for use in his law code, the Mishneh Torah . Subsequent rabbinic literature is written in a blend between this style and
1650-594: A gradually accepted movement. It was not, however, until the 1904–1914 Second Aliyah that Hebrew had caught real momentum in Ottoman Palestine with the more highly organized enterprises set forth by the new group of immigrants. When the British Mandate of Palestine recognized Hebrew as one of the country's three official languages (English, Arabic, and Hebrew, in 1922), its new formal status contributed to its diffusion. A constructed modern language with
1815-611: A holy day is that it is simultaneously considered to be connected to Sukkot and a separate festival in its own right. Outside the Land of Israel , this is further complicated by the additional day added to all Biblical holidays except Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur . Shemini Atzeret is thus sometimes wrongly regarded as the eighth day of Sukkot outside the Land of Israel, leading to sometimes involved analysis as to which practices of each holiday are to apply. The celebration of Simchat Torah
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#17327723784621980-468: A literary language down through the Byzantine period from the 4th century CE. The exact roles of Aramaic and Hebrew remain hotly debated. A trilingual scenario has been proposed for the land of Israel. Hebrew functioned as the local mother tongue with powerful ties to Israel's history, origins and golden age and as the language of Israel's religion; Aramaic functioned as the international language with
2145-536: A literary language, especially in Spain, as the language of commerce between Jews of different native languages, and as the liturgical language of Judaism, evolving various dialects of literary Medieval Hebrew , until its revival as a spoken language in the late 19th century. In May 2023, Scott Stripling published the finding of what he claims to be the oldest known Hebrew inscription, a curse tablet found at Mount Ebal , dated from around 3200 years ago. The presence of
2310-429: A parallel problem because many people simply enjoy eating outdoors in the shade of a sukkah . Hence, seeing someone eating in a sukkah does not per se lead one to assume it is still ḥol hamoed . Likewise, eating in the sukkah does not per se impinge on one's own celebration of Shemini Atzeret. Therefore, the prevalent practice is to eat in the sukkah on Shemini Azeret outside the Land of Israel, but not to recite
2475-548: A set of dialects evolving out of Late Biblical Hebrew and into Mishnaic Hebrew, thus including elements from both but remaining distinct from either. By the start of the Byzantine Period in the 4th century CE, Classical Hebrew ceased as a regularly spoken language, roughly a century after the publication of the Mishnah, apparently declining since the aftermath of the catastrophic Bar Kokhba revolt around 135 CE. In
2640-434: A special Festival reading. The Simchat Torah celebration of today is of later rabbinic and customary origin. The day (but not the name) is mentioned in the siddur of Rav Amram Gaon (9th century CE); the assignment of the first chapter of Joshua as the haftarah of the day is mentioned there. The reading of the first section of Genesis immediately upon the conclusion of the last section of Deuteronomy —as well as
2805-668: A spoken language, it continued to be used as a lingua franca among scholars and Jews traveling in foreign countries. After the 2nd century CE when the Roman Empire exiled most of the Jewish population of Jerusalem following the Bar Kokhba revolt , they adapted to the societies in which they found themselves, yet letters, contracts, commerce, science, philosophy, medicine, poetry and laws continued to be written mostly in Hebrew, which adapted by borrowing and inventing terms. After
2970-472: A truly Semitic vocabulary and written appearance, although often European in phonology , was to take its place among the current languages of the nations. While many saw his work as fanciful or even blasphemous (because Hebrew was the holy language of the Torah and therefore some thought that it should not be used to discuss everyday matters), many soon understood the need for a common language amongst Jews of
3135-465: A unique sacrifice for Shavuot: the shtei halechem or Two Loaves, which (atypically for sacrifices) must be chametz , and which are described as bikkurim of the wheat harvest. These loaves are accompanied by a set of other sacrifices. According to Judah Loew ben Bezalel , there is a symbolic contrast between the omer offering of Passover and the Two Loaves. The former consists of barley, which
3300-558: A vernacular in Judea until it was displaced by Aramaic, probably in the 3rd century CE. Certain Sadducee , Pharisee , Scribe , Hermit, Zealot and Priest classes maintained an insistence on Hebrew, and all Jews maintained their identity with Hebrew songs and simple quotations from Hebrew texts. While there is no doubt that at a certain point, Hebrew was displaced as the everyday spoken language of most Jews, and that its chief successor in
3465-518: Is 8198, of which some 2000 are hapax legomena (the number of Biblical Hebrew roots, on which many of these words are based, is 2099). The number of attested Rabbinic Hebrew words is less than 20,000, of which (i) 7879 are Rabbinic par excellence, i.e. they did not appear in the Old Testament (the number of new Rabbinic Hebrew roots is 805); (ii) around 6000 are a subset of Biblical Hebrew; and (iii) several thousand are Aramaic words which can have
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#17327723784623630-474: Is a Jewish holiday . It is celebrated on the 22nd day of the Hebrew month of Tishrei , usually coinciding with late September or early October. It directly follows the festival of Sukkot , which is celebrated for seven days; thus, Shemini Atzeret is literally the eighth day [of assembly]. It is a separate—yet connected—holy day devoted to the spiritual aspects of the festival of Sukkot. Part of its duality as
3795-644: Is a Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic language family . A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages , it was natively spoken by the Israelites and remained in regular use as a first language until after 200 CE and as the liturgical language of Judaism (since the Second Temple period ) and Samaritanism . The language was revived as a spoken language in the 19th century, and
3960-436: Is a holiday in its own right, without sukkah , lulav and etrog . At the same time, by the rabbinic decree to add one day to all holidays outside the Land of Israel, both Passover and Sukkot, although described in the Torah as seven-day holidays, are observed outside the Land of Israel for eight days. Accordingly, the "eighth day of Sukkot" outside Israel coincides with the separate holiday of Shemini Atzeret. Psalm 27, which
4125-703: Is also observed by Karaites and Samaritans: For Karaites , followers of a branch of Judaism that accepts the Written Law , but not the Oral Law , Shemini Atzeret is observed as a single day of rest, not associated with the practices of Simchat Torah, which are a rabbinic innovation. Nevertheless, the Karaite cycle of weekly Torah reading , like the Rabbinic cycle, reaches its conclusion on Shemini Atzeret. Accordingly, in at least some Karaite circles, this day
4290-608: Is buttered and sugared) among Iraqi Jews ; kadeh (a cheese-filled bread) among Kurdish Jews , and a seven-layer cake called siete cielos (seven heavens) among Tunisian and Moroccan Jews are traditionally consumed on the Shavuot holiday. As a dessert, Sephardic Jews traditionally consume sütlaç (a rice pudding cooked in milk) decorated with cinnamon in designs such as the Star of David , flowers, and other patterns. Yemenite Jews do not eat dairy foods on Shavuot. In keeping with
4455-520: Is called Simchat Torah (see next section). The practice of reading the Ve-zot ha-berakhah, the last of the weekly Torah portions on Shemini Atzeret is documented in the Talmud. That Talmudic source does not refer to the occasion as "Simchat Torah", but simply as [the second day of] Shemini Atzeret, and it is also not clear from that source if it is read as the last Torah portion (as is our custom) or as
4620-601: Is characterized by the use of the sukkah (booth or tabernacle) and the Four Species (tree branches and fruit used in the celebration). However, the Torah specifies using those objects for only seven days, not eight. The observance of Shemini Atzeret, therefore, differs in substantial ways from that of Sukkot. The Talmud describes Shemini Atzeret with the words "a holiday in its own right" ( regel bifnei atzmo ). The Talmud describes six ways in which Shemini Atzeret differs from Sukkot. Four of these relate principally to
4785-468: Is described in detail in Leviticus 23:33–43 . Shemini Atzeret is mentioned in only verses 36 and 39. The Hebrew word shemini means eighth . This refers to the date of Shemini Atzeret relative to Sukkot; it falls on the latter’s eighth day. It is often assumed that Shemini Atzeret is simply the eighth day of Sukkot. That characterization, however, is only partly accurate. The celebration of Sukkot
4950-514: Is fighting to stop businesses from using only English signs to market their services. In 2012, a Knesset bill for the preservation of the Hebrew language was proposed, which includes the stipulation that all signage in Israel must first and foremost be in Hebrew, as with all speeches by Israeli officials abroad. The bill's author, MK Akram Hasson , stated that the bill was proposed as a response to Hebrew "losing its prestige" and children incorporating more English words into their vocabulary. Hebrew
5115-414: Is offered by Yaakov Tzvi Mecklenburg , who translates atzeret as "retain": "During the holiday season, we have experienced a heightened religious fervor and a most devout spirit. This last day is devoted to a recapitulation of the message of these days, with the hope that it will be retained the rest of the year". The day before Shemini Atzeret is the last day of Sukkot. It is called Hoshana Rabbah and
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5280-519: Is one of several languages for which the constitution of South Africa calls to be respected in their use for religious purposes. Also, Hebrew is an official national minority language in Poland , since 6 January 2005. Hamas has made Hebrew a compulsory language taught in schools in the Gaza Strip. Shemini Atzeret Shemini Atzeret ( שְׁמִינִי עֲצֶרֶת —"Eighth [day] of Assembly")
5445-605: Is permitted on this day. At the end of the holiday, the succahs are dismantled. Their poles and nets will be stored until the next Harvest Festival. The fruits will be squeezed into sweetened juice and some will be eaten by the children. On October 07, 2023, 06:29, on the morning of Shemini Atzeret, Hamas launched an attack on Israeli army installations and civilian communities near the Gaza border . Around 1,140 Israelis were killed and over 250 were kidnapped and taken to Gaza as hostages, most of them unarmed civilians. This event marked
5610-574: Is printed in a book called Tiqun Leyl Shavuot . There exist similar books for the vigils before the seventh day of Pesach and Hosha'ana Rabbah . In Jerusalem , at the conclusion of the night time study session, tens of thousands of people walk to the Western Wall to pray with sunrise. A week after Israel captured the Old City during the Six-Day War , more than 200,000 Jews streamed to
5775-492: Is recited by some synagogues in the diaspora on the second day of Shavuot. The author signs his name at the beginning of the poem's 15 lines – Yaakov ben Meir Levi, better knows as Rabbeinu Tam . Dairy foods such as cheesecake , cheese blintzes , and cheese kreplach among Ashkenazi Jews ; cheese sambusak , kelsonnes ( ravioli filled with tzfatit cheese), and atayef (a cheese-filled pancake) among Sephardic and Syrian Jews ; kahee (a dough that
5940-630: Is recited in most communities twice daily starting at the beginning of Elul , continues to be recited on Shemini Atzeret outside the Land of Israel. When Shemini Atzeret falls on the Shabbat, the Scroll of Ecclesiastes , or Kohelet ( קהלת , otherwise read in Ashkenazi synagogues on the Shabbat of Sukkot), is read on that day outside the Land of Israel. In the Land of Israel, it would have been read on
6105-567: Is referred to by the name of Simchat Torah. Additionally, calculation of the Karaite calendar is not based on astronomical calculations, but only on direct observation of the New Moon and the ripening of barley . Because of that, the 22nd day of the 7th month does not necessarily fall on the same date as 22 Tishrei in the (conventional, Rabbinic) Jewish calendar . In 2015, Shemini Atzeret fell on October 7 for Karaites, two days later than in
6270-465: Is the avoidance of "servile labor" (melechet avodah), as on other major Jewish holidays. (See also Jewish holidays — "Work" on Sabbath and biblical holidays .) No other specific rituals or ritual objects are specified, making Shemini Atzeret unique in that regard among the festivals mentioned in the Torah. Two observances of Shemini Atzeret are mentioned in the Prophets and Writings portions of
6435-462: Is the most distinctive feature of the holiday, but it is a later rabbinical innovation. In the Land of Israel, the celebrations of Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah are combined on a single day, and the names are used interchangeably. In the Diaspora , the celebration of Simchat Torah is deferred to the second day of the holiday. Commonly, only the first day is referred to as Shemini Atzeret , while
6600-513: Is the only successful large-scale example of linguistic revival . It is the only Canaanite language, as well as one of only two Northwest Semitic languages, with the other being Aramaic , still spoken today. The earliest examples of written Paleo-Hebrew date back to the 10th century BCE. Nearly all of the Hebrew Bible is written in Biblical Hebrew , with much of its present form in the dialect that scholars believe flourished around
6765-457: Is the primary official language of the State of Israel. As of 2013 , there are about 9 million Hebrew speakers worldwide, of whom 7 million speak it fluently. Currently, 90% of Israeli Jews are proficient in Hebrew, and 70% are highly proficient. Some 60% of Israeli Arabs are also proficient in Hebrew, and 30% report having a higher proficiency in Hebrew than in Arabic. In total, about 53% of
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6930-419: Is to ingest the fresh leaves of a stimulant herb called Khat (containing cathinone ) for the all-night ritual, an herb commonly used in that region of the world. Any subject may be studied on Shavuot night, although Talmud , Mishnah , and Torah typically top the list. People may learn alone or with a chavruta (study partner), or attend late-night shiurim (lectures) and study groups. In keeping with
7095-598: Is typically an animal food, and represents the low spiritual level of the Israelites immediately upon leaving Egypt during the Exodus ; while the latter consists of wheat and represents the high spiritual level of the Israelites upon receiving the Torah. Nowadays in the post-Temple era, Shavuot is the only biblically ordained holiday that has no specific laws attached to it other than usual festival requirements of abstaining from creative work . The rabbinic observances for
7260-456: Is unique and different from the other days of Sukkot. While it is part of the “intermediate” days of Sukkot known as ''Chol HaMoed'' , Hoshana Rabbah has extra prayers and rituals and is treated and practised much more seriously and festively than are the previous days of Chol HaMoed . In particular, during the morning prayer service of Hoshana Rabbah, there are seven hoshanot with their own seven hakafot or "seven processions". That sets
7425-547: Is used to pronounce the Hebrew Bible; however, properly it should be distinguished from the historical Biblical Hebrew of the 6th century BCE, whose original pronunciation must be reconstructed. Tiberian Hebrew incorporates the scholarship of the Masoretes (from masoret meaning "tradition"), who added vowel points and grammar points to the Hebrew letters to preserve much earlier features of Hebrew, for use in chanting
7590-650: The Chayei Adam in Hebrew, as opposed to Yiddish , as a guide to Halacha for the " average 17-year-old" (Ibid. Introduction 1). Similarly, Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan 's purpose in writing the Mishnah Berurah was to "produce a work that could be studied daily so that Jews might know the proper procedures to follow minute by minute". The work was nevertheless written in Talmudic Hebrew and Aramaic, since, "the ordinary Jew [of Eastern Europe] of
7755-406: The yom tov of the eighth day. For that reason, the rabbis ruled that one should not take the lulav and etrog on the eighth day, even outside the Land of Israel. They are therefore muktzah ; that is, one may not even move them on a holiday where they are not needed. Sleeping in the sukkah brings a similar discussion. Additionally, most people would prefer to sleep indoors at this point in
7920-727: The Ancient Greek Ἑβραῖος ( hebraîos ) and Aramaic 'ibrāy , all ultimately derived from Biblical Hebrew Ivri ( עברי ), one of several names for the Israelite ( Jewish and Samaritan ) people ( Hebrews ). It is traditionally understood to be an adjective based on the name of Abraham 's ancestor, Eber , mentioned in Genesis 10:21 . The name is believed to be based on the Semitic root ʕ-b-r ( ע־ב־ר ), meaning "beyond", "other side", "across"; interpretations of
8085-508: The Book of Ruth is read on Shavuot. Reasons given for this custom include: In many Jewish communities, there is a tradition to decorate homes and synagogues with plants, flowers and leafy branches on Shavuot. In fact, Persian Jews referred to the holiday as "The Mo'ed of Flowers" (موعد گل) in Persian , and never as "Shavuot". A common reason given for this custom is the story that Mount Sinai suddenly blossomed with flowers in anticipation of
8250-547: The Canaanite group of languages . Canaanite languages are a branch of the Northwest Semitic family of languages. Hebrew was the spoken language in the Iron Age kingdoms of Israel and Judah during the period from about 1200 to 586 BCE. Epigraphic evidence from this period confirms the widely accepted view that the earlier layers of biblical literature reflect the language used in these kingdoms. Furthermore,
8415-572: The Gospel of Matthew . (See the Hebrew Gospel hypothesis or Language of Jesus for more details on Hebrew and Aramaic in the gospels.) The term "Mishnaic Hebrew" generally refers to the Hebrew dialects found in the Talmud , excepting quotations from the Hebrew Bible. The dialects organize into Mishnaic Hebrew (also called Tannaitic Hebrew, Early Rabbinic Hebrew, or Mishnaic Hebrew I), which
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#17327723784628580-568: The Gregorian calendar . Shavuot marked the wheat harvest in the Land of Israel in the Hebrew Bible according to Exodus 34:22 . In addition, rabbinic tradition teaches that the date also marks the revelation of the Ten Commandments to Moses and the Israelites at Mount Sinai , which, according to the tradition of Orthodox Judaism , occurred at this date in 1312 BCE. The word Shavuot means "weeks" in Hebrew, and marks
8745-495: The Latin alphabet of ancient Rome . The Gezer calendar is written without any vowels , and it does not use consonants to imply vowels even in the places in which later Hebrew spelling requires them. Numerous older tablets have been found in the region with similar scripts written in other Semitic languages, for example, Proto-Sinaitic . It is believed that the original shapes of the script go back to Egyptian hieroglyphs , though
8910-682: The Maccabean Revolt (167–160 BCE) and the emergence of the Hasmonean kingdom , the Great Jewish Revolt (66–73 CE), and the Bar Kokhba revolt (132–135 CE). The nationalist significance of Hebrew manifested in various ways throughout this period. Michael Owen Wise notes that "Beginning with the time of the Hasmonean revolt [...] Hebrew came to the fore in an expression akin to modern nationalism. A form of classical Hebrew
9075-746: The Maccabees and their followers had been unable to celebrate earlier that year. However, the only allusion to Shemini Atzeret in that narrative is that the Hanukkah celebration was fixed for eight days—in remembrance of both the seven days of Sukkot and the additional day of Shemini Atzeret. Like most Jewish holidays of Biblical origin, Shemini Atzeret is observed for one day within the Land of Israel , and traditionally for two days outside Israel. Reform and Reconstructionist communities generally celebrate this and most Biblical holidays for one day, even outside Israel. The second day observed outside Israel
9240-551: The Rabbis in Tractate Pesahim say that: The closing feast of Sukkot (i.e., Shemini Atzeret) ought rightly to have been, like that of Passover (i.e., Shavuot) on the fiftieth day, but, in order not to force the people to make another journey to Jerusalem in the rainy season, God fixed it as early as the eighth day. Shemini Atzeret thus concludes the process of judgment, repentance, and atonement begun on Rosh Hashanah :
9405-536: The Second Aliyah , it replaced a score of languages spoken by Jews at that time. Those languages were Jewish dialects of local languages, including Judaeo-Spanish (also called "Judezmo" and "Ladino"), Yiddish , Judeo-Arabic and Bukhori (Tajiki), or local languages spoken in the Jewish diaspora such as Russian , Persian and Arabic . The major result of the literary work of the Hebrew intellectuals along
9570-736: The Tanakh (Hebrew Bible). The first occurred at the time of the dedication of the First Temple by Solomon. The second came at the time of the Jews' return from the Babylonian exile . In both cases, however, the mention is limited to the observation that an "assembly [atzeret] was held on the eighth day". According to the Apocryphal Second Book of Maccabees , the first celebration of Hanukkah mimicked that of Sukkot, which
9735-469: The Temple service , but two others remain relevant to the modern celebration of the holiday. First, the blessing known as Shehecheyanu is recited on the night of Shemini Atzeret just as it is on the first night of all other major Jewish holidays. Second, the holiday is referred to distinctively as "Shemini Atzeret" and not as "Sukkot" in the prayer service. Immediately following that discussion, however,
9900-407: The Torah and became a nation committed to serving God. While Shavuot is sometimes referred to as Pentecost (in Koinē Greek : Πεντηκοστή , romanized: Pentecostē , lit. 'Fiftieth') due to its timing fifty days after the first day of Passover, it is not the same celebration as the Christian Pentecost or Whitsun , which comes fifty days after Easter . That said,
10065-399: The Torah was revealed by God to the Israelite nation at Mount Sinai, although this is commonly considered to be its main significance. Unlike other major holidays, the Torah does not specify the date of Shavuot, but only that it falls 50 days after Passover, placing it at the 6th of Sivan according to the current fixed calendar (in earlier times when months were fixed by lunar observation,
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#173277237846210230-401: The amidah until Passover . The Yizkor memorial service is also recited in the Eastern Ashkenazic rite on this day, and it was adopted in some Western Ashkenazic communities. Recital of the Yizkor prayer is said to bring the person "closer to the cold and brittle part of mourning", and is necessary to promote the healing of a broken heart. As a biblically-mentioned holiday, Shemini Atzeret
10395-415: The berakhah for sitting in a sukkah , as reciting it would "impinge" on the unique status of Shemini Atzeret. There are, however, those who have different minhagim (customs). Many Hasidic groups have a tradition to recite the morning kiddush and then have refreshments (such as cake) in the sukkah , but to eat both the evening and morning main meals inside, notwithstanding the Talmudic ruling to
10560-399: The cantor 's repetition of the amidah ; according to the original custom, there are also many silent piyyutim, which today are omitted in most communities but still maintained in some communities. In some Ashkenazi synagogues, the cantor is clad in a white kittel , a symbol of piety , owing to the vitality of a positive judgment for rain. A brief mention of rain continues to be inserted in
10725-399: The literary and liturgical language into everyday spoken language . However, his brand of Hebrew followed norms that had been replaced in Eastern Europe by different grammar and style, in the writings of people like Ahad Ha'am and others. His organizational efforts and involvement with the establishment of schools and the writing of textbooks pushed the vernacularization activity into
10890-507: The official language of the State of Israel . Estimates of worldwide usage include five million speakers in 1998, and over nine million people in 2013. After Israel, the United States has the largest Hebrew-speaking population, with approximately 220,000 fluent speakers (see Israeli Americans and Jewish Americans ). Modern Hebrew is the official language of the State of Israel, while pre-revival forms of Hebrew are used for prayer or study in Jewish and Samaritan communities around
11055-484: The ostraca found near Lachish , which describe events preceding the final capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian captivity of 586 BCE. In its widest sense, Biblical Hebrew refers to the spoken language of ancient Israel flourishing between c. 1000 BCE and c. 400 CE . It comprises several evolving and overlapping dialects. The phases of Classical Hebrew are often named after important literary works associated with them. Sometimes
11220-418: The yahrzeit of the Baal Shem Tov . The Aqdamut ( Imperial Aramaic : אקדמות ) is a liturgical poem recited by Ashkenazi Jews extolling the greatness of God, the Torah, and Israel that is read publicly in Ashkenazic synagogues in the middle of – or in some communities right before – the morning Torah reading on the first day of Shavuot. It was composed by Meir of Worms . Meir
11385-409: The "end holiday of [Sukkot]". Spiritually, Shemini Atzeret can also be seen to "guard the seven days of Sukkot". The Hebrew word atzeret is generally translated as "assembly", but shares a linguistic root with the word atzor , meaning "stop" or "tarry". Shemini Atzeret is characterized as a day when the Jewish People "tarries" to spend an additional day with God at the end of Sukkot. Rashi cites
11550-441: The 10th century BCE at the beginning of the Monarchic period , the traditional time of the reign of David and Solomon . Classified as Archaic Biblical Hebrew , the calendar presents a list of seasons and related agricultural activities. The Gezer calendar (named after the city in whose proximity it was found) is written in an old Semitic script, akin to the Phoenician one that, through the Greeks and Etruscans , later became
11715-454: The 1980s in the USSR , Hebrew studies reappeared due to people struggling for permission to go to Israel ( refuseniks ). Several of the teachers were imprisoned, e.g. Yosef Begun , Ephraim Kholmyansky , Yevgeny Korostyshevsky and others responsible for a Hebrew learning network connecting many cities of the USSR. Standard Hebrew, as developed by Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, was based on Mishnaic spelling and Sephardi Hebrew pronunciation. However,
11880-611: The 19th century was a lexical modernization of Hebrew. New words and expressions were adapted as neologisms from the large corpus of Hebrew writings since the Hebrew Bible, or borrowed from Arabic (mainly by Ben-Yehuda) and older Aramaic and Latin. Many new words were either borrowed from or coined after European languages, especially English, Russian, German, and French. Modern Hebrew became an official language in British-ruled Palestine in 1921 (along with English and Arabic), and then in 1948 became an official language of
12045-546: The 6th century BCE, during the time of the Babylonian captivity . For this reason, Hebrew has been referred to by Jews as Lashon Hakodesh ( לְשׁוֹן הַקֹּדֶש , lit. ' the holy tongue ' or ' the tongue [of] holiness ' ) since ancient times. The language was not referred to by the name Hebrew in the Bible , but as Yehudit ( transl. ' Judean ' ) or Səpaṯ Kəna'an ( transl. "the language of Canaan " ). Mishnah Gittin 9:8 refers to
12210-713: The Aramaized Rabbinic Hebrew of the Talmud. Hebrew persevered through the ages as the main language for written purposes by all Jewish communities around the world for a large range of uses—not only liturgy, but also poetry, philosophy, science and medicine, commerce, daily correspondence and contracts. There have been many deviations from this generalization such as Bar Kokhba 's letters to his lieutenants, which were mostly in Aramaic, and Maimonides' writings, which were mostly in Arabic; but overall, Hebrew did not cease to be used for such purposes. For example,
12375-687: The British Mandate who at the turn of the 20th century were arriving in large numbers from diverse countries and speaking different languages. A Committee of the Hebrew Language was established. After the establishment of Israel, it became the Academy of the Hebrew Language . The results of Ben-Yehuda's lexicographical work were published in a dictionary ( The Complete Dictionary of Ancient and Modern Hebrew , Ben-Yehuda Dictionary ). The seeds of Ben-Yehuda's work fell on fertile ground, and by
12540-663: The Essenes" .) Shavuot was one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals on which Jews would visit the Temple in Jerusalem . Shavuot was also the first day on which individuals could bring the bikkurim or " first fruits " to the Temple in Jerusalem . Bikkurim were so crucial to Shavuot that the Torah twice describes the holiday as a day of bikkurim; wheat was ready for harvest, summer fruits were beginning to ripen, and bikkurim were brought. The Torah prescribes
12705-530: The First Fruits" ( Hebrew : יום הבכורים , romanized : Yom habBikkurim , Numbers 28:26 ). Shavuot , the plural of a word meaning "week" or "seven", alludes to the fact that this festival happens exactly seven weeks (i.e. "a week of weeks") after Passover. The Talmud refers to Shavuot as ʻAṣeret ( Hebrew : עצרת , romanized : ʻəṣereṯ , lit. 'refraining, holding back') according to Pesachim 68b, referring to
12870-526: The Great conquered Babylon, he allowed the Jewish people to return from captivity. In time, a local version of Aramaic came to be spoken in Israel alongside Hebrew. By the beginning of the Common Era , Aramaic was the primary colloquial language of Samarian , Babylonian and Galileean Jews, and western and intellectual Jews spoke Greek , but a form of so-called Rabbinic Hebrew continued to be used as
13035-432: The Hebrew name of god , Yahweh, as three letters, Yod-Heh-Vav (YHV), according to the author and his team meant that the tablet is Hebrew and not Canaanite. However, practically all professional archeologists and epigraphers apart from Stripling's team claim that there is no text on this object. In July 2008, Israeli archaeologist Yossi Garfinkel discovered a ceramic shard at Khirbet Qeiyafa that he claimed may be
13200-602: The Hebrew Bible. The Masoretes inherited a biblical text whose letters were considered too sacred to be altered, so their markings were in the form of pointing in and around the letters. The Syriac alphabet , precursor to the Arabic alphabet , also developed vowel pointing systems around this time. The Aleppo Codex , a Hebrew Bible with the Masoretic pointing, was written in the 10th century, likely in Tiberias, and survives into
13365-454: The Israeli population speaks Hebrew as a native language, while most of the rest speak it fluently. In 2013 Hebrew was the native language of 49% of Israelis over the age of 20, with Russian , Arabic , French , English , Yiddish and Ladino being the native tongues of most of the rest. Some 26% of immigrants from the former Soviet Union and 12% of Arabs reported speaking Hebrew poorly or not at all. Steps have been taken to keep Hebrew
13530-453: The Israelites had prepared for three days before the giving of the Torah. During one of those study sessions, an angel reportedly appeared and taught them Jewish law . It has been suggested that the introduction of coffee throughout the Ottoman empire may have attributed to the "feasibility and popularity" of the practice of all-night Torah study. In contrast, the custom of Yemenite Jews
13695-654: The Jewish New Year. Four days after the conclusion of Yom Kippur , the Day of Atonement, Sukkot begins and is regarded as the celebration of the anticipated Divine "good judgment" that was, religious Jews hope, granted while observing the High Holy Days . (Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and the week between them are known as the Ten Days of Repentance .) Hoshana Rabbah, Shemini Atzeret, and Simchat Torah then culminate
13860-477: The Middle East was the closely related Aramaic language, then Greek , scholarly opinions on the exact dating of that shift have changed very much. In the first half of the 20th century, most scholars followed Abraham Geiger and Gustaf Dalman in thinking that Aramaic became a spoken language in the land of Israel as early as the beginning of Israel's Hellenistic period in the 4th century BCE, and that as
14025-619: The Most High, would never sleep on Shavuot eve—and now we do this on both nights—for all night they would read the Torah and the Nevi'im and the Ketuvim , and they would skip around the Talmud and the Aggadot , and they would read the secret wisdoms until dawn broke, and they would hold the legacy of their fathers in their very hands". The custom was later linked to a Midrash which relates that
14190-539: The Talmud describes Shemini Atzeret as the "end holiday of the festival [of Sukkot]". The context here is that the Sukkot obligations of joy and recitation of Hallel ( Psalms 113–118) last eight days. This is also why one of Sukkot's liturgical aliases, "Time of Our Happiness" ( zman simḥatenu ), continues to be used to describe Shemini Atzeret—and, by extension, Simchat Torah—in the liturgy. Shemini Atzeret is, in conclusion, simultaneously "a holiday in its own right" and
14355-621: The Talmud, the Gemara , generally comments on the Mishnah and Baraitot in two forms of Aramaic. Nevertheless, Hebrew survived as a liturgical and literary language in the form of later Amoraic Hebrew, which occasionally appears in the text of the Gemara, particularly in the Jerusalem Talmud and the classical aggadah midrashes . Hebrew was always regarded as the language of Israel's religion, history and national pride, and after it faded as
14520-460: The Talmud, various regional literary dialects of Medieval Hebrew evolved. The most important is Tiberian Hebrew or Masoretic Hebrew, a local dialect of Tiberias in Galilee that became the standard for vocalizing the Hebrew Bible and thus still influences all other regional dialects of Hebrew. This Tiberian Hebrew from the 7th to 10th century CE is sometimes called "Biblical Hebrew" because it
14685-413: The Torah "on the sixteenth day of the third month in the first year of the Exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt". In Jub. 6:15–22 and 44:1–5, the holiday is traced to the appearance of the first rainbow on the 15th of Sivan, the day on which God made his covenant with Noah. The Qumran community, commonly associated with the Essenes, held in its library several texts mentioning Shavuot, most notably
14850-488: The ability to speak the language and attempted to promote its use. According to the Jerusalem Talmud , Megillah 1:9: "Rebbi Jonathan from Bet Guvrrin said, four languages are appropriate that the world should use them, and they are these: The Foreign Language (Greek) for song, Latin for war, Syriac for elegies, Hebrew for speech. Some are saying, also Assyrian (Hebrew script) for writing." The later section of
15015-478: The above phases of spoken Classical Hebrew are simplified into "Biblical Hebrew" (including several dialects from the 10th century BCE to 2nd century BCE and extant in certain Dead Sea Scrolls) and "Mishnaic Hebrew" (including several dialects from the 3rd century BCE to the 3rd century CE and extant in certain other Dead Sea Scrolls). However, today most Hebrew linguists classify Dead Sea Scroll Hebrew as
15180-506: The average Jew, and that the language had evolved since Biblical times as spoken languages do. Recent scholarship recognizes that reports of Jews speaking in Aramaic indicate a multilingual society, not necessarily the primary language spoken. Alongside Aramaic, Hebrew co-existed within Israel as a spoken language. Most scholars now date the demise of Hebrew as a spoken language to the end of the Roman period , or about 200 CE. It continued on as
15345-657: The babies born during the preceding twelve months. In the 19th century several Orthodox synagogues in Britain and Australia held confirmation ceremonies for 12-year-old girls on Shavuot, a precursor to the modern Bat Mitzvah . The early Reform movement made Shavuot into a religious school graduation day. Today, Reform synagogues in North America typically hold confirmation ceremonies on Shavuot for students aged 16 to 18 who are completing their religious studies. The graduating class stands in front of an open ark , recalling
15510-547: The beginning of the 20th century, Hebrew was well on its way to becoming the main language of the Jewish population of both Ottoman and British Palestine. At the time, members of the Old Yishuv and a very few Hasidic sects, most notably those under the auspices of Satmar , refused to speak Hebrew and spoke only Yiddish. In the Soviet Union, the use of Hebrew, along with other Jewish cultural and religious activities,
15675-514: The chazzan's repetition of the Mussaf amidah, in some communities they were later moved to a different part of the service. Some Ashkenazic communities maintain the original practice of reciting the Azharot during musaf; they recite "Ata hinchlata" on the first day and "Azharat Reishit" on the second, both from the early Geonic period. Italian Jews do the same except that they switch the piyyutim of
15840-602: The composition of 1 Maccabees in archaizing Hebrew, Hasmonean coinage under John Hyrcanus (134-104 BCE), and coins from both the Great Revolt and Bar Kokhba Revolt featuring exclusively Hebrew and Palaeo-Hebrew script inscriptions. This deliberate use of Hebrew and Paleo-Hebrew script in official contexts, despite limited literacy, served as a symbol of Jewish nationalism and political independence. The Christian New Testament contains some Semitic place names and quotes. The language of such Semitic glosses (and in general
16005-558: The conclusion of the Counting of the Omer . Its date is directly linked to that of Passover ; the Torah mandates the seven-week Counting of the Omer, beginning on the second day of Passover, to be immediately followed by Shavuot. This counting of days and weeks is understood to express anticipation and desire for the giving of the Torah. On Passover, the people of Israel were freed from their enslavement to Pharaoh ; on Shavuot, they were given
16170-410: The content of Hebrew inscriptions suggests that the written texts closely mirror the spoken language of that time. Scholars debate the degree to which Hebrew was a spoken vernacular in ancient times following the Babylonian exile when the predominant international language in the region was Old Aramaic . Hebrew was extinct as a colloquial language by late antiquity , but it continued to be used as
16335-478: The contrary. Others eat the evening meal of Shemini Atzeret indoors but the day meal in the sukkah . Each of these approaches addresses aspects of the dual nature of Shemini Atzeret. The Land of Israel's agriculture depends heavily on rains that come only seasonally, so Jewish prayers for rain, such as Tefillat Geshem or Tikun Geshem (Rain Prayer) are prominent during the Land of Israel's rainy (winter) half of
16500-435: The conventional Jewish calendar. In 2016, Shemini Atzeret fell on the same day according to both calendars. Samaritans , i.e. the northern Israelites who split from Jews during the reign of King Rehoboam , recognise only the first five (or six ) books of the Bible as canonical , and thus celebrate only one day of Shemini Aṣereth. Shortly after midnight, prayers are made in the synagogue for more than ten hours. No work
16665-407: The counting of the Omer begins on the second day of Passover and continues for the next 49 days, or seven complete weeks, ending on the day before Shavuot. According to this calculation, Shavuot will fall on the day of the week after that of the first day of Passover (e.g., if Passover starts on a Thursday, Shavuot will begin on a Friday). This literal interpretation of "Shabbat" as the weekly Shabbat
16830-466: The custom of engaging in all-night Torah study, leading 16th-century kabbalist Isaac Luria arranged a recital consisting of excerpts from the beginning and end of each of the 24 books of Tanakh (including the reading in full of several key sections such as the account of the days of creation , the Exodus , the giving of the Ten Commandments and the Shema ) and the 63 tractates of Mishnah, followed by
16995-456: The date could vary by a day or two). The Torah states that the Israelites reached Sinai on the first day of the third month following the Exodus, i.e. Sivan. Then several events occurred, taking a total of at least three days, before the Torah was given. Thus, it is plausible that the giving of the Torah occurred on or about Shavuot, but no exact date is mentioned. Besides the timing, scholars have pointed to thematic connections between Shavuot and
17160-480: The day as "Simchat Torah" than as "Shemini Atzeret". In the 20th century, Simchat Torah came to symbolize the public assertion of Jewish identity. The Jews of the Soviet Union , in particular, would celebrate the festival en masse in the streets of Moscow . On October 14, 1973, more than 100,000 Jews took part in a post-Simchat Torah rally in New York city on behalf of refuseniks and Soviet Jewry. Dancing in
17325-477: The day the Torah was given. What is textually connected in the Bible to the Feast of Shavuot is the season of the grain harvest, specifically of the wheat, in the Land of Israel . In ancient times, the grain harvest lasted seven weeks and was a season of gladness ( Jer. 5:24 , Deut. 16:9–11 , Isa. 9:2 ). It began with harvesting the barley during Passover and ended with harvesting the wheat at Shavuot. Shavuot
17490-439: The day the matchmaker (Moses) brought the bride (the nation of Israel) to the chuppah (Mount Sinai) to marry the bridegroom (God); the ketubah (marriage contract) was the Torah. Some Eastern Sephardi communities read out a ketubah between God and Israel, composed by Israel ben Moses Najara as part of the service. This custom was also adopted by some Hasidic communities, particularly from Hungary . The Vilna Gaon cancelled
17655-568: The dialects of Classical Hebrew that functioned as a living language in the land of Israel. A transitional form of the language occurs in the other works of Tannaitic literature dating from the century beginning with the completion of the Mishnah. These include the halachic Midrashim ( Sifra , Sifre , Mekhilta etc.) and the expanded collection of Mishnah-related material known as the Tosefta . The Talmud contains excerpts from these works, as well as further Tannaitic material not attested elsewhere;
17820-423: The earliest Hebrew writing yet discovered, dating from around 3,000 years ago. Hebrew University archaeologist Amihai Mazar said that the inscription was "proto-Canaanite" but cautioned that "[t]he differentiation between the scripts, and between the languages themselves in that period, remains unclear", and suggested that calling the text Hebrew might be going too far. The Gezer calendar also dates back to
17985-513: The earliest speakers of Modern Hebrew had Yiddish as their native language and often introduced calques from Yiddish and phono-semantic matchings of international words. Despite using Sephardic Hebrew pronunciation as its primary basis, modern Israeli Hebrew has adapted to Ashkenazi Hebrew phonology in some respects, mainly the following: The vocabulary of Israeli Hebrew is much larger than that of earlier periods. According to Ghil'ad Zuckermann : The number of attested Biblical Hebrew words
18150-532: The early 6th century BCE, the Neo-Babylonian Empire conquered the ancient Kingdom of Judah , destroying much of Jerusalem and exiling its population far to the east in Babylon . During the Babylonian captivity , many Israelites learned Aramaic, the closely related Semitic language of their captors. Thus, for a significant period, the Jewish elite became influenced by Aramaic. After Cyrus
18315-507: The evening preceding Shemini Atzeret, and then by all on both the night and during the day of Simchat Torah . The Jewish Encyclopedia states that during the time of the Second Temple , the festival of Shavuot received the specific name of "'Atzarta" as cited by Josephus in Antiquities of the Jews (iii. 10, § 6) and in the Talmud 's tractate Pesahim (42b, 68b), signifying "the closing feast" of Passover . Commenting on this,
18480-711: The first Middle East printing press, in Safed (modern Israel), produced a small number of books in Hebrew in 1577, which were then sold to the nearby Jewish world. This meant not only that well-educated Jews in all parts of the world could correspond in a mutually intelligible language, and that books and legal documents published or written in any part of the world could be read by Jews in all other parts, but that an educated Jew could travel and converse with Jews in distant places, just as priests and other educated Christians could converse in Latin. For example, Rabbi Avraham Danzig wrote
18645-620: The first day of Sukkot, which would also have been on Shabbat. The Torah reading (Deuteronomy 14:22–16:17) is the same as on the Final Day of Passover and Second Day of Shavuot . However, in the Eastern Ashkenazic rite, unlike Passover and Shavuot, the longer version of the Torah reading is included on Shemini Atzeret even when the day does not fall on the Shabbat because the reading refers to separation of agricultural gifts (like tithes and terumah ), which are due at this time of
18810-406: The generic term for these passages is Baraitot . The dialect of all these works is very similar to Mishnaic Hebrew. About a century after the publication of the Mishnah, Mishnaic Hebrew fell into disuse as a spoken language. By the third century CE, sages could no longer identify the Hebrew names of many plants mentioned in the Mishnah. Only a few sages, primarily in the southern regions, retained
18975-421: The giving of the Torah on its summit. This idea is first mentioned in medieval Ashkenazi sources such as Maharil . In another interpretation, flowers represent the Jewish people, which received a covenant with God on this date. Other reasons have been suggested as well. Some synagogues decorate the bimah with a canopy of flowers and plants so that it resembles a chuppah , as Shavuot is mystically referred to as
19140-508: The giving of the Torah, which are indicated by the Bible itself: Most of the Talmudic sages agreed that the Torah was given on the 6 Sivan (the date of Shavuot), but Jose ben Halafta holds that it was given on 7 Sivan. According to the classical timeline, the Israelites arrived at the wilderness of Sinai on the new moon ( Exodus 19:1 ) and the Ten Commandments were given on the following Shabbat (i.e., Saturday). The question of whether
19305-407: The holiday include reciting additional prayers, making kiddush , partaking of meals and being in a state of joy. There are however many customs which are observed on Shavuot. A mnemonic for the customs largely observed in Ashkenazi communities spells the Hebrew word aḥarit ( אחרית , "last"): The yahrzeit of King David is traditionally observed on Shavuot. Hasidic Jews also observe
19470-462: The language as Ivrit , meaning Hebrew; however, Mishnah Megillah refers to the language as Ashurit , meaning Assyrian , which is derived from the name of the alphabet used , in contrast to Ivrit , meaning the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet . Hebrew ceased to be a regular spoken language sometime between 200 and 400 CE, as it declined in the aftermath of the unsuccessful Bar Kokhba revolt , which
19635-465: The language spoken by Jews in scenes from the New Testament) is often referred to as "Hebrew" in the text, although this term is often re-interpreted as referring to Aramaic instead and is rendered accordingly in recent translations. Nonetheless, these glosses can be interpreted as Hebrew as well. It has been argued that Hebrew, rather than Aramaic or Koine Greek, lay behind the composition of
19800-471: The language. The revival of the Hebrew language as a mother tongue was initiated in the late 19th century by the efforts of Ben-Yehuda. He joined the Jewish national movement and in 1881 immigrated to Palestine , then a part of the Ottoman Empire . Motivated by the surrounding ideals of renovation and rejection of the diaspora " shtetl " lifestyle, Ben-Yehuda set out to develop tools for making
19965-619: The name atzeret given to the seventh day of Pesaḥ . Owing, however, to the fact that both Shemini Atzeret and the seventh day of Pesaḥ are described as atzeret , the name was taken to mean "the closing festival". When Shemini Atzeret is mentioned in the Torah (known in Greek as the Pentateuch ), it is always mentioned in the context of the seven-day festival of Sukkot : the holiday Shemini Atzeret immediately follows. For example, Sukkot
20130-407: The name "Simchat Torah"—can be found in the 14th century halachic work Arba'ah Turim . By the 16th century CE, most of the features of the modern celebration of Simchat Torah were in place in some form. The Simchat Torah celebration is now the most distinctive feature of this festival—so much so that in the Land of Israel, where Shemini Atzeret lasts only one day, it is more common to refer to
20295-453: The new moon fell on Sunday or Monday is undecided. In practice, Shavuot is observed on 6 Sivan in Israel and a second day is added in the Jewish diaspora (in keeping with a separate rabbinical ruling that applies to all biblical holidays, called Yom tov sheni shel galuyot , Second-Day Yom Tov in the diaspora). Thus, according to Jose ben Halafta, only outside Israel does Shavuot fall out on
20460-727: The newly declared State of Israel . Hebrew is the most widely spoken language in Israel today. In the Modern Period, from the 19th century onward, the literary Hebrew tradition revived as the spoken language of modern Israel, called variously Israeli Hebrew , Modern Israeli Hebrew , Modern Hebrew , New Hebrew , Israeli Standard Hebrew , Standard Hebrew and so on. Israeli Hebrew exhibits some features of Sephardic Hebrew from its local Jerusalemite tradition but adapts it with numerous neologisms, borrowed terms (often technical) from European languages and adopted terms (often colloquial) from Arabic. The literary and narrative use of Hebrew
20625-710: The night before the Torah was given, the Israelites retired early to be well-rested for the momentous day ahead. They overslept and Moses had to wake them up because God was already waiting on the mountaintop. To rectify this perceived flaw in the national character, many religious Jews stay up all night to learn Torah. In 1533 Joseph Caro , author of the Shulchan Arukh , then living in Ottoman Salonika , invited Shlomo Halevi Alkabetz and other Kabbalistic colleagues to hold Shavuot-night study vigils for which they prepared for three days in advance, just as
20790-447: The observance of other Jewish holidays , there is both a night meal and a day meal on Shavuot. Meat is usually served at night and dairy is served either for the day meal or for a morning kiddush . Among the explanations given in rabbinic literature for the consumption of dairy foods on this holiday are: The Five Megillot – five books from the Hebrew Bible – are traditionally read in synagogue on various Jewish holidays. Of these,
20955-545: The parable of a king who invites his sons to dine with him for a number of days, but when the time comes for them to leave, he asks them to stay for another day, since it is difficult for him to part from them. According to this idea, Sukkot is a universal holiday, but Shemini Atzeret is for only the Jewish People . Moreover, Shemini Atzeret is a modest holiday intended to honor [God's] special relationship with his beloved nation. A different but related interpretation
21120-534: The phonetic values are instead inspired by the acrophonic principle. The common ancestor of Hebrew and Phoenician is called Canaanite , and was the first to use a Semitic alphabet distinct from that of Egyptian. One ancient document is the famous Moabite Stone , written in the Moabite dialect; the Siloam inscription , found near Jerusalem , is an early example of Hebrew. Less ancient samples of Archaic Hebrew include
21285-591: The present day. It is perhaps the most important Hebrew manuscript in existence. During the Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain , important work was done by grammarians in explaining the grammar and vocabulary of Biblical Hebrew; much of this was based on the work of the grammarians of Classical Arabic . Important Hebrew grammarians were Judah ben David Hayyuj , Jonah ibn Janah , Abraham ibn Ezra and later (in Provence ), David Kimhi . A great deal of poetry
21450-570: The primary language of use, and to prevent large-scale incorporation of English words into the Hebrew vocabulary. The Academy of the Hebrew Language of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem currently invents about 2,000 new Hebrew words each year for modern words by finding an original Hebrew word that captures the meaning, as an alternative to incorporating more English words into Hebrew vocabulary. The Haifa municipality has banned officials from using English words in official documents, and
21615-483: The process with open celebration and festivity with joyous prayers, festive meals, and dancing, with the Torah scrolls held as the center of attention during the hakafot in the synagogue . The Torah explicitly mentions Shemini Atzeret three times, all in the context of Sukkot. Only two observances are specified for Shemini Atzeret. One relates to the Temple service, and is not relevant to modern observance. The other
21780-513: The prohibition against work on this holiday and also to the conclusion of the Passover holiday season. The other reason given is that just as Shmini ʿAṣeret brings Sukkot to a close, ʿAṣeret brings Passover to a close. Since Shavuot occurs fifty days after Passover, Hellenistic Jews referred to it by the Koine name "Pentecost". Shavuot is not explicitly named in the Bible as the day on which
21945-527: The reading of Sefer Yetzirah , the 613 commandments as enumerated by Maimonides , and excerpts from the Zohar , with opening and concluding prayers. The whole reading is divided into thirteen parts, after each of which a Kaddish d-Rabbanan is recited when the Tiqun is studied with a minyan . Today, this service is held in many communities, with the notable exception of Spanish and Portuguese Jews . The service
22110-674: The rest of the Middle East; and eventually Greek functioned as another international language with the eastern areas of the Roman Empire. William Schniedewind argues that after waning in the Persian period, the religious importance of Hebrew grew in the Hellenistic and Roman periods, and cites epigraphical evidence that Hebrew survived as a vernacular language – though both its grammar and its writing system had been substantially influenced by Aramaic. According to another summary, Greek
22275-400: The second is called Simchat Torah . Karaite Jews and Samaritans also observe Shemini Atzeret, as they do all Biblical holidays. However, due to differences in calendar calculations, it may occur on a different day from the conventional Jewish celebration. Karaites and Samaritans do not include the rabbinical innovation of Simchat Torah in their observance of the day and do not observe
22440-707: The sect at Qumran as part of their formally perfect 364-day calendar. It was dedicated to New Wine and New Oil, which are not mentioned in the Hebrew Bible but were known from another Qumran manuscript, the Temple Scroll . These festivals "constituted an extension of the festival of Shavuot ... which celebrates the New Wheat." All three festivals are calculated starting from the first Sabbath following Passover by repeatedly adding exactly fifty days each time: first came New Wheat (Shavuot), then New Wine, and then New Oil. (See also below, at "The Book of Jubilees and
22605-416: The site on Shavuot, it having been made accessible to Jews for the first time since 1948 . In secular agricultural communities in Israel, such as most kibbutzim and moshavim , Shavuot is celebrated as a harvest and first-fruit festival including a wider, symbolic meaning of joy over the accomplishments of the year. As such, not just agricultural produce and machinery is presented to the community, but also
22770-493: The southern villages of Judea." In other words, "in terms of dialect geography, at the time of the tannaim Palestine could be divided into the Aramaic-speaking regions of Galilee and Samaria and a smaller area, Judaea, in which Rabbinic Hebrew was used among the descendants of returning exiles." In addition, it has been surmised that Koine Greek was the primary vehicle of communication in coastal cities and among
22935-474: The spoken language of the Russian Jews, should be treated as their only national language, while Hebrew was to be treated as a foreign language. Hebrew books and periodicals ceased to be published and were seized from the libraries, although liturgical texts were still published until the 1930s. Despite numerous protests, a policy of suppression of the teaching of Hebrew operated from the 1930s on. Later in
23100-486: The stage for the ritual, mood, tenor, and heightened sense of festivity for the days that follow it—namely, of Shemini Atzeret when seven hakafot are again performed.{{refn|group=note|The hakafot of Shemini Atzeret are the same as those used in the Simchat Torah celebration, which is observed in Israel in tandem with Shemini Atzeret. Outside the Land of Israel, the hakafot are performed by some congregations on
23265-532: The standing of the Israelites at Mount Sinai for the giving of the Torah. The Torah states that the Omer offering (i.e., the first day of counting the Omer) is the first day of the barley harvest. The omer count should begin "on the morrow after the Shabbat ", and continue to be counted for seven weeks. The Talmudic Sages determined that "Shabbat" here means a day of rest and refers to the first day of Passover. Thus,
23430-486: The street with the Torah has become part of the holiday's ritual in various Jewish congregations in the United States as well. In Israel, many communities conduct Hakafot shniyot, or "Second hakafot ", on the day after Shemini Atzeret. In part, this shows solidarity with Jewish communities outside Israel, which are still celebrating Simchat Torah (on the second day of the festival). At the same time, it allows for
23595-445: The syllable ta ( תא ), the last and first letters of the Hebrew alphabet, alluding to the endlessness of Torah. The traditional melodies that accompanies this poem also conveys a sense of grandeur and triumph. There is an ancient tradition to recite poems known as Azharot ( אזהרות listing the commandments. This was already considered a well-established custom in the 9th century. These piyyutim were originally recited during
23760-470: The term "Hebrew" generally render its meaning as roughly "from the other side [of the river/desert]"—i.e., an exonym for the inhabitants of the land of Israel and Judah , perhaps from the perspective of Mesopotamia , Phoenicia or Transjordan (with the river referred to being perhaps the Euphrates , Jordan or Litani ; or maybe the northern Arabian Desert between Babylonia and Canaan ). Compare
23925-586: The tradition of decorating with trees because it too closely resembles the Christian decorations for their holidays. Some have the custom to learn Torah all night on the first night of Shavuot, a practice known as Tiqqun Leyl Shavuot ( Hebrew : תקון ליל שבועות ) ("Rectification for Shavuot Night"). The custom is first recorded c. 1300 in the Or Zarua II [ he ] . According to that work, "Our righteous forebears, servants of
24090-413: The two day, and in recent centuries, "Ata hinchlata" has been truncated to include only one 22-line poem instead of eight. Many Sephardic Jews recite the Azharot of Solomon ibn Gabirol before the mincha service; in many communities, the positive commandments are recited on the first day and the negative commandments on the second day. The liturgical poem Yatziv Pitgam ( Imperial Aramaic : יציב פתגם )
24255-657: The two festivals are related, as the first Day of Pentecost, related in the Acts of the Apostles , is said to have happened on Shavuot. Shavuot is traditionally celebrated in Israel for one day, where it is a public holiday, and for two days in the diaspora . In the Bible, Shavuot is called the "Festival of Weeks" ( Hebrew : חג השבועות , romanized : Ḥāġ hašŠāvuʻoṯ , Exodus 34:22 , Deuteronomy 16:10 ); "Festival of Reaping" ( Hebrew : חג הקציר , romanized : Ḥāġ HaqQāṣir Exodus 23:16 ), and "Day of
24420-580: The upper class of Jerusalem , while Aramaic was prevalent in the lower class of Jerusalem, but not in the surrounding countryside. After the suppression of the Bar Kokhba revolt in the 2nd century CE, Judaeans were forced to disperse. Many relocated to Galilee, so most remaining native speakers of Hebrew at that last stage would have been found in the north. Many scholars have pointed out that Hebrew continued to be used alongside Aramaic during Second Temple times, not only for religious purposes but also for nationalistic reasons, especially during revolts such as
24585-455: The word Habiru or cognate Assyrian ebru , of identical meaning. One of the earliest references to the language's name as " Ivrit " is found in the prologue to the Book of Sirach , from the 2nd century BCE. The Hebrew Bible does not use the term "Hebrew" in reference to the language of the Hebrew people; its later historiography, in the Book of Kings , refers to it as יְהוּדִית Yehudit " Judahite (language)". Hebrew belongs to
24750-595: The world today; the latter group utilizes the Samaritan dialect as their liturgical tongue. As a non- first language , it is studied mostly by non-Israeli Jews and students in Israel, by archaeologists and linguists specializing in the Middle East and its civilizations , and by theologians in Christian seminaries . The modern English word "Hebrew" is derived from Old French Ebrau , via Latin from
24915-460: The year due to the weather, so sleeping in the sukkah may impinge on one's own joy during the festival. This is why many rabbis ruled that one does not sleep in the sukkah on Shemini Atzeret, even outside the Land of Israel. Other rabbis, such as the Vilna Gaon , ruled that one should sleep in the sukkah on Shemini Atzeret outside the Land of Israel. Eating in the sukkah does not cause
25080-516: The year. The rainy season starts just after the fall Jewish holidays. Because of that, and because the sukkah (and, by extension, pleasant weather) is no longer required on Shemini Atzeret, Jews begin to praise God for making rain starting with the Musaf amidah prayer of Shemini Atzeret. In the Ashkenazic tradition, this prayer is recited in a traditional, distinctive, plaintive melody during
25245-478: The year; in the Western Ashkenazic rite, as well as in most Sephardic communities, the short reading is read on Shemini Atzeret when it falls on a weekday. The Haftarah describes the people's blessing of King Solomon at the end of the dedication of the First Temple. The prevalent practice is that one eats in the sukkah on the eighth day, but without reciting the blessing ( berakhah ) for sitting in
25410-421: Was a spoken language , and Amoraic Hebrew (also called Late Rabbinic Hebrew or Mishnaic Hebrew II), which was a literary language . The earlier section of the Talmud is the Mishnah that was published around 200 CE, although many of the stories take place much earlier, and were written in the earlier Mishnaic dialect. The dialect is also found in certain Dead Sea Scrolls. Mishnaic Hebrew is considered to be one of
25575-406: Was carried out against the Roman Empire by the Jews of Judaea . Aramaic and, to a lesser extent, Greek were already in use as international languages, especially among societal elites and immigrants. Hebrew survived into the medieval period as the language of Jewish liturgy , rabbinic literature , intra-Jewish commerce, and Jewish poetic literature . The first dated book printed in Hebrew
25740-423: Was forced to defend the Torah and his Jewish faith in a debate with local priests and successfully conveyed his certainty of God's power, His love for the Jewish people, and the excellence of Torah. Afterwards he wrote the Aqdamut , a 90-line poem in Aramaic that stresses these themes. The poem is written in a double acrostic pattern according to the order of the Hebrew alphabet . In addition, each line ends with
25905-438: Was now a more significant written language than Aramaic within Judaea." This nationalist aspect was further emphasized during periods of conflict, as Hannah Cotton observing in her analysis of legal documents during the Jewish revolts against Rome that "Hebrew became the symbol of Jewish nationalism, of the independent Jewish State." The nationalist use of Hebrew is evidenced in several historical documents and artefacts, including
26070-406: Was published by Abraham Garton in Reggio ( Calabria , Italy) in 1475. With the rise of Zionism in the 19th century, the Hebrew language experienced a full-scale revival as a spoken and literary language. The creation of a modern version of the ancient language was led by Eliezer Ben-Yehuda . Modern Hebrew ( Ivrit ) became the main language of the Yishuv in Palestine , and subsequently
26235-470: Was revived beginning with the Haskalah movement. The first secular periodical in Hebrew, Ha-Me'assef (The Gatherer), was published by maskilim in Königsberg (today's Kaliningrad ) from 1783 onwards. In the mid-19th century, publications of several Eastern European Hebrew-language newspapers (e.g. Hamagid , founded in Ełk in 1856) multiplied. Prominent poets were Hayim Nahman Bialik and Shaul Tchernichovsky ; there were also novels written in
26400-483: Was shared by the author of the Book of Jubilees , who was motivated by the priestly sabbatical solar calendar to have festivals and Sabbaths fall on the same day of the week every year. On this calendar (best known from the Book of Luminaries in the Book of Enoch ), Shavuot fell on the 15th of Sivan, a Sunday. The date was reckoned fifty days from the first Shabbat after Passover (i.e. from the 25th of Nisan). Thus, Jub. 1:1 claims that Moses ascended Mount Sinai to receive
26565-479: Was suppressed. Soviet authorities considered the use of Hebrew "reactionary" since it was associated with Zionism, and the teaching of Hebrew at primary and secondary schools was officially banned by the People's Commissariat for Education as early as 1919, as part of an overall agenda aiming to secularize education (the language itself did not cease to be studied at universities for historical and linguistic purposes ). The official ordinance stated that Yiddish, being
26730-437: Was the language of government, Hebrew the language of prayer, study and religious texts, and Aramaic was the language of legal contracts and trade. There was also a geographic pattern: according to Bernard Spolsky , by the beginning of the Common Era, " Judeo-Aramaic was mainly used in Galilee in the north, Greek was concentrated in the former colonies and around governmental centers, and Hebrew monolingualism continued mainly in
26895-428: Was thus the concluding festival of the grain harvest, just as the eighth day of Sukkot was the concluding festival of the fruit harvest. During the existence of the Temple in Jerusalem , an offering of two loaves of bread from the wheat harvest was made on Shavuot according to the commandment in Lev. 23:17 . The penultimate Dead Sea text to be published has been discovered to contain two festival dates observed by
27060-408: Was to a certain extent a pidgin . Near the end of that century the Jewish activist Eliezer Ben-Yehuda , owing to the ideology of the national revival ( שיבת ציון , Shivat Tziyon , later Zionism ), began reviving Hebrew as a modern spoken language. Eventually, as a result of the local movement he created, but more significantly as a result of the new groups of immigrants known under the name of
27225-570: Was written, by poets such as Dunash ben Labrat , Solomon ibn Gabirol , Judah ha-Levi , Moses ibn Ezra and Abraham ibn Ezra , in a "purified" Hebrew based on the work of these grammarians, and in Arabic quantitative or strophic meters. This literary Hebrew was later used by Italian Jewish poets. The need to express scientific and philosophical concepts from Classical Greek and Medieval Arabic motivated Medieval Hebrew to borrow terminology and grammar from these other languages, or to coin equivalent terms from existing Hebrew roots, giving rise to
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