“Shavuot is the festival when we celebrate our greatest gift: the Torah, our constitution of liberty under the sovereignty of God, our marriage contract with Heaven itself, written in letters of black fire on white fire, joining the infinity of God with the finitude of humankind in an unbreakable bond of law and love, the scroll Jews carried wherever they went, and that carried them. This is the Torah: the voice of heaven as it is heard on earth, the word that lights up the world.” — Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
When is Shavuot 2027?
6-7 Sivan 5787
Begins: Sundown on Thursday 10 June 2027
Ends: Nightfall on Saturday 12 June 2027
Videos on Shavuot
Shavuot: Seasons of Love
Watch Rabbi Sacks' Shavuot video message, entitled 'Seasons of Love'. He gave this video shiur in June 2019. Transcript If you look at the Shalosh Regalim, the three pilgrimage festivals, you find something very remarkable, specifically if you look at...
A Life of Vertical & Horizontal Responsibility: Shavuot During the Coronavirus Pandemic
On 24th May 2020, Rabbi Sacks and Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis delivered side-by-side shiurim to provide some pre-Shavuot inspiration. You...
The Torah of Kindness and Truth
This shiur was delivered by Rabbi Sacks in advance of Shavuot 5777 (2017). Watch the video, and see the various...
A Tale of Two Women
During the launch of the new Koren-Sacks Shavuot Machzor, Rabbi Sacks delivered a keynote shiur on 7th June 2016 to...
Ways of Counting Time: The Omer Controversy
Rabbi Sacks delivered this shiur to over 500 yeshiva and seminary students in Jerusalem on Wednesday 18th May 2016. The...
Shavuot: Family Edition
Resources designed for kids and students of all ages to help them discover new insights within the Jewish festivals and encourage dynamic discussion around your Yom Tov tables.
Shavuot
Shavuot in a Nutshell Adapted from “Shavuot Today,” an extract from the Introduction to the Koren Sacks Shavuot Machzor Shavuot...
Read about Shavuot
Essays and writings from Rabbi Sacks' extensive body of work.
ARTICLES, BOOK EXTRACTS
Israel’s Wedding
Read an extract on the Festival of Shavuot, from Faith in the Future, published in March 1995 In Judaism, mysteries...
SHIURIM, SHORT THOUGHTS & ACTIVITIES
Shavuot Resources
Tikkun Leil Shavuot is a tradition where people stay awake studying Torah on the first night of Shavuot, a festival...
From the Archives
CONTINUING RABBI SACKS' CONVERSATION
The Gift of Torah
Delve into our collection of sources and guiding questions this Shavuot, to better understand what we, the people, received at...
CONTINUING RABBI SACKS' CONVERSATION
Beyond Autopilot
Fuelling our Inner Fire to Change the World This study guide is dedicated to the success of the soldiers of...
SHIURIM, SHORT THOUGHTS & ACTIVITIES
Shavuot Reader: One People?
Delve into our collection of sources and guiding questions this Shavuot, on the complex issue of Jewish unity. Inspired by...
CONTINUING RABBI SACKS' CONVERSATION
Making Revelation Personally Relevant
Moving from “The Torah was given to Bnei Yisrael” to “The Torah was given to US!” These sources were designed...
SHIURIM, SHORT THOUGHTS & ACTIVITIES
Shavuot Reader: On Chosenness
Delve into our collection of sources and guiding questions this Shavuot, and discover a deeper understanding of the idea of...
CONTINUING RABBI SACKS' CONVERSATION
What is True Freedom?
Dedicated to the brave members of the Israel Defense Forces who continue to risk their lives for Am Yisrael, and...
SHIURIM, SHORT THOUGHTS & ACTIVITIES
Shavuot Reader: What Ties Us To Judaism?
Delve into our collection of sources and guiding questions on notions of covenant, inspired by the teachings of Rabbi Lord...
SHIURIM, SHORT THOUGHTS & ACTIVITIES
Tikkun Leil Shavuot: Study Guide for Teens
Why Am I Bound By a Covenant I Didn’t Personally Agree To? Exploring Rabbi Sacks’ answers to the ultimate question...
ARTICLES
Tikkun Leil Shavuot: A Tale of Two Women
This Study Sheet contains biblical sources (mekorot), discussion questions, and ideas from Rabbi Sacks zt"l based on a shiur he...
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Lifting others, we ourselves are lifted
Transcript This is Mental Health Awareness Week, and its theme this year is kindness. Next week is the Jewish festival...
BOOK EXTRACTS
The Ten Utterances
Read an excerpt from the Koren-Sacks Shavuot machzor What the Israelites heard at Sinai has become known as the “Ten...
ARTICLES, BOOK EXTRACTS
Torah from Heaven
The revelation at Mount Sinai was not just a religious event. It was a political event of a unique kind....
ARTICLES, REFLECTIONS
A Double Celebration
The festival of Shavuot is a mystery wrapped in an enigma. Here is how Shavuot is described and defined in...
TEACHINGS, BOOK EXTRACTS
Seasons of Love
Extract from the Koren - Sacks Pesach Machzor Shir HaShirim (which will be read on the afternoon of Shabbat chol ha’moed...
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Today needs a yesterday if we're to plan for tomorrow
Tonight we begin Shavuot, the Jewish festival in which we recall the revelation at Mount Sinai in the days of...
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Shavuot, TV remote controls, and collective responsibility
Tomorrow night we begin the Jewish festival of Shavuot, and this week Eugene Polley died: the inventor of the TV...
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
To be a leader is to be able to tell a story of hope
In the race to be Democratic candidate for the American presidency, a winner has emerged. And there's a story here...
ARTICLES, JEWISH CHRONICLE ARTICLES
The Three Mysteries of Shavuot
In this Jewish Chronicle essay from 21 May 1999, Rabbi Sacks draws modern lessons from the bitter feuds of Temple...
ARTICLES, ARTICLES
Jewry’s Journey to a Second Shavuot
In June 1997 – 100 years after the First Zionist Congress – the Jewish Chronicle published an article written by...
From Covenant & Conversation
The series of weekly commentary essays on the Torah by Rabbi Sacks
BAMIDBAR • 5767, 5773, 5786
Love as Law, Law as Love
On the face of it the connections between the sedra and haftara of Bamidbar are slender.[1] The first has to...
KI TAVO • 5771, 5784
Freedom Means Telling the Story
Here's an experiment. Walk around the great monuments of Washington D.C. There, at the far end, is the figure of...
YITRO • 5771, 5784
Deed and Creed
The God who brought an enslaved people to liberty seeks the free worship of free human beings...
KI TAVO • 5776, 5783
We Are What We Remember
One reason religion has survived in the modern world despite four centuries of secularisation is that it answers the three...
BAMIDBAR • 5776, 5783
The Sound of Silence
Bamidbar is usually read on the Shabbat before Shavuot. So the Sages connected the two. Shavuot is the time of...
EMOR • 5776, 5783
Holy Times
The parsha of Emor contains a chapter dedicated to the festivals of the Jewish year. There are five such passages...
BAMIDBAR • 5780
Egalitarian Society, Jewish-Style
The Parsha in a Nutshell The central theme of the Book of Bamidbar is the second stage of the Israelites’...
EMOR • 5770
A Double Celebration
The festival of Shavuot is a mystery wrapped in an enigma. Here is how this week’s sedra describes and defines...
BAMIDBAR • 5768
The Wilderness and the Word
The Lord spoke to Moses in the Tent of Meeting in the wilderness of Sinai on the first day of...
Rabbi Sacks' Books for Shavuot
The Koren Sacks Shavuot Machzor
From the receiving of the Torah to the exploration of the Megillah of Ruth, Shavuot stands in contrast to other...
Ceremony & Celebration: Family Edition
The Ceremony & Celebration Family Edition is a resource for parents, families, and educators to enhance intergenerational conversations surrounding the Jewish festivals.
Ceremony & Celebration
When did Rosh Hashanah, the anniversary of creation, become a day of judgment? How does Yom Kippur unite the priest’s...
Faith in the Future
In this book the Chief Rabbi addresses some of the major themes of our time: the fragmentation of our common...
