“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 2026
6-7 Sivan 5786
Begins: Sundown on Thursday 21 May 2026
Ends: Nightfall on Saturday 23 May 2026
Videos on Shavuot
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...
Shavuot: Seasons of Love
Watch Rabbi Sacks' Shavuot video message, entitled 'Seasons of Love'. He gave this video shiur in June 2019. Transcript If...
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...
Read about Shavuot
From The Archives
Essays and writings from Rabbi Sacks' extensive body of work
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...
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, 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...
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...
From Covenant & Conversation
The series of weekly commentary essays on the Torah by Rabbi Sacks
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’...
BAMIDBAR • 5767, 5773, 5786
Love as Law, Law as Love
On the face of it the connections between the sedra and haftarah of Bamidbar are slender. The first has to...
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...
