How long is Shavuot?

[rhu]

There are three Jewish holidays called Regalim: Pesach (Passover), Shavuot (Weeks), and Sukkot (Booths). Pesach and Sukkot are each one week long, and have the rule that if one neglected to bring the qorban (offering) on the first day, one can bring a make-up (tashlumim) during the following six days. Shavuot is one day long, and the rabbis ask (on Rosh Hashanna 5a-b) whether the 6-day "grace" period applies here as well.

The conclusion is "yes" (and, as a practical consquence, even today when we don't have a Temple and offerings we still omit the Tachanun prayers for the six days following Shavuot) and one of the reasons caught my fancy.

There is apparently a principle that "as you count, so you celebrate." So Rosh Chodesh is counted by 29 or 30 days, and is a day long. Shemittah (Sabbatical) and Yovel (Jubilee) years are counted by 7 or 50 years, and last a year.

Now, here's the kicker: The date of Shavuot is determined by counting "seven complete weeks" from Pesach, and "on the fiftieth day" is the holiday. As we count through the Omer period, we verbalize the count each night by saying, for example, "Today is the tenth day, which is one week and three days." So we're counting both weeks and days, and Shavuot has both a one-day and a one-week aspect to it --- the holiday itself is only one day long, but the make-up period lasts the whole week.

Comments

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

That's really cool.

[cellio]

Neat reasoning!