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This is an archive of prayers written for שָׁבוּעוֹת Shavuōt (a/k/a Pentecost), the festival upon which twin loaves of processed grain loaves were elevated/waved as offerings in the Temple, expressing gratitude for the first produce of the barley/wheat harvest of the spring season in the Land of Israel.
The first work to make the connection between the festival and the granting of the Torah is in the parabilblical work from the Second Temple Period, Sefer ha-Yovelim (the Book of Jubilees), chapter 6:15-22 —
"And [Hashem] gave a sign to Noaḥ and his children that there should not again be a flood upon the earth. [Hashem] set his [rain]bow in the clouds for a sign of the covenant which is forever, that the water of the Flood should therefore not be upon the earth to destroy it all of the days of the earth. Therefore, it is ordained and written in the heavenly tablets that [the children of Yisrael] should observe the feast of Shevuot in this month, once per year, in order to renew the covenant in all (respects), year by year. And all of this feast was celebrated in heaven from the day of creation until the days of Noaḥ, twenty-six jubilees and five weeks of years. And Noaḥ and his children kept it for seven jubilees and one week of years until the day of the death of Noaḥ. And from the day of the death of Noaḥ, his sons corrupted it until the days of Avraham, and they ate blood. But Avraham alone kept it. And Yitsḥaq and Yaaqov and his sons kept it until your days, but in your days the children of Yisrael forgot it until you renewed it for them on this mountain. And you, command the children of Israel so that they might keep this feast in all of their generations as a commandment to them. One day per year in this month they shall celebrate the feast, for it is the feast of Shevuot [oaths] and it is the feast of the first fruits. This feast is twofold and of two natures. Just as it is written and engraved concerning it, observe it. This is because I have written it in the book of the first law, which I wrote for you, so that you might observe it in each of its appointed times, one day per year. And I have told you its sacrificial offering so that the children of Israel might remember them and observe them in their generations in this month one day each year." (translation after the surviving Ge'ez text by O.S. Wintermute, from J. Charlesworth’s O.T. Pseudepigrapha)
Click here to contribute a prayer you have written, or a historic prayer you have transcribed and translated for Shavuot.
