Shavuot is unique in the Jewish calendar in not necessarily having a fixed date. The official date of Shavuot is the fiftieth day of the Omer, which, in the times when the calendar was fixed by observation, could fall on either the 5th, 6th or 7th of Sivan. This intimate connection of Shavuot with the end of the counting of seven weeks reminds us of the connection between the Jubilee and the seven Sabbatical cycles that precede it. What can we learn from this connection? After seven years the land is given a rest and so are human economic relations. Not only do we not farm, but debts are absolved. During the weekly Shabbat we also rest from both our personal toil and stress but also economic relations with others. After seven cycles of Sabbatical years we celebrate the Jubilee. This takes us to a new level. Slaves go free and land returns to its original owners. Nationally and individually we are freed from our enslavement to a society based on economics and enabled to create a new more equal society. After seven cycles of weekly Sabbaths, we come to the ‘Jubilee’ of Shabbat – Shavuot. How does this Festival connect to the Jubilee. On Shavuot we also can experience the renewal of society, through the medium of the Torah. The Torah teaches us to build a society that is not only based on the directives of the market but on social justice, community and spirituality. By raising us from the level of material beings it frees us from the shackles of economics and enables us to build relationships based on mutual consideration. This can be seen in the one mitzvah mandated for this day in the Torah, the bringing of the new meal offering. While we are allowed to eat from the new crop after the bringing of the Omer on the second day of Pesach, we are only permitted to use it for offerings after Shavuot. Shavuot is thus also the Feast of First Fruits, the first time it is permitted to fulfil the mitzvah of bringing the First Fruits to the Temple. This has profound implications. At the beginning of the harvest only the rich or those that own their own land will have access to the new crop. Only after several weeks have passed will those who need to collect the gleanings of others, as seen in the Book of Ruth, be able to enjoy the new bounty. Only then, when the whole of society can benefit, does the Torah permit this new crop to be offered to G-d. This underlines the message of Shavuot. We do not need to be enslaved to our economic status. Society need not be run by market forces. Through the medium of the Torah we can become truly free.

10. Son of a sheep?