Shavuot is a Hebrew word meaning "weeks" and refers to the Jewish festival marking the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. Shavuot, like so many other Jewish holidays began as an ancient agricultural festival, marking the end of the spring barley harvest and the beginning of the summer wheat harvest. Shavuot was distinguished in ancient times by bringing crop offerings to the Temple in Jerusalem.

Shavuot also marks the end of the counting of the Omer, begun on the second day of Passover and continuing for 49 days. The omer, a measure of a quantity of grain brought to the Temple as an offering during the counting period, no longer applies to modern Judaism because we are no longer an agricultural society. I lieu of these omrim (or bushels) of grain we bring boxes of cereal to the temple and, on Shavuot, marking the end of the counting, we donate the cereal to charities such as Manna Food Bank.

A special custom on Shavuot is the reading of the Book of Ruth, which reminds us that we too can find continual source of blessing in our tradition. Another tradition includes staying up all night to study Torah and Mishnah, a custom called Tikkun Leil Shavuot, symbolizing our commitment to the Torah.

The temple bimah is decorated with greenery to symbolize spring and its growth season, in honor of the festival of Shavuot. The boxes of cereal under the Ark are collected during the preceding seven weeks (i.e. during the "Counting of the Omer") for donation to Manna Food Bank.