Tikkun Leil Shavuot
Following the Zohar and the Kabbalists of Safed, we stay awake all night with the Tikkun: the beginnings and ends of every book of the Bible, the Mishnah, the 613 mitzvot and passages of the Zohar.
Holidays6 Sivan · Two days outside Israel
The night of learning, the Ketubah of Shavuot, the Azharot of Ibn Gabirol, and a table of the seven species.
NextBegins at sundown Thursday, June 10 · ends at nightfall Saturday, June 12, 2027
Seven weeks after the Exodus, Israel stood at Mount Sinai and received the Torah. Shavuot, "weeks," completes the counting of the Omer and is also the festival of the wheat harvest and of the first fruits.
The Sephardic tradition sees the day as a wedding between God and Israel: the mountain is the canopy, the Torah is the ketubah, and the people promise "na'aseh venishma."
So Sephardic synagogues read a Ketubah for Shavuot before the Torah is taken out, and spend the night before awake in learning.
The night of learning
Following the Zohar and the Kabbalists of Safed, we stay awake all night with the Tikkun: the beginnings and ends of every book of the Bible, the Mishnah, the 613 mitzvot and passages of the Zohar.
Many men immerse in the mikveh before the morning prayers, in purity to receive the Torah.
Those who stayed awake pray at sunrise, the ideal time for the Amidah.
In the synagogue
Before the Torah is taken out, Sephardic congregations read a poetic ketubah between God, the groom, and Israel, the bride; the best-known version is by Rabbi Yisrael Najara.
The 613 mitzvot in verse by Rabbi Shlomo ibn Gabirol, read on Shavuot in Sephardic synagogues.
Said on both days with its blessing, as on every festival.
Ruth, who accepted the Torah with all her heart, is read during the night or in the synagogue, according to local custom.
Ruth, the unseen redeemerIn the synagogue
Mount Sinai and the Ten Commandments. Maftir: Numbers 28:26–31.
Haftarah: Ezekiel 1, the vision of the chariot
The pilgrimage festivals (from 14:22 on Shabbat).
Haftarah: Habakkuk 2:20–3:19
Through the day
In Morocco and other communities, children and adults splash water on one another: the Torah is compared to water, and Shavuot is the day the world is judged for rain on the trees.
Synagogues and homes are decorated with greenery, recalling Mount Sinai covered in green.
Many tables feature the fruits for which the Land is praised, recalling the first fruits brought to the Temple.
Not only dairy
Many Ashkenazim eat dairy on Shavuot. Many Sephardic tables serve a festive meat meal, often with a dairy meal or dairy sweets at another time.
A bread shaped like a dove, for the dove that is Israel.
Get the recipe →Lamb with honey, raisins and almonds.
For the wheat harvest of Shavuot.
A spring dish of the Amar family table.
Keep learning
Questions
Many Sephardic families serve a festive meat meal; dairy foods appear at other meals by family custom.
A poetic marriage contract between God and Israel, read in Sephardic synagogues before the Torah reading; the best-known is by Rabbi Yisrael Najara.
A poem of the 613 mitzvot by Rabbi Shlomo ibn Gabirol, read on Shavuot.
To prepare to receive the Torah, as the Zohar teaches, and to make up for the Israelites who slept on the morning of Sinai.