SHAVUʿOT, or Pentecost, is the Jewish festival that falls on the sixth day of the month of Sivan (and also on the seventh day, outside Israel). In the Pentateuch (Ex. 34:22, Dt. 16:10) the festival is called Shavuʿot ("weeks") because it falls after seven weeks (forty-nine days) have been counted from the "morrow of the Sabbath" (Lv. 23:15) of Passover. In the Talmudic literature a debate is recorded between the Sadducees and the Pharisees: the former understood the word Sabbath in the verse to mean literally the Sabbath of Passover (so that, for them, Shavuʿot always fell on Sunday), while the latter, whose view is accepted, understood "the Sabbath" to be the first day of Passover. It is difficult to know what doctrinal issues really lie behind these two opinions, since, if the report is accurate, it is unlikely that the debate...